New administration to review Trump casino

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Indiana Gaming Commission has agreed not to execute any final contract allowing Donald Trump's casino company to operate a casino in Indiana's Orange County until the deal is reviewed by incoming Governor-elect Mitch Daniels, the Daniels team said Thursday.\nEllen Whitt, who will be Daniels' deputy chief of staff, said the transition team sought that assurance in part because there were "serious unresolved issues about the solvency of the company" and other issues.\nBut she also said it was part of a standard request that no major decisions outside of ordinary state government business be made until Daniels is sworn in Jan. 10.\nTrump Hotels & Casino Resorts Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 22, but the commission said it expected the project to move forward as planned. The commission had previously awarded the Orange County license to Trump's company, but a final operating contract with the state is still pending.\nA Thursday letter from the transition team to Glenn Lawrence, executive director of the Gaming Commission, said Lawrence had agreed that no contract related to the Orange County casino project would be executed prior to Daniels taking office.\nThe letter said the request was "not in anyway intended to question or undermine" negotiations conducted by the commission on the transaction.\n"We have the fullest confidence that the Commission has acted in the best interest of the state, and we fully anticipate that will be confirmed by our own independent review," Harry Gonso, Daniels' transition director, said in the letter.\nThe letter did not mention any specific concerns about Trump's company, and Whitt did not mention any either when initially contacted by The Associated Press on Thursday.\nBut she said later in the day that there were serious questions about the company's solvency, and it may owe up to $18 million in taxes to Indiana because of recent court rulings. She also said it was a complex transaction.\nA receptionist at the Gaming Commission said Lawrence and other staff members were traveling to southern Indiana on Thursday and were unavailable for comment. The commission is holding a business meeting in Rising Sun on Friday, and also was to consider whether a casino there should be relicensed.\nThe bankruptcy filing by Trump's company came after months of negotiations with bondholders over restructuring and debt. The filings list debt of about $1.8 billion, which Trump said would be cut by $500 million under the bankruptcy reorganization plans.\nGregory Hahn, an Indiana attorney representing Trump in the contract, said he believed the Daniels' request to suspend any final contract was simply part of standard procedure for the transition team.\n"I don't think it is unusual at all," he said. "It is my understanding that they have asked every major department not to make any more decisions on a contract or anything else until they have a chance to review it. We are very comfortable with that, and we want them to be comfortable with what is going on."\nEfforts to reach Hahn after Whitt raised specific concerns were not immediately successful.