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Associated Press
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. -- Donald Trump has filed suit in a bid to stop the state from helping underwrite a $330 million tunnel project being sought by rival Mirage Resorts Inc.
He sued Friday, one day after dispatching representatives to criticize the plan at a public hearing before the state Casino Reinvestment Development Authority.
Trump filed the suit in federal court in Newark naming Mirage, the authority, the state Department of Transportation, the New Jersey Transportation Trust Fund and the heads of the state agencies.
Reaction was swift.
"This is a desperate action by a company reacting vigorously to stave off aggressive competition," said James Kennedy, authority executive director.
Trump, who operates four casinos in Atlantic City, has criticized the city and state for providing big-ticket incentives for Mirage Resorts, a Las Vegas company that plans a $1.9 billion complex along with two other casino companies.
The 42-page complaint said the financing plan for the 1.5-mile connector would illegally use state casino revenues to repay bonds issued to pay for it.
When New Jersey voters approved casino gambling in 1976, they did so on the condition that the revenues would be used to help defray expenses for senior citizens and disabled people, the suit said.
In addition, the construction would hurt the "air quality, traffic, transportation, wetlands, water quality and community character" of Atlantic City, the suit said.
It was the third such suit filed in three days.
On Wednesday, one was filed by South Plainfield Mayor Daniel Gallagher, Highland Park Mayor H. James Polos and New Brunswick Mayor James Cahill and another by Piscataway Township Mayor Helen Merolla and Middlesex County Freeholder Jane Brady.
Those actions, filed in Middlesex County Superior Court, accuse the state of diverting transportation improvement money that might otherwise be used for projects in that county to the Mirage tunnel.
Trump, who has engaged in a long, bitter feud with Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn, has complained for more than a year that the city and state were playing favorites.
Mirage was given the 150-acre site after municipal officials tried for years to sell it and could not. Once Mirage agreed to develop it, the state Legislature passed a bill that would allow developers who clean up former landfills to get huge rebates.
Supporters contend the incentives were necessary to lure Mirage and that the company's commitment to build in Atlantic City opened the floodgates for others. In addition to Mirage, casino hotels are planned by Circus Circus Enterprises Inc., Boyd Gaming Corp., MGM Grand Inc. and ITT Corp.
"What's happened in Atlantic City is disgraceful," Trump said. "You had a company that was going to be coming to Atlantic City anyway. Hundreds of millions have been given to this company to come. It's unfair to a lot of people, in particular us and MGM and Sun (International Hotels)."
Sun has bought Resorts Casino Hotel and MGM Grand plans a $700 million casino hotel. Both are on the Boardwalk and would lose business if the tunnel is built, Trump said.
Kennedy called the suit "total and complete insanity" because it challenged the authority's power to use casino reinvestment money for purposes other than senior citizens and the disabled.
Trump Hotels routinely accepts the money as reimbursement for building hotel rooms to complement a new $268 million convention center that will open this spring, Kennedy said.
"They're saying you can't spend this money for housing, hotel rooms, infrastructure improvements and everything else, but while they're alleging that, they're taking money," he said.
Trump said he would continue to do so until the law was changed.
State Transportation Department spokesman Jeff Maclin declined comment on the suit.
Alan Feldman, a spokesman for Mirage Resorts, did not return a telephone call seeking comment on it.
Kennedy predicted it would be thrown out of court.
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