1619-5-7 Muss won`t campaign for GM & BHA mn MUSS WON'T CAMPAIGN FOR CASINOS 04/24/1984
THE MIAMI NEWS
Copyright (c) 1984, The Miami News
DATE: Tuesday, April 24, 1984 EDITION: THREE-STAR
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: 5A LENGTH: 57 lines
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: ROBERT JOFFEE Miami News Reporter
MUSS WON'T CAMPAIGN FOR CASINOS
BEACH HOTELIER WON'T FILL VOID THIS YEAR
IF LATEST EFFORTS FAIL, SPOKESMAN SAYS
Miami Beach hotelier Steve Muss will not help organize or finance a casino
legalization campaign of his own this year if a similar effort, Florida Casino
Associates, calls it quits, a Muss spokesman says.
The Muss spokesman, asking not to be named, disclosed Muss' position
yesterday after Casino Associates lost a bid in court to revive its statewide
drive, now stalled in a legal battle.
Until now, some casino proponents who think gambling would help South
Florida's flagging tourism industry have held out hope that Muss was
considering mounting his own drive.
Gerald Schwartz, a Miami Beach political consultant who'd often suggested
that Muss might step in with an alternative campaign, said Muss' refusal to do
so "effectively rules out" the possibility that an alternative campaign might
be organized this year.
Casino Associates raised $1 million for its drive by selling stock to
investors who could profit only if casinos eventually were legalized. But the
state comptroller froze that money, claiming that the stocks had been
fradulently promoted.
Muss, principal owner of the Fontainebleau Hilton in Miami Beach, still
favors casino gambling in Florida, the spokesman said, but he thinks it's now
too late to put together an alternative to Casino Associates' novel effort in
time for the November ballot.
Meanwhile, Fred A. Schwartz, a Casino Associates lawyer, says the Sunny
Isles enterprise isn't giving up. He says it will likely press on in its legal
battle for the money it raised through stocks.
State Comptroller Gerald Lewis's March 21 order requires that the issue be
cancelled and the money be returned to people +Who bought stock.
Casino Associates and Earl W. Shomber & Co. , the Lakeland brokerage that
underwrote the stock issue, filed suit against Lewis on April 10, denying that
there was any fraud. They asked that Lewis' order be declared illegal.
But yesterday, U.S. District Court Judge James W. Kehoe, in a two-page
opinion dismissing the suit, said federal courts lack jurisdiction in the
matter and that it should be resolved in the state legal system.
That's where it probably will be resolved, according to Schwartz. "It's
likely we'll go forward in the state system to get the money back, " he said,
"because the evidence is clear. The state is wrong. "
Although a Casino Associates political-action committee continues to
circulate petitions aimed at putting a casino
legalization item on next November's ballot, company officials acknowledged in
the suit against Lewis that their campaign "cannot effectively proceed"
without the money raised through the stock issue.
Earl Shomber, president of the brokerage, said he fears an administrative
appeal or an appeal in state courts may "take so long that the state will win
by default. " He noted that Casino Associates' petition drive will need
300,000 signatures by Aug. 6 in order to put a casino legalization referendum
on the November statewide ballot.
KEYWORDS: SUPPORT GAMBLING FLORIDA
TAG: 8401110791
26 of 30, 24 Terms
mn HARD-HIT DADE HOTEL INDUSTRY 12/13/1982
THE MIAMI NEWS
Copyright (c) 1982, The Miami News
DATE: Monday, December 13, 1982 EDITION: THREE-STAR
SECTION: MONEY PAGE: 14M LENGTH: 183 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PAVILLON HOTEL LOBBY (SNYDER) ; CONSTRUCTION ON
MARRIOTT HOTEL (REINKE) ; CHART OF HOTELS & ANNOUNCED PROJECTS
IN GREATER MIAMI 1982 (CHART NOT AVAILABLE ELECTRONICALLY)
SOURCE/CREDIT LINE: ROBERT ADAMS Miami News Reporter
MEMO: SEE CORRECTION AT END OF STORY
HARD-HIT DADE HOTEL INDUSTRY
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