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The Maryland Independent |
The Maryland Independent |
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by Steven T. Dennis
and Thomas Dennison
Staff Writers
Feb. 5, 2003
ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. detailed his slots-for-tots proposal last week, calling for four racetrack casinos that eventually would provide an estimated $800 million a year for education. But opponents argued that the plan would encourage gambling addiction, crime and corruption.
Ehrlich's budget team said his slots package would save the horseracing industry while keeping his commitment to increase education spending without raising taxes.
But House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Dist. 30) of Annapolis continued to hold fast against legalizing slot machines, arguing the proposal targets poor communities. Busch and other House leaders asked why Ehrlich (R) was not planning to put slots at the racetracks at Ocean Downs, near Ocean City, or at Timonium fairgrounds, which are in relatively well-off neighborhoods.
"Basically, we're planning to put casinos in the three poorest areas of the state -- four, if you include Western Maryland," said House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Dist. 17) of Gaithersburg. "It's a tax on poor people. There is just no other way to look at it."
Barve and Del. Nancy J. King (D-Dist. 39) of Montgomery Village are backing a bill by Del. Luiz Simmons (D-Dist. 17) of Rockville that would prohibit gambling interests from contributing to state political campaigns. Gambling interests gave more than $500,000 to campaigns in the past four years, including more than $120,000 to Ehrlich and thousands to many of the legislature's top leaders, according to a Maryland Common Cause study released Monday.
Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan (D), who said he opposes slots but accepted $12,000 in contributions from gaming interests, predicted that adopting slots will result in a casino in every county because the state will become addicted to gambling revenue.
Even before the governor's bill was detailed, 71 House Democrats signed on to a bill sponsored by Del. Peter Franchot (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park that would delay slots for at least a year. Franchot said the show of force would give Busch a bargaining chip with Ehrlich.
But getting legislators to co-sponsor a slots moratorium is far different from getting them to back a tax increase or the stern spending cuts that would be needed to replace slots revenue in Ehrlich's $22.9 billion budget.
Busch and other House leaders continue to differ on how to pursue a variety of tax hikes or spending cuts seen as alternatives to gambling and Ehrlich's plan to raid $400 million from transportation funds. House Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila Ellis Hixson (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring held off on a $2 billion menu of alternatives after Busch intervened. Some senior Democrats feared the proposal was so large it could backfire, allowing Ehrlich to paint Democrats as tax-and-spend liberals and providing cover for rural lawmakers to vote for slots.
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach backed Ehrlich's call to pass a slots bill this year. "The question is whether you are going to be timid all your life or whether you are going to step up to the plate and swing the bat," he said.
Meanwhile, some black lawmakers, including U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Dist. 4) of Largo and Senate Majority Leader Nathaniel J. McFadden (D-Dist. 45) of Baltimore, are calling for more expansion of gaming, which they say would allow minorities to reap more of the benefits of slots.
Wynn called for full-blown casinos at National Harbor in Prince George's County and the Inner Harbor in Baltimore.
Harbor casinos could spur economic development better than the racetracks, Wynn argued.
"You get retail shops, steakhouses, concerts, comedy clubs and have a real economic impact and provide jobs," he said. "What the governor's plan calls for is to put up slots barns that are nothing more than dumps anyway."
But Miller poured cold water on Wynn's idea.
"The Democrats on Capitol Hill are out of control," Miller said. "The fact is we are the ones on the ground and we're going to see to it that we do what's best for the state."
Wynn also argued that auctioning off gaming licenses, rather than limiting them to racetracks, could raise far more money.
"One license could go for $350 million," Wynn said.
Slots opponents welcomed the splits among slot supporters.
"Every day it seems we have a new mouth to feed," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Thomas McLain Middleton (D-Dist. 28) of Waldorf, an adamant slots opponent. "This helps our cause."