Television stations from the New York side of Lake Champlain carry New York State Lottery commercials. Actors sing and dance and flash the big numbers in this week’s jackpot. One commercial even features a man talking about how much fun it was to play and lose. New York State has Off-Track Betting and several casinos. Plans for more casinos are on the drawing boards. Western New York, the Catskills, the North Country – all those places the economic boom of the 1990s never reached, craps and slots are being installed as a last-ditch effort to stimulate the economy.
On the Vermont side of the lake, the head of the state lottery commission appears in commercials urging people to play Vermont Lotto, but please, don’t play too much. He predicts no one will get rich playing the lottery, and he’s right. The biggest ticket in town is the “tri-state megabucks,” but given that the “tri” states are Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, “megabucks” might be a bit of an overstatement. Vermont’s low-key attitude toward the lottery fits nicely with the rest of the state’s self-image. Not that we’re prudes. Gambling is legal here – deer season buck pools are everywhere and similar dollars will pass hands for the Super Bowl and March Madness. State lawmakers bet each spring on when the legislature will finally adjourn. The thing about Vermont is we know we’re going to be living among the same people for the rest of our lives, we hate to be responsible – even indirectly – if one of the neighbors gets in too deep.
That’s why so many people were surprised this week when our Republican governor-elect Jim Douglas announced his intention to ramp up Vermont’s lottery. Mr. Douglas said he wants Vermont to investigate joining Powerball, the multi-state lottery game with big, big prizes and long, long odds. He also wants to look into re-opening Green Mountain Racetrack, Vermont’s defunct horse-racing venue. Horse racing has been on the decline in America for 20 years, so some people think Mr. Douglas may be using the track to sneak in a casino.
Jim Douglas ran for governor on two themes: “it’s time for a change” and “economic development.” Powerball and racetracks are a change and they are economic development – after a fashion – but Mr. Douglas did not mention gambling as he stumped through the state. People are starting to wonder if we’ve acquired the electoral equivalent of a pig in a poke.
The other surprise from governor-elect Douglas is his opposition to Vermont’s Energy Efficiency Utility. Vermont, like other states, struggles with energy issues. In 1999, the efficiency utility was created on the premise that by making Vermont’s commercial energy consumers more efficient, the state could put as much energy on the grid as it could be building a new power plant. The idea was brilliant in its simplicity. Almost every energy consumer – residential, commercial, industrial – can use electricity more efficiently. The problem is the investment of time and money in getting from inefficient point A to efficient point B. The energy utility was created to help companies bridge the efficiency gap.
In two years of operation, the efficiency utility produced tremendous results. Companies have increased their efficiency and reduced their electric bills. The money they saved paid off the capital investments required for efficiency, energy has been returned to the grid where it can be made available to attract new business to the state and fewer fossil fuels are burned and fewer atoms split, benefits we all enjoy.
If energy efficiency is such a good deal, why would a governor-elect, who ran on a platform of economic development, oppose it? Because the utilities oppose it. While energy efficiency might be good for creating a positive economic climate, the power companies make their money selling, not conserving, energy. Did I mention power companies are big political contributors?
Our governor-elect “Diamond Jim” Douglas – seems to be a bit of a gambler. He’s betting Powerball and ponies will keep the masses distracted while he quietly serves up favors to the people who financed his election. In the process, Vermont becomes less quirky, less innovative and a little more like a slice of Everywhere Else. Diamond Jim figures odds are voters will have forgotten all this by re-election time. Don’t bet on it.
Don’t Bet On It
Television stations from the New York side of Lake Champlain carry New York State Lottery commercials. Actors sing and dance and flash the big numbers in this week’s jackpot. One commercial even features a man talking about how much fun it was to play and lose. New York State has Off-Track Betting and several casinos. Plans for more casinos are on the drawing boards. Western New York, the Catskills, the North Country – all those places the economic boom of the 1990s never reached, craps and slots are being installed as a last-ditch effort to stimulate the economy.
On the Vermont side of the lake, the head of the state lottery commission appears in commercials urging people to play Vermont Lotto, but please, don’t play too much. He predicts no one will get rich playing the lottery, and he’s right. The biggest ticket in town is the “tri-state megabucks,” but given that the “tri” states are Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, “megabucks” might be a bit of an overstatement. Vermont’s low-key attitude toward the lottery fits nicely with the rest of the state’s self-image. Not that we’re prudes. Gambling is legal here – deer season buck pools are everywhere and similar dollars will pass hands for the Super Bowl and March Madness. State lawmakers bet each spring on when the legislature will finally adjourn. The thing about Vermont is we know we’re going to be living among the same people for the rest of our lives, we hate to be responsible – even indirectly – if one of the neighbors gets in too deep.
That’s why so many people were surprised this week when our Republican governor-elect Jim Douglas announced his intention to ramp up Vermont’s lottery. Mr. Douglas said he wants Vermont to investigate joining Powerball, the multi-state lottery game with big, big prizes and long, long odds. He also wants to look into re-opening Green Mountain Racetrack, Vermont’s defunct horse-racing venue. Horse racing has been on the decline in America for 20 years, so some people think Mr. Douglas may be using the track to sneak in a casino.
Jim Douglas ran for governor on two themes: “it’s time for a change” and “economic development.” Powerball and racetracks are a change and they are economic development – after a fashion – but Mr. Douglas did not mention gambling as he stumped through the state. People are starting to wonder if we’ve acquired the electoral equivalent of a pig in a poke.
The other surprise from governor-elect Douglas is his opposition to Vermont’s Energy Efficiency Utility. Vermont, like other states, struggles with energy issues. In 1999, the efficiency utility was created on the premise that by making Vermont’s commercial energy consumers more efficient, the state could put as much energy on the grid as it could be building a new power plant. The idea was brilliant in its simplicity. Almost every energy consumer – residential, commercial, industrial – can use electricity more efficiently. The problem is the investment of time and money in getting from inefficient point A to efficient point B. The energy utility was created to help companies bridge the efficiency gap.
In two years of operation, the efficiency utility produced tremendous results. Companies have increased their efficiency and reduced their electric bills. The money they saved paid off the capital investments required for efficiency, energy has been returned to the grid where it can be made available to attract new business to the state and fewer fossil fuels are burned and fewer atoms split, benefits we all enjoy.
If energy efficiency is such a good deal, why would a governor-elect, who ran on a platform of economic development, oppose it? Because the utilities oppose it. While energy efficiency might be good for creating a positive economic climate, the power companies make their money selling, not conserving, energy. Did I mention power companies are big political contributors?
Our governor-elect “Diamond Jim” Douglas – seems to be a bit of a gambler. He’s betting Powerball and ponies will keep the masses distracted while he quietly serves up favors to the people who financed his election. In the process, Vermont becomes less quirky, less innovative and a little more like a slice of Everywhere Else. Diamond Jim figures odds are voters will have forgotten all this by re-election time. Don’t bet on it.