Cape firefighters group endorses casino

The Cape Girardeau Firefighters Association formally endorsed a $125 million proposed casino, saying that the additional tax revenue to the city will provide new resources for public safety.

"Just like everybody else, the economic hard times have hit the city pretty hard," said association president Norman Baker. "This is our best chance, maybe our one opportunity in the foreseeable future, to increase that revenue."

The association announced its endorsement Friday, saying it will encourage all of its members to vote yes for gaming Nov. 2. It will also encourage the public to do so with at least two newspaper advertisements expected to run in the next 10 days, said Baker, who has been a city firefighter for a decade.

Baker cited the creation of 450 casino jobs, 400 construction jobs and the new tax revenue as the biggest factors for the 50-member association, which voted unanimously to endorse the casino at its Sept. 14 meeting.

"Those would be huge benefits in the current times we're experiencing," Baker said.

The firefighter association ads are a stark contrast to ads that ran in the newspaper from the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association earlier this year, in which the police officers association encouraged voters to say no to the Transportation Trust Fund, or TTF, road tax extension.

When asked if this endorsement was meant in any way as a reaction to what the police officers association did, Baker said, "No. Absolutely not. ... In no way whatsoever does our supporting the casino have anything to do with the police association's negative ads toward TTF."

Firefighter association vice president Michael Allen, a Cape Girardeau firefighter for nine years, said the association has taken stances on other issues. For example, he said, the firefighters association voted to endorse TTF earlier this year. It supported Teresa Robinson in a Ward 1 Cape Girardeau City Council race over eventual winner John Voss. The association isn't a rubber stamp, either: it remained neutral on a parks tax issue and ran ads four years ago criticizing city government for reducing its vacation benefits.

"We have ruffled feathers," Allen said.

But this endorsement is specifically about the casino, Allen said. They've studied the issue, he said, and have decided it would be good for Cape Girardeau.

"We can see internally that the budgets are getting tight," he said. "The economy is suffering right now. This is our best chance in the next 10 to 15 years to bring a viable renewable revenue to the city of Cape Girardeau."

Representatives for the Cape Girardeau Police Officers Association could not be reached for comment.

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