Will state sell its soul to gambling?
A letter to Senator Terry Link regarding: “We are trying to make the state more money.” When the devil came to you and whispered in your ear about the bounties of Illinois gambling, did he look like Burgess Meredith in the “Printer's Devil” with his gravelly voice, and impish smile?
Or perhaps more like Jack Nicholson in the “Witches of Eastwick” with his trademark lifted eyebrow and all-knowing glance?
Like the “Devil and Daniel Webster,” did he promise you a state senatorship for seven more years? Did he whisper that gambling has all winners and no losers? That the state will reap great rewards and nobody will have to pay? That rumors of mob involvement and increased crime should be disregarded? Did he make you an offer you couldn't refuse?
It is a terrible place that Illinois has come to so desperate for cash, that it will sell its political soul to gambling, rather than have the integrity to make the tough political and fiscal decisions needed to resolve its long term problems.
Ed Duffy
Naperville