The casino candy store

Daily Point

After the lease, fast-track the cash, please

Las Vegas Sands is always ready to change its bet.

At the Nassau County Legislature’s Rules Committee hearing Monday, Legis. Siela Bynoe drilled down on the community benefits agreement outlined in the proposed lease between Sands and Nassau County. Bynoe specifically noted that the lease outlines annual community benefits — payments to area neighborhoods that will amount to $4 million a year with a casino, $2 million a year without one — that wouldn’t begin until the development’s first phase is completed, which, she said, could be two years from the start of the lease.

“Hempstead and Uniondale, they need money and they need it now. They need more and they need it sooner,” Bynoe said. “I don’t think two years out is sufficient.”

In response, Sands senior vice president Ron Reese, who was testifying, all but rewrote the lease in front of the committee.

“I appreciate your passion and you’re right, two years is a long time to wait,” he said. “We are … prepared to come back to you with millions of dollars to meet those needs ahead of the two-year timeline. In fact, we would accelerate that to [start] at issuance of license.”

In other words: Reese was willing to start issuing community benefits immediately when the state grants a casino license to Sands, to “fund the projects that are most important to the impacted community,” Reese said.

The details, Reese said, would have to be worked out. It might not mean a reworking of the lease, but instead could be part of an agreement with the Town of Hempstead, or built into Sands’ application to the state, he said.

Questioning from lawmakers ranged from issues of crime and addiction to details of the project itself, the jobs created — and the timing.

Sands executives said they expect the state to make a decision on the three casino licenses by the end of the first quarter of 2024, and that it would take another two to three years to build the project.

After three hours of testimony and questioning by lawmakers, the Rules Committee finally began the public comment phase of the hearing. Presiding Officer Richard Nicolello noted that he had between 60 and 70 slips from people who sought to speak — each of whom would get three minutes.

“We’re going to be here as long as it takes,” Nicolello said.

The full legislature is expected to vote on the lease transfer on May 22.

— Randi F. Marshall @RandiMarshall

Talking Point

Suffolk GOP hurls Santos’ name like a stone

Last week Mattituck businessman Greg Williams, seeking the Republican nomination in Suffolk County’s 1st Legislative District, was ruled off the ballot in court. The petitions his campaign filed had not been properly witnessed, state Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo ruled.

“The court is mindful that the omission in all probability was caused by inexperience in the process,” Garguilo was quoted as saying. Williams is due in court to argue an appeal this week. But the ruling itself is less notable than what has followed.

In a remarkably overwrought slam, Jesse Garcia, the Suffolk GOP chairman — who supports Catherine Stark for the nomination — sought to rhetorically link Williams to fabulist Republican Rep. George Santos in Nassau County.

Garcia claimed in a statement issued Wednesday that Williams “engaged in fraud in a desperate, self-interested attempt to run for office,” and declared: “It reeks of the same self-interest displayed by George Santos.”

And he didn’t stop there. Calling Williams “unfit to serve in public office,” Garcia said: “Lawyers representing the party will be referring the matter to the Suffolk County District Attorney.”

Contacted by The Point, Williams shot back: “I am dismayed, but not surprised, that my opponent and her political sponsors have resorted to dirty tricks and lies in their ill-fated attempt to keep me off the ballot.”

Defending his reputation as honest, Williams added that Garcia and allies “abused the judicial process by wrongfully accusing me of fraud in collecting signatures in support of my candidacy.” In contention is the seat Democrat Al Krupski is vacating as he runs for Southold Town supervisor.

Beyond the 1st L.D., Garcia’s “fraud” blast might sound particularly ironic considering the big petition fiasco involving his homegrown ally, then-Rep. Lee Zeldin, in last year’s race for governor. Zeldin, the nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties, wanted a third statewide ballot line as candidate of the Independence Party.

But the petitions Zeldin’s supporters submitted were so flawed — and padded with thousands of duplicate signatures — that they were quickly rejected by the state elections board. Democrats demanded an investigation by the Albany district attorney’s office; nothing seems to have resulted.

Say what you will about Santos, he had nothing to do with either of these petition fights.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Pencil Point

Four ways it could go

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Quick Points

Consequences

• Authorities in Texas say there has been an increase in spur-of-the-moment gunfire since the state began allowing most adults to carry handguns without a license in September 2021. You don’t say.
• Conservative political activist Leonard Leo arranged for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife, Ginni, to be paid thousands of dollars for consulting work while keeping her name off the paperwork because, he said, people can be “disrespectful, malicious and gossipy.” Others might call that caring about transparency, ethical behavior, and full disclosure.
• Though many striking TV and movie writers are worried about being replaced by artificial intelligence, Emmy-nominated writer Michael Jamin said, “A.I. can’t even come close to what writers are doing now.” The most important word in his response is “now.”
• Seven horses died at Churchill Downs in the 10 days leading up the Kentucky Derby, which was then won by 15-1 long shot Mage. You decide which was the bigger surprise.
• After Gov. Kathy Hochul expanded red flag protection laws last year, more than eight times as many people, 2,120 in all, were subject to risk protection orders in the first four months this year compared to all of 2020 — with so many guns seized that State Police had to expand evidence rooms to store all the weaponry. That’s better than expanding morgues to hold bodies.
• Tucker Carlson reportedly is preparing to have his allies attack Fox News as he tries to force the network to release him from his contract so he can work for a right-wing rival. Whom do you root for in this fight?
• Britain’s newly crowned King Charles III wanted a coronation filled with tradition but lightened with modern touches. Guess that explains the horse-drawn carriage with power windows and air conditioning.
• He helped foster satellite communications, became the first government official to win a Peabody Award for excellence in broadcasting, and famously pronounced network television a “vast wasteland.” RIP, Newton Minow.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie