FRANKFORT — If you don’t at first succeed begins an old maxim. It must be one in which Gov. Steve Beshear believes.

On Thursday, Beshear sent state House members a letter asking them to reconsider his budget proposal which relies on $780 million of gambling revenue from video lottery terminals at horse tracks, something which has not been authorized legally. The reaction he got from legislators seemed lukewarm – kind of like the reaction to his first budget proposal.

House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said House leaders asked Democrats on Wednesday “if there was any support developing for his plan and we didn’t detect any.” He called the governor’s letter a “non-event to me.”

Others, like House budget chair Rick Rand, D-Bedford, and former budget chair Harry Moberly, D-Richmond, said Beshear’s appeal came too late in the session to have any chance. Minority Floor Leader, Jeff Hoover, R-Jamestown, was even more blunt about the chances now to pass legislation to allow VLTs at the tracks.

“No chance,” Hoover said.

Rand said the House “has moved past” the idea of using gambling revenue to shore up a more than $1 billion shortfall over the next two years. He said to pass such legislation the governor and other supporters should have built support for the legislation during the time between last June’s special session when the House passed it but the Senate allowed it to die in committee and the beginning of the current session.

Beshear’s letter Thursday said “there are no magic bullets” to plugging Kentucky’s revenue shortfall – “only difficult choices.” He said his budget proposal does not rely on the “hope and a prayer” of more federal stimulus funding but rather “on revenue that already exists and over which we can exercise total control if the legislature is willing to act.”

“My inclusion of $780 million in gaming revenues does not contemplate or even require the House to approve VLTs before the Senate votes to do so,” Beshear wrote in his letter. “You can pass my proposed budget and together we can ask the Senate to pass Senate Bill 92 which would authorize VLTs.”

Sen. Ed Worley, D-Richmond, introduced that bill after Beshear made his budget proposal but House and Senate leaders almost immediately rejected that budget because it relied on unproven money.

After Worley read a copy of the letter Thursday, he said he didn’t think any Senate Democrats had seen it, but he added he agrees with the governor.

“I’ve been a proponent of (expanded gambling) for many years,” Worley said.

Beshear’s letter also quotes a recent Courier-Journal, WHAS-TV Bluegrass Poll conducted by SurveyUSA which showed 59 percent of Kentuckians favored the VLTs at race tracks – but also showed 85 percent wish to vote on the question in the form of a constitutional amendment, something Beshear opposes.

Beshear also continues to oppose any tax changes which might help the state deal with the shortfall. Some in the House, primarily Rep. Jim Wayne, D-Louisville, and Rep. Bill Farmer, R-Lexington, have suggested changing the tax code to raise more revenue over time. Beshear said again Thursday afternoon such tax changes would affect “our hard working families and businesses.”

Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, said upon learning about Beshear’s letter to House members he had no thoughts on it and “evidently the governor didn’t think about it either.” He called the letter and Beshear’s appeal “bizarre.” Williams has said repeatedly no gambling measure has any chance to pass this session of the General Assembly.

Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, said the House won’t pass Beshear’s budget – and he voted against gambling in the June special session. But he said he’ll keep an open mind on any options which prevent harmful cuts in the state budget and hinder efforts to create jobs in his Barren County district.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort, Ky. He may be contacted by email at rellis@cnhi.com. Follow CNHI News Service stories on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cnhifrankfort.