AUGUSTA – Proponents of an Oxford County casino proposal have collected enough signatures to move the measure forward, Maine Secretary of State Matt Dunlap said Wednesday.

 If the Legislature rejects the proposal, which it has done with similar proposals in the past, it will appear on a statewide ballot later this year for voter approval. About 80,000 signatures of the nearly 100,000 that were turned in were valid, Dunlap said. Only 55,087 signatures were required.

 Peter Martin of Black Bear Entertainment, the group promoting the Oxford County casino, said the signature approval was expected.

 The proposal will now go to the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee and they will kick it back to the public, he said.

 Approval of the signatures was “the first major hurdle” facing his group, Martin said.

 Mainers have rejected four previous gambling proposals in statewide voting since 2000.

 The casino proposal comes at a time of transition in Maine’s political landscape, as Gov. John Baldacci, a Democrat staunchly opposed to the expansion of gambling, heads out of office at the end of this year.

 In fact, the statewide vote on the measure will likely be in November, when Mainers will select Baldacci’s successor in the Blaine House.

 Martin said how Maine’s next governor feels about casinos is “sort of a moot point” because of the timing. If voters approve the casino initiative in the fall, there’s not much a new governor can do about it, whether or not they support the idea.

 But how Maine’s next governor feels about the issue has significant implications on the state’s gambling future, whether or not Maine voters decide to move ahead with the Oxford County proposal.

 According to a press release issued by CasinosNO!, a group opposed to the expansion of gambling, a majority of gubernatorial candidates oppose building casinos in Maine.

 Dennis Bailey, the executive director of the group, said he issued questionnaires on the topic to all of the declared candidates. Bailey is also a paid member of the campaign of Rosa Scarcelli, a Democrat running for governor.

 Those flatly opposed to casinos in Maine are Democrats Pat McGowan, Steve Rowe and Scarcelli; Republicans Bill Beardsley and Peter Mills; and independent Eliot Cutler, according to Sun Journal interviews with their campaigns or their questionnaires submitted to Bailey.

 Other candidates said they would support casinos in local municipalities that approved them.

 Democratic candidates Donna Dion and John Richardson and Republicans Steve Abbott, Matt Jacobson and Bruce Poliquin all said they would generally be supportive of allowing casinos in communities that approved them. Statewide approval would not be necessary, they said.

All five also said casinos would not be the first place they would look for economic development.

 Libby Mitchell, another Democratic candidate, said she supports the right of Maine’s Native American tribes to decide for themselves if they would like to host casinos, but she opposes them in the rest of the state.

 “I’ve consistently supported gaming for the tribes because I believe it’s in their own right to determine what’s best for their economic development,” Libby said. “I voted for the York County proposal and I voted for the Washington County tribal proposal.” She will vote against the Oxford County proposal, Mitchell said.

 Paul LePage, a Republican candidate, wrote in his questionnaire that he personally opposes casinos, but he’s still studying the issue before taking a stand as a candidate.

 “As governor, I believe it is important that he/she never make decisions not based solely on personal biases, but rather on what is good for the people of Maine,” LePage wrote. “Therefore, at this point I am studying the casino question by researching the social and economic impact of the current racino in Bangor, by sitting with citizens on both sides of the issue and discussing the pros and cons and will meet with folks from Black Bear Entertainment to discuss their proposal for a casino in Maine.”

 Les Otten, a Republican candidate, did not respond to Sun Journal inquires for comment, nor did he submit a response to the CasinosNO! survey. At a recent gubernatorial forum in South Portland where gubernatorial candidates were asked to answer yes or no to a casino in Maine, Otten said yes.

 rmetzler@sunjournal.com

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