Gov. Steve Beshear said yesterday that legalizing casinos remains a possibility in Kentucky even though lawmakers rejected the idea earlier this year.
"I don't think that issue is dead," Beshear told about 400 people gathered in a small school auditorium in the heart of the Appalachian coalfields. "I think we will be talking about it a lot more."

Beshear yesterday began a series of 13 town hall meetings that will take him to communities across the state during the next five weeks.

The governor said he is especially interested in suggestions on how state government can continue to provide services under tight budget constraints. The state faces a $900 million revenue shortfall over the next two years.

Beshear, who received a standing ovation when he was introduced, raised the casino issue in a community where support for the proposal is at best lukewarm, said the Rev. John Doug Hays, pastor of Jack's Creek Baptist Church and a former state senator.

"We're a conservative, church-oriented community," Hays said. "I just don't think it's a popular issue here. I understand what the governor says, that it's happening all around us. By the same reasoning, you could say there's prostitution in Nevada. Let's bring in legalized prostitution. We have to draw a moral line in the sand."

Beshear proposed legislation calling for a constitutional amendment to legalize casino gambling. That measure, he said, could have generated up to $600 million a year in additional state revenue.

Beshear said after the meeting that no decision has been made on when he will bring the issue back to the General Assembly.

"We're going to listen to people as we go around the state," he said.

At least one political critic, Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson, contends Beshear has scheduled the meetings in hopes of improving his image after a dismal start to his young administration. In his first go-around with the legislature, he was unable to get lawmakers to approve his two primary objectives -- the casino amendment and a proposal to increase the state cigarette tax from 30 cents to $1 a pack.

Beshear's latest push should be easier to achieve -- the creation of an "In God We Trust" license plate. He has called on lawmakers to approve the idea when they return to Frankfort early next year.

Robertson questioned Beshear's motive for the proposal, saying the timing "smacks of politics."

Beshear complained about what he called "rank partisanship" in Frankfort.

"People are so interested in fighting each other that they can't get together and do what's right," he said. "It's just been bickering back and forth, arguing back and forth, and getting nothing done."