thanks clevfan from MW for this read
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By Janell Cole
The Forum - 10/23/2005
BISMARCK – Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, hasn’t given up on his dream of bringing the Internet poker industry to North Dakota and has made three recent trips – two outside the country – in pursuit of his goal.
Kasper sponsored a bill and constitutional measure in the 2005 Legislature that would have legalized and regulated Internet poker in the state. The measures failed in the Senate.
Kasper hoped the now-unregulated international online poker industry would move to North Dakota and create jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue.
“I am not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota,” he said recently. “The revenue we missed is too great to pass up. It’s a very real possibility we could wipe out the property tax for every North Dakotan.”
In addition to spending four days in the Caribbean nation of Antigua with a group of four other legislators, Kasper traveled to gambling-related conventions in Montreal and Las Vegas. He was keynote speaker at the Las Vegas meeting, intended for companies affiliated with the casino industry there.
Because he was a speaker, the group that met in Las Vegas paid his travel expenses, Kasper said. He won’t say who paid for the Montreal trip.
“That’s confidential,” he said.
Unlike members of U.S. Congress, North Dakota’s elected officials do not have to disclose trips and gifts furnished by businesses or other special interests. Lobbyists who seek to influence bills in North Dakota must register yearly and report any instance in which they spend more than $50 on a legislator.
Rep. Bette Grande, R-Fargo, who accompanied Kasper on the Antigua trip earlier this month, said it is no different from a lot of other trips legislators get invited on, all of which are offered at no expense to the state.
She said she was at a meeting in Honduras a few years ago.
Rep. Blair Thoreson,
R-Fargo, another of the Antigua travelers, visited Australia two years ago as a delegate for the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
This past summer, Rep. Kathy Hawken, R-Fargo, was an invited speaker at an international women’s meeting in Brazil, representing the Women’s Network of the National Conference of State Legislators.
North Dakota legislators can’t take trips on their own volition and then bill the state for reimbursement. The Legislature’s rules say expenditures other than for holding legislative meetings must be approved by Legislative Council Chairman Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck.
Legislative Council Director John Olsrud described Stenehjem as “very conservative” in approving such expenses.
Though the North Dakotans’ trip to Antigua triggers no penalties, that’s not the case in some other states.
A group of Florida Republican legislators are being investigated by their own Senate president – a fellow Republican – after they accepted a chartered jet ride this past summer to Toronto to visit a gambling company’s headquarters at the company’s expense.
After the trip, gambling company Magna Entertainment Corp. listed the $48,000 expenses as an in-kind donation to the state Republican Party, which had no knowledge of the trip. The party decided to pay Magna $48,000 to settle the issue.
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By Janell Cole
The Forum - 10/23/2005
BISMARCK – Rep. Jim Kasper, R-Fargo, hasn’t given up on his dream of bringing the Internet poker industry to North Dakota and has made three recent trips – two outside the country – in pursuit of his goal.
Kasper sponsored a bill and constitutional measure in the 2005 Legislature that would have legalized and regulated Internet poker in the state. The measures failed in the Senate.
Kasper hoped the now-unregulated international online poker industry would move to North Dakota and create jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue.
“I am not putting away the idea of getting into Internet gaming licenses in North Dakota,” he said recently. “The revenue we missed is too great to pass up. It’s a very real possibility we could wipe out the property tax for every North Dakotan.”
In addition to spending four days in the Caribbean nation of Antigua with a group of four other legislators, Kasper traveled to gambling-related conventions in Montreal and Las Vegas. He was keynote speaker at the Las Vegas meeting, intended for companies affiliated with the casino industry there.
Because he was a speaker, the group that met in Las Vegas paid his travel expenses, Kasper said. He won’t say who paid for the Montreal trip.
“That’s confidential,” he said.
Unlike members of U.S. Congress, North Dakota’s elected officials do not have to disclose trips and gifts furnished by businesses or other special interests. Lobbyists who seek to influence bills in North Dakota must register yearly and report any instance in which they spend more than $50 on a legislator.
Rep. Bette Grande, R-Fargo, who accompanied Kasper on the Antigua trip earlier this month, said it is no different from a lot of other trips legislators get invited on, all of which are offered at no expense to the state.
She said she was at a meeting in Honduras a few years ago.
Rep. Blair Thoreson,
R-Fargo, another of the Antigua travelers, visited Australia two years ago as a delegate for the American Council of Young Political Leaders.
This past summer, Rep. Kathy Hawken, R-Fargo, was an invited speaker at an international women’s meeting in Brazil, representing the Women’s Network of the National Conference of State Legislators.
North Dakota legislators can’t take trips on their own volition and then bill the state for reimbursement. The Legislature’s rules say expenditures other than for holding legislative meetings must be approved by Legislative Council Chairman Sen. Bob Stenehjem, R-Bismarck.
Legislative Council Director John Olsrud described Stenehjem as “very conservative” in approving such expenses.
Though the North Dakotans’ trip to Antigua triggers no penalties, that’s not the case in some other states.
A group of Florida Republican legislators are being investigated by their own Senate president – a fellow Republican – after they accepted a chartered jet ride this past summer to Toronto to visit a gambling company’s headquarters at the company’s expense.
After the trip, gambling company Magna Entertainment Corp. listed the $48,000 expenses as an in-kind donation to the state Republican Party, which had no knowledge of the trip. The party decided to pay Magna $48,000 to settle the issue.
