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Andy SanFilippo Can't Count

It is difficult to tell if Buffalo Comptroller Andrew SanFilippo, who has written two Buffalo News “Another Voice” columns urging Mayor Byron Brown and the Common Council to roll over for the Seneca Gaming Corporation, is stupid, ensorcelled, or merely paying back his patron Carl Paladino, whose money made it possible for SanFilippo to be Comptroller, hence in a position to get these two perfectly imbecilic pieces taken seriously by the Buffalo News editorial board.

Let’s look at the key points in his September 8 “Another Voice” piece (a response to former Comptroller Robert Whelan’s cogent August 31 “Another Voice” detailing why the casino would be disastrous for Buffalo).

1. “The reason I offered to break the stalemate on the casino talks between the Brown administration and the Seneca Gaming Corporation is because I think a strong agreement that protects the city’s interests and brings in a first-class casino will benefit the people of Buffalo.”

The casino is designed to pillage, not benefit, Buffalo. If SanFilippo had read the financial documents the Seneca Gaming Corporation filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, he’d know that the Senecas are planning an operation that will cater almost entirely to local gamblers, that will set up tax-exempt food, entertainment, sales and lodging operations working in direct competition with Buffalo’s tax-paying food, entertainment, sales and lodging operations, an operation that will take out of the city far more money than it puts in. There is no ambiguity or disagreement about any of that.

2. “Casinos are part of the landscape.”

I assume by that he is saying that they exist elsewhere, so this one should exist here. That is like saying, “You can get crack everyplace, so let’s start dealing in the schoolyards” or “Rivers are polluted everywhere so we might as well pollute ours.” The premise is false: There are a lot of casinos out there, but they’re not everywhere, nor will they be unless all public officials assume SanFilippo’s approach.

3. “There is every reason to believe that the Seneca Nation, as a result of its compact with New York State, is going to build a casino in Buffalo. The Senecas have the site, they have the resources and they have an agreement with the state.”

And the project is also the subject of a very strong case presently in federal court and another in state court, cases that would be enhanced by support of people in positions like SanFilippo’s. As a public official, SanFilippo ought to know that no deal is a done deal until the deal is done.

4. “The previous city administration fought other bidders to get the casino downtown, and now here we are with a possible final agreement just about completed and the talks have broken down.”

Is he saying that the present administration should do something stupid just because the previous administration did something stupid? That’s stupid.

5. “Maybe Whelan and his friends believe I should have turned a deaf ear to the sound of potential jobs and money leaving the city. Maybe Whelan and his friends believe Buffalo doesn’t need 1,000 jobs, a growing dedicated revenue stream and $7 million in infrastructure improvements in the area surrounding the Buffalo Creek project.”

This is gibberish. The “$7 million in infrastructure improvements” are for the SGC’s own property. That’s not doing anything for the city; it’s for themselves. The improvements do nothing for the rest of us; they just make it easier for the casino to skim money out of the city’s economy. It’s like saying, “Look what I’m doing for your economy: I just bought a luxury car and a Rolex and an Armani suit.” Yeah—and what are you going to do for us tomorrow?

His comment on the “1,000 jobs” is equally misguided. The experience of every city that has casinos, except Las Vegas, is that casino jobs come at the cost of a greater number of preexisting jobs. If there are 1,000 jobs in the Buffalo casino, far more jobs elsewhere in Buffalo will vaporize. Looking at casino jobs without considering the price a city pays for casino jobs is like an accountant looking at the income, not the expenditures. The number that matters is the result of the two, not just the one you like to look at.

6. If the city doesn’t give the Senecas Fulton Street, SanFilippo says, the Senecas will build a smaller casino, with only a few hundred jobs.

First, this is a case where less is more: The fewer jobs at the casino, the less harm done to Buffalo. Second, the Senecas have said that if they don’t get Fulton Street they will build a casino of exactly the same size with exactly the same number of employees as if they had gotten it. SanFilippo is making these numbers up as he goes along.

7. “Maybe they think a bush-league casino producing far less than a minimum of $100 million in slot revenue over the next 15 years to the city is OK. I don’t. And remember, unlike Bass Pro, taxpayers are not footing the bill.”

Where does he think that $100 million is coming from, the Tooth Fairy? The money will come from the local economy, nowhere else. How can he equate the one-time underwriting of Bass Pro to a $160 million hit on the area’s economy by the casino year after year after year?

8. “My belief is that we should make every effort to ensure the best possible contract with the Senecas to maximize the casino’s impact and minimize the risk to the city and to competitive interests. There is time now to negotiate an agreement that will work for both the city and the Senecas and add a first-class casino to the Buffalo landscape that can compete with the other casinos around here and offer local residents and out-of-towners a choice on where to spend their recreational dollars.”

How does he propose to do that? The Senecas won’t give up sovereignty. They won’t start paying local taxes. They won’t subject themselves to state environmental or worker safety laws. They won’t go to state court for liability lawsuits. For the key points, they offered a handshake, which, as the lawyers say, is as good as the paper it’s written on. And the document they offered to sign promised virtually nothing; it said they only “intend” to do this and they “intend” to do that. In law, as SanFilippo should know, “intend” means nothing, nothing at all.

9. “As I said in my initial comments about this project, we can’t afford to bungle any more opportunities if this city is to come back. The casino is only a part of the puzzle to fuel the city’s renaissance, but it can be an important part if done right.”

Other than the mixed metaphor, he’s got it right: We cannot afford to bungle any more opportunities. But he’s got the signs wrong: Bungling here would be to allow this dog of a project to go forward, to fold, to give in to pressure from one or two developers who spend big in local campaigns and, at moments like this, expect payback. Bungling would be looking at the $6 or $7 million a year the city would get from the casino and seeing that as an important part of the city’s budget without at the same time seeing the far greater drain on the city’s economy that $6 or $7 million would cost. Bungling would be not fighting tooth and nail to protect the city from this huge financial drain.

10. “I know there are powerful interests on both sides of the issue, some who have supported me in the past and some who have not. My stand is based on my interest in the future of this city, not my political future. The safe position would have been to stand mute. I chose to stand up.”

No—he chose to roll over for the Seneca Gaming Corporation. If we take him at his word, if it is true that he isn’t simply paying back Carl Paladino for helping him beat James Pitts in the comptroller race, if we assume that he said all these things because he really believes them, then too bad for poor old Buffalo. Buffalo has had financial problems for years. It has suffered mismanagement, cronyism and shortsightedness. And now it’s got a comptroller who can’t or won’t add or subtract.