Ottumwa tables vote on casino lobbyist deal

OTTUMWA (AP) — The Ottumwa City Council has tabled a decision to hire a lobbyist to help the city get a casino license from the state.

The council is debating whether to hire lobbyist Bill Wimmer. Webster, Tama, Lyons and Franklin counties have already hired Wimmer for the same purpose.

The city would split Wimmer’s $1,000 fee with Wapello County.

At a meeting this week, Councilman Keith Caviness said he “has a problem employing a lobbyist” when four other cities are included in the same effort.

Members of the city council expressed concern with the idea and said they want more information before making a decision.

Caviness said he’s not sure as to the final location of the casino. He also said he wonders why the city can’t use unelected people for free rather than paying a professional.

Wapello County Supervisor Steve Siegel says the lobbyist is needed to get the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission to open the process for more licenses and get governmental assistance.

In November, state regulators hired two consultants to study whether Iowa’s gambling industry has room for expansion, a possible first step toward handing out additional casino licenses.

The Legislature has tasked the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission with regulating Iowa’s commercial casinos and racetracks, including limiting the number of gambling businesses.

Currently, state officials say Iowa’s 20 casinos employ more than 10,000 people and contribute more than $1 billion annually to the state’s economy.

Additional casinos are proposed in Ottumwa, Fort Dodge and Tama, and in Franklin and Lyon counties.

Commission Chairman Greg Seyfer of Cedar Rapids has said the reports are expected to be finished by mid-May. The consultants will focus on identifying “underserved” and “underperforming” gambling markets in Iowa, he said.

Seyfer added that the commission could decide as soon as June or July whether to accept new license applications.

Commission administrator Jack Ketterer has said the earliest that new licenses could gain approval would be late 2009 or early 2010.

The idea of Iowa cities hiring a lobbyist isn’t new.

In September, the Cedar Rapids City Council and Linn County Board of Supervisors voted to pay Washington law firm Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal LLP $10,000 per month to help the state’s second-largest city get federal money to rebuild and tax credits to create more affordable housing after record summer flooding.

The law firm will also represent the town of Palo.

Officials in several other flooded Iowa cities said they thought about hiring a lobbyist, but dropped the idea because of the high cost.

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