34 Days Until the Election- Show Me the Money

The latest from the Baker campaign is the recycling of an argument from 2007 that didn’t really work out so well for Stacy Leeds, but he’s giving it a shot.

He says, "Four years ago only a dime of every dollar that CNE made was going into services for the Cherokee people. Now, it’s only a nickel.”  

So let’s check out the Truth here…  First, was Leeds right in 2007?  According to the Tulsa World, no, not even if you do the math weird.

According to the World, the casino’s total gross earning were “$418.6 million in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2007. Of that revenue, $20.4 million went toward gaming compact fees, $119.4 million went toward payroll, and $167.2 million went toward operating expenses…”

That left a profit of $111.6 million, which means more than a quarter of the gross profit was net profit-- and that's pretty good.

Depending on if you count payroll (the majority of which goes to Cherokees, see truth report here), and services and reinvestment, way more than 10% goes to Cherokee people.

So if Stacy Leeds' claims were not true 4 years ago, are Bill John Baker's claims true today?

Let's run the numbers. 

In 2010, the last time fiscal year numbers were published, the totals were $137.2 for payroll, $26.1 for compact fees, $204.1 million in operating expenses and $88.1 million in profits, for a grand total of $455.6 million.

So, the net profit was down, but hey-- the economy sucks for everybody. Still, no matter how you figure it, Cherokees are getting way more than 5% of the money. 

The Cherokee Truth:  Even if you count every dollar the casino makes before you pay the light bill or everyone's paycheck (we're talking total gross revenue), Cherokees still see 15-25% of every dollar that’s put into one of those slot machines. 

So, it looks like the Cherokee people are getting a lot better return than the shareholders of Baker Furniture, who lost $57,000 last year. And the year before that.