Sunday, January 17, 1999
Political alliances good for business
Carroll knows it pays to have friends in high places
BY PATRICK CROWLEY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It was a hot, June morning in 1996 and U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey was walking down the stairs at the plush Cincinnatian Hotel to meet with a reporter.
Mr. Kerrey, a Nebraskan who wields a fair amount of political influence in Washington, was in the area that day to help fellow Democrat Steve Beshear of Lexington raise money for his race against Kentucky Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell.
Mr. McConnell, by the way, trounced Mr. Beshear in the race.
As Mr. Kerrey descended the ornate staircase at the Cincinnatian, he had a Northern Kentucky businessman on each side. The pair, along with Cincinnati attorney Stan Chesley, had finished a quick breakfast meeting with Mr. Kerrey in the senator's suite.
On one side of Mr. Kerrey was Fort Thomas businessman Wayne Carlisle, a politically active Democrat who owns and operates businesses that include construction, banking, beer distributing and real estate.
One the other side was real estate developer Jerry Carroll, owner of Turfway Park race track.
Mr. Kerrey was expecting the reporter who waited near the bottom of the stairs. The other two were not.
“No matter what I do or where I go,” Mr. Carroll joked, “I can't ever get away from the press.”
Not that he tries all that hard.
Mr. Carroll loves the limelight, and he was in all his glory late Friday afternoon when he announced the sale of his racetrack for $37 million to a partnership that includes Keeneland racetrack in Lexington, lottery operator GTECH and casino owner Harrah's.
A new chapter
He was doing live stand-ups on the 5 p.m. news, joking and bantering with the reporters who surrounded him and taking charge at the press conference with wit, charm and just enough cockiness to come off confident rather than arrogant.
But that meeting with Mr. Kerrey shows that when it comes to politics, Mr. Carroll is all business.
The sale of Turfway, assuming it goes through and closes this spring, ends a big chapter in Mr. Carroll's story in Northern Kentucky. He isn't leaving, but he is leaving something behind, something better off now than when he bought the then-dilapidated track 13 years ago for $13.5 million.
Mr. Carroll invested $30 million in Turfway, turned it into a showcase of thoroughbred racing and developed millions of dollars of commercial, industrial and retail property around the track.
A constant in Mr. Carroll's business dealings has been his close association with politics.
Though he is often surrounded by pols, he seems to see them as a necessary part of doing business. He'd rather talk real estate — which is how he has made millions in Nashville and Northern Kentucky — or the $150 million super speedway he and his well-heeled business partners are building in Gallatin County, than the latest political news from Washington, Frankfort or anywhere else.
Mr. Carroll has curried favor with politicians the old-fashioned way — by giving them money. Lots of it. It's all legal, and it's all out in the open. And he does it just about anytime one of them asks.
Like the smart businessman and gambler he is, Mr. Carroll hedges his bets by giving cash to politicians of both parties.
A few years ago at Turfway Park he co-hosted what was one of the largest Kentucky Democratic Party fund-raisers ever, an event that brought in $250,000.
Then in 1997 and again at Turfway Mr. Carroll helped put on a fund-raiser for then U.S. House member and now U.S. Senator Jim Bunning, a powerful Southgate Republican. At the time, the $105,000 take turned was the most lucrative fund-raiser for a single candidate in Northern Kentucky history.
Knows the game
It goes on and on. There are pictures of Mr. Carroll in his office, which overlooks the track's paddock, of him with his arm around Bill Clinton; of him with Al Gore; of him with Gov. Paul Patton and first lady Judi Patton.
Those folks might, and probably do, like Mr. Carroll. But politicians don't typically pose with somebody unless money changes hands in the form of a campaign contribution to an individual or political party.
And Mr. Carroll knows the game. He chuckles when asked about presidential seal cuff links he was wearing Friday.
“Anybody who goes to one of Clinton's big fund-raisers gets them,” he said. “It's not that big of a deal.”
But he also expects something in return for his dona tions.
And when he gets something, he almost always delivers.
When Wallace Wilkinson was governor, Mr. Carroll asked for Houston Road in Florence to be extended from Turfway to Donaldson Road. Today, Biggs, Lowes, the Bank of Kentucky and lots of restaurants are along that road, and a new Target store is under construction — all of which provide jobs, tax money and an economic boost for the region.
Worth the risk
Mr. Carroll asked for some tax breaks and road construction in Gallatin County, where he is building a speedway that could become one of the biggest attractions in the state.
And in addition to the speedway he is planning hotels, some restaurants and an industrial park.
So the politicians know that when Mr. Carroll gives them money, he may ask for something in the future. And they know he is worth the risk.
It doesn't always go his way. He tried for years to get the Kentucky General Assem bly to approve casino gambling at racetracks, but it never happened.
And for all the work he did at Turfway and around the track, in the grand scheme he actually received very little in the way of public assistance. Most of it he did on his own.
On the sofa of Mr. Carroll's office is the Tom Wolfe novel A Man in Full. The protagonist is a financially overextended Atlanta businessman who may lose everything because of some bad investments and real estate deals.
“It's a great book, but I hope that never happens to me,” Mr. Carroll said, laughing.
It probably won't. Still, Mr. Carroll knows that forging good relationships with elected officials is more than a civic duty, or his way of playing politics.
It's good business.
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for The Kentucky Enquirer. His column appears Thursdays and Sundays. He can be reached at 578-5581, at (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort, or by e-mail at crowleys@cinci.infi.net
Patrick Crowley covers Kentucky politics for the Enquirer. He can be reached at 578-5581, or (502) 875-7526 in Frankfort.
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