The Lexington Herald-Leader ran my op-ed this morning. Here’s the text:

By Caleb O. Brown

Barring an as-yet-unrevealed skeleton in the closet, it seems clear that attorney Steve Beshear will be Kentucky’s new governor by the end of the year. At that time, Mr. Beshear will go to work implementing his highest-profile pledge: expanded casino gambling. How Beshear goes about that plan will say a great deal about whose interests he holds most dear.

If he’s serious about serving taxpayers, Beshear will insist on the following conditions for expanded gambling:

1. A strict limit on the number of casino licenses to be awarded.
2. A time limit on the validity of each license. Two years, for example.
3. Every hopeful licensee must bid for licenses at auction with no special treatment for any bidder or industry.

In essence, the winning bidder will pay rent for the privilege of owning a casino license. The value of the licenses will largely be a function of their scarcity and the revenues that the casinos can generate.

Unfortunately, Mr. Beshear’s commitment to do right by Kentucky taxpayers in pushing for expanded gambling is in question.

In August, Mr. Beshear told the Lane Report, “It would be a licensed approach where the state would create so many licenses and then, for instance, some of the racetracks would be able to have a license and there would be competition for licenses for any free-standing locations.”

Mr. Beshear appears to understand the value of creating an auction process for handing out casino licenses, but he’s less clear on whether racetracks will have to pay the same price when auction time arrives. Mr. Beshear needs to clarify sooner rather than later that expanded gambling will not result in a massive giveaway to Churchill Downs or other racetracks.

Some proponents of licensing casinos at racetracks claim that the horse industry needs financial help. Even if we take that dubious assertion at face value – horses constitute a billion dollar industry in Kentucky – giving a free casino license to Churchill Downs won’t do much for the parts of the industry not owned by Churchill Downs, Inc. If Beshear would like to remain free of accusations that he’s a pawn of a large corporate interest, he should instead pledge to use some revenues raised through the auction of casino licenses to eliminate pari-mutuel taxes and burdensome levies associated with horse breeding and farming. That way, he maximizes revenue by making Churchill Downs compete along with everyone else for a license. He also gets to cut taxes on a popular Kentucky industry.

For the rest of us, Beshear should begin articulating the specific taxes that he will eliminate after he makes expanded gambling a reality. It will be an easier sell to the General Assembly if Beshear has a coalition of taxpayers that want nothing more than to see the end of several specific punitive taxes.

When, four years later, Beshear prepares for re-election with a broad coalition of voters for whom he has reduced the cost of government, he’ll have an easier time securing a victory.

It’s just the kind of coalition Ernie Fletcher wishes he had right now.

- Caleb O. Brown is the former director of KentuckyVotes.org, a voter information web site operated by the Bluegrass Institute. He blogs at www.catallaxy.net.