COLUMBUS, Ohio, Aug. 11/PRNewswire/ --With local governments across the state being forced to consider layoffs in their safety forces, the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio -- the state's largest labor organization for law enforcement officers -- announced today its support for the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan on the November statewide ballot.

FOP officials said they would spearhead the formation of a new coalition -- "Cops for Casinos" -- to spread the word of their support in communities all over the state.

"These are tough economic times for Ohio's cities and counties," said Mark Drum, FOP-Ohio treasurer and a retired member of the Delaware Police Department. "We are seeing communities all over the state struggle with declining revenues that have forced them to face cuts in their public safety forces.

"The Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan meets that problem head-on by allocating an estimated $332 million a year in casino tax revenues directly to all 88 counties and our eight largest cities," Drum said. "That's money that can be used by local officials in the future to fund vital services such as fire and police protection."

Charlie Luken, chairman of the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan and a former Mayor of Cincinnati, said the FOP endorsement "signifies the growing support we're seeing for our proposal, and recognizes that this plan puts the casinos -- and the tax revenues -- where they are most needed. It demonstrates again that this is the right plan at the right time."

FOP-Ohio has not historically favored gambling issues, and last year opposed a proposal to put one casino in Clinton County "because it was fraught with loopholes that did not guarantee tax funding to Ohio and also failed to address the concerns of the law enforcement community," according to a resolution by the FOP of Ohio executive board.

Drum said the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan addresses those concerns, by allocating most of the proceeds from a mandated 33 percent tax on gross casino revenues to counties, cities and local school districts. And it also allocates 2 percent of the annual tax revenues -- estimated at $13 million a year -- specifically for law enforcement training.

"Our members -- and millions of other Ohioans -- are also tired of seeing more than $1 billion a year leaving the state as our citizens travel to casinos in neighboring states. It's time we started keeping that money -- and the tax revenues it produces -- here in Ohio," Drum said.

The FOP resolution also cited the minimum of $1 billion in private investment mandated for the four casinos, and the creation of more than 34,000 jobs, as well as the "additional economic boost" the proposal would bring to the state's four largest cities where the casinos would be located -- Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo.

Joining Drum and Luken at a news conference were Nick DiMarco of the Garfield Heights Police Department, president of the FOP of Ohio; and Jim Gilbert and Jason Pappas, president and executive vice president of FOP Capital City Lodge #9, which represents officers of the Columbus Division of Police, the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, and 26 suburban, township, university and airport police departments in Central Ohio.

The Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan is a proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution that authorizes first-class casinos in the state's four largest cities (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo). The plan would generate $11 billion in economic impact during construction and the first five years of casino operations. It would create 34,000 new jobs for Ohioans, and would provide an estimated $651 million in tax revenues each year for all of the state's counties, its major cities and every public school district in the state, with projected annual tax revenues rising to $772 million by 2017.

Primary backers of the proposal are:

    --  Penn National Gaming, Inc., a prominent operator of gaming facilities        and horse racing tracks, including Raceway Park in Toledo; and    --  Dan Gilbert, through his Rock Ventures partnership. Gilbert is majority        owner of the NBA Cleveland Cavaliers and operator of Quicken Loans Arena        in downtown Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic Courts, the Lake Erie Monsters,        Veritix and Fathead, as well as Chairman and Founder of Quicken Loans,        which operates a 350-person Internet web center in downtown Cleveland.        Gilbert, who began investing in Ohio in 2005, employs more than 2,500        people throughout the state.

Pd. for by Ohio Jobs and Growth Committee, Bill Curlis, Treasurer, 865 Macon Alley, Columbus OH 43206

A resolution endorsing the Ohio Constitutional Amendment known as "Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan".

WHEREAS the Fraternal Order of Police of the State of Ohio opposed a gambling initiative in 2008 because it was fraught with loopholes that did not guarantee tax funding to Ohio and also failed to address the concerns of the law enforcement community and,

WHEREAS the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan addressed those previous concerns by guaranteeing Ohio 33% of all revenues will go to Ohio with about 651 million dollars going directly to local communities in Ohio and,

WHEREAS the plan will require a minimum of 1 billion dollars in private investment and ultimately create over 34,000 jobs in Ohio and,

WHEREAS the plan also guarantees that 2% of the annual tax revenue, estimated at 13 million dollars, shall be earmarked for law enforcement training and,

WHEREAS the State of Ohio and its subdivisions are experiencing some of the worst economic times in recent history which has led to the layoffs of many of our law enforcement members and,

WHEREAS over one billion dollars currently being spent on gaming in other states will be repatriated to Ohio and,

WHEREAS the cities of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo have experienced or have projected layoffs of police officers and,

WHEREAS the casinos will be built in the cities of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo which will be an additional economic boost to those cities and,

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the delegates here assembled at this 75th annual conference endorse the Ohio Jobs and Growth Plan and direct the Fraternal Order of Police of the State of Ohio Legislative Committee to work cooperatively with other labor organizations in Ohio to make this initiative successful.

    Respectfully submitted,    FOP of Ohio Executive Board       Cleveland FOP Lodge #8    Jason McDonald, Secretary         Toni McMahon, Secretary    July 27, 2009

SOURCE Ohio Jobs & Growth Committee