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Triage Should Guide Reckoning the Greenbrier’s Casino ‘Review · Commentary - TJ Meadows

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Triage is a core principle of emergency medicine. Assess the situation,
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: determine what matters most, and take the steps necessary to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: stabilize the patient. The players in the latest episode of
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: As the Greenbrier Turns should do the same. A few
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: conclusions are inescapable. The Justice Family exposed its business operations
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to significant financial leverage. Decisions have consequences, and those decisions
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: contributed to missed tax payments, repossessions, and lawsuits. Senator Justice
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and Governor Morrissey are not pals. Is politics influencing the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: Lottery's review of the Greenbriar's Casino impossible to know. The
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: lottery deserves the presumption of good faith, but the state
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  Speaker 1: must also ensure that not even the appearance of impropriety
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  Speaker 1: enters the process. Kennedy Lewis, meanwhile, should not be held
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: responsible for any sins, real or perceived, belonging to the
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  Speaker 1: Justice Family. The firm will control fifty one percent of
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  Speaker 1: the operation and deserves an impartial review. There's no reason
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  Speaker 1: to think they won't get one. By the way, but
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  Speaker 1: debating blame misses the immediate emergency. Ninety people whose jobs
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: are now in jeopardy Kennedy Lewis wants the resort. Its
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: business is acquiring distressed assets, accepting risk, and creating value.
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  Speaker 1: That's how it makes money. But it's probably unwilling to
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  Speaker 1: leave its investment indefinitely at the mercy of the lottery's timeline,
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: particularly when a federal judge's patients may be wearing thin.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Closing the casino may therefore be less a threat than
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  Speaker 1: a straightforward business decision necessary to complete the deal, remove
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Omni from the picture, and execute the Kennedy Lewis plan.
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  Speaker 1: None of that is the state's fault, but it is
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  Speaker 1: the reality confronting everyone. The lottery should explore whether provisional
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  Speaker 1: approval could keep the casino operating while Kennedy Lewis completes
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: the requirements for permanent approval. Then there's the revenue. The
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  Speaker 1: stakes extend beyond taxes on gambling. Organizations choose the Green
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  Speaker 1: Brier for conventions partly because of its amenities. Without the casino,
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  Speaker 1: some may take their business elsewhere, hurting the resort, its employees,
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: the surrounding community, and the state. Triage tells us the priority,
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  Speaker 1: especially government's priority, in these situations. It's not assigning blame
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: to corporations, owners or politicians. It's protecting employees whose livelihoods
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  Speaker 1: hang in the balance, and preserving the viability of the
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  Speaker 1: Greenbrier and asset the state benefits greatly from all told.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: Find an equitable way to keep the casino open while
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  Speaker 1: Kennedy Lewis closes the deal and assumes control.