The speakers at the N.H. Coalition Against Expanded gambling luncheon ranged from Phil McLaughlin, a Democrat who served as state Attorney General to Concord businessman and current RNC member Steve Duprey. Democratic state Rep. Marjorie Smith, of Durham, spoke last. The former chair of the House Finance Committee took aim a central argument of Governor Hassan and democrats who back the casino: that the 80 million dollars included in the Governor's budget from a casino license is essential to properly funding higher education and social programs.
"The thought that there would be 80 million dollars to fund the programs that you care about, or for some of you the program that you don’t care about, is great advertising, but it is not fact."
Governor Hassan has repeatedly defended including the license fees in her state budget; and she's recently suggested the $80m dollar figure might actually be low, and that the casino license might be worth closer to $100m
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