Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Cappy: High court collusion claims 'preposterous'
Slotsylvania former chief justice Ralph Cappy plans to vigorously defend himself from a lawsuit filed by the League of Women Voters, telling the Associated Press its allegation that he negotiated a deal to exchange judicial raises for state Supreme Court approval of a 2004 law legalizing slot machines is "preposterous."The lawsuit filed Monday by the League reiterates many of the assertion raised in a 2006 suit filed by the League and Common Cause, alleging the high court played tit-for-tat with lawmakers, bartering favorable rulings for more funding and pay hikes.
That case was chucked out by a federal judge, who erroneously claimed the issue was made moot when the pay raises passed in 2005 were rescinded after a public outcry. However, the Supreme Court later ruled that the while the Legislature had the power to raise judicial salaries, it did not have the power to lower them. So, the state judges got their pay raises after all.
The League's new suit cites comments from an anonymous state senator as proof that the one or more justices traded or used as leverage a favorable ruling in the previous lawsuit as part of secret negotiations between Cappy and legislative leaders.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald D. Castille said in a statement that the League's new suit "slanders the entire Supreme Court of Pennsylvania with baseless and irresponsible charges." House Republican leader, Sam Smith of Jefferson County, said the league "should be ashamed to be involved in this kind of speculation and abuse of process."
The evidence may be flimsy, but I have no doubt it happened.
Cappy was way too involved with the pay raise issue, openly admitted to closed door discussions with top lawmakers, wrote opinion pieces for newspapers in favor of it and eventual had to recuse himself from the judicial pay raise case.
Why else do you think the Supremes let stand the slots law, whose passage clearly violated the state Constitutional provision requiring a public comment period and three approvals on the floor of the House?
The 145-page slots bill was inserted into an unrelated two paragraph measure requiring background checks for harness racing employees which had already been approved twice by the House. It was then brought to the floor late at night, without any debate on the eve of a July 4 holiday recess.
That's the main reason why I now call this state Slotsylvania, because we have the best justice and laws that lobbying money can buy.
But don't take my word for it. To read the lawsuit for yourself in pdf format, click here.
Labels: Ed Rendell, League of Women Voters, Louis DeNaples, pay raise, Ralph Cappy, slots
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Monday, May 19, 2008
Highway robbery
Sorry folks. I was forced to take the last month off from blogging here to concentrate on some work projects as well as to fix some server issues.And although I'm dead dog tired tonight, it seems fitting for me to make my return on the very day Gov. Ed Rendell flouted Pennsylvania's normal processes by accepting secret bids to lease the turnpike away for 75 years.
Fast Eddie did more shoveling during his press conference Monday to "unveil" the three bids than he would have if he was breaking ground for a new highway.
Not that the state will ever gain enough money to do that from the $12.8 billion high bid submitted by Abertis Infraestructuras, a Spanish group that operates highways in Europe, and Citigroup Inc., the biggest U.S. bank by assets.
Rendell openly admitted the state won't get anywhere near the $1.7 billion annually it needs to fix its decrepit highways and bridges - a testament to how poorly Rendell and the Legislature have run things.
Yet, Rendell said, "To me it seems like a slam dunk." Kind of like the Bush Administration's initial assessment of invading Iraq.
Only in Pennsylvania could the governor get away with bypassing the voters without a referendum, run a secret bidding process and then make legislators choose between accepting the winning lease or new tolls on Interstate 80.
Although this is the largest highway ever to be privatized, we still don't know how many unionized state workers will be laid off instead of actually fixing the turnpike.
What a bad joke. Here's hoping the lawmakers see through this scheme that only enriches the bond counsels - and the lawyers of Rendell's former law firm - while turning Pennsylvania into a banana republic.
LWV files another federal lawsuit over slots
The League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania sued Ralph Cappy, the former state Supreme Court chief justice on Monday, alleging that the high court upheld the state's slot-machine gambling law in exchange for approval of a judicial pay raise, according to the Associated Press.The 17-page suit cites an allegation by an unnamed senator that Cappy told legislators of one particular caucus during a meeting that "he needed the pay raise to secure the votes of Republican justices" on cases important to them.
Cappy, who was too chicken to stand for a retention election and retired from the bench on Jan. 6, did not immediately respond to a message left at his Pittsburgh law office Monday.
This isn't the first time this allegation has been raised. The league joined with Common Cause in suing Cappy, Rendell and top lawmakers in 2006, arguing that they played tit-for-tat, exchanging pay raises for a judicial rubberstamp on a 2004 law legalizing slot machines that was illegally approved.
State lawmakers gutted an existing bill that had already been approved twice and then forced the bill to the floor for a vote without the required public comment period late at night on the eve of a July 4 holiday recess in 2004.
But U.S. Middle District Judge Yvette Kane dismissed the case without prejudice and without ruling on its merits. Instead, she said the whole matter was moot because the Legislature was forced to rescind the pay raises after a public outcry.
She was wrong.
While the lawmakers' pay raises were rescinded later in 2005, the state Supreme Court - sans Cappy who recused himself - forced the state to continue them for all judges, including themselves.
The League was dead-set against slots gambling and remains firm against further expansion. Its lawsuit comes as the House may take up a bill (H.B. 2121) next month from Majority Leader H. William DeWeese that would turn the state's 14 slots parlors into full fledged casinos.
The effort to approve table games is moving forward even though perjury charges have been filed against slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples for lying about his ties to mob bosses and political fixers.
DeNaples, a Dunmore billionaire and former federal felon, reportedly gave more than $1.1 million to the campains of top state politicians - including at least $115,000 to Rendell, at least $35,000 to state Attorney General Tom Corbett and hundreds of thousands more to key lawmakers and party groups on both sides of the aisle, including some publicly opposed to slot machines - to get slots gambling legalized in 2004 and to buy enough influence to get his own license two years later.
Labels: Ed Rendell, League of Women Voters, Louis DeNaples, pay raise, Ralph Cappy, slots, turnpike
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Friday, March 28, 2008
Reputed mob boss likely turning state's evidence in Slotsylvania
I've long dreaded this weird, but important moment in Slotsylvania history - and I'm not talking about the nation's temporary focus on this state for the heated Democratic primary in the U.S. presidential race.Reputed Northeastern Pennsylvania mob boss Billy D'Elia pleaded guilty today to just one count of money laundering conspiracy and one count of witness tampering. He had been facing nearly two dozen counts as a result of a federal investigation.
D'Elia, 61, was charged in May 2006 with laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds and five months later additional charges were added after he tried to have a witness in the case killed.
His attorney, James Swetz, declined to tell the Associated Press whether there was a plea agreement or whether D'Elia agreed to cooperate in other cases.
However, D'Elia has testified once already, in front of a Dauphin County grand jury last year. It then recommended perjury charges against Mount Airy Casino Resort owner Louis DeNaples and took the unusual step of asking for reforms to the state's slots gambling system.
The DeNaples case is beginning to rock Slotsylvania to its political core, leading some Republican state lawmakers to call for a special bipartisan committee with subpoena power to investigate his licensing.
The Dunmore billionaire and former federal felon reportedly gave more than $1.1 million to the state's top politicians - including at least $115,000 to Gov. Ed Rendell, at least $35,000 to state Attorney General Tom Corbett and hundreds of thousands more to key lawmakers and party groups on both sides of the aisle, including some publicly opposed to slot machines - to get slots gambling legalized in 2004 and to buy enough influence to get his own license two years later.Asked by the Scranton Times-Tribune in 2006 why he gave so many campaign contributions to the state's top brass, the landfill owner, banker and auto parts dealer replied, "It's more like building a customer base and spreading goodwill. It's business."
To date, the governor and the state's top prosecutor have publicly refused to return DeNaples' money, saying through their government-hired spokesmen that DeNaples is innocent until proven guilty.
Meanwhile, DeNaples spent $67,375 last year on lobbyists to sway lawmakers into passing a bill to turn the state's 14 slots parlors into full fledged casinos. That bill, H.B. 2121, was written by House Majority Leader H. William DeWeese but has been stuck in the Gaming Oversight Committee for more than a year.
Corbett and his seven-attorney government corruption unit are not prosecuting DeNaples. Instead, Corbett says he let Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marisco do it.
DeNaples, 67, has long been rumored to have had mob connections, and was even cited in a report of the now-defunct Pennsylvania Crime Commission. He has denied any wrong doing.
DeNaples has hired high-priced lawyers and a spokesman with ties to the governor to defend him. They've launched a public smear campaign with lead defense attorney, Richard Sprague of Philadelphia, citing grand jury leaks to the media as proof Marsico is headline grabbing. The county prosecutor denies the assertion.
Swetz, D'Elia's attorney, has previously said his client would have been willing to testify before the Gaming Control Board before DeNaples was licensed, but was never subpoenaed.
Former control board chairman Tad Decker, a college buddy of Gov. Rendell who appointed him, has said he was told D'Elia would refuse to cooperate if called, but refused to say who told him.Decker has also publicly denied testimony from state police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller that he knew or should have known state police were investigating DeNaples for perjury before the Gaming Control Board voted unanimously to grant him a license on Dec. 20, 2006.
Decker's old law firm, Cozen O'Connor, which he has since returned to head, was subsequently hired by DeNaples to handle the financing of his slots parlor.
DeNaples was indicted Jan. 30, 2008, three months after opening his $412 million slots parlor at the site of the former Mount Airy Lodge, a once-famous lover's resort. The Gaming Control Board has since barred DeNaples from his own casino and his share of its proceeds until the charges are resolved.
The grand jury found DeNaples lied to the control board behind closed doors about his relationship with D'Elia; D'Elia's former boss, the late mafia don Russell Bufalino; and two corrupt political fixers in Philadelphia, based partly upon D'Elia's testimony and federal wiretaps.
D'Elia is said to be a mediator among mob families. The Feds say he met frequently with Philadelphia mobsters and had frequent contacts with western Pennsylvania and New York families.
DeNaples told the Gaming Control Board that he and D'Elia were merely acquaintances. But D'Elia told the grand jury they've been long-time friends, even to the point where DeNaples attended his daughter's wedding.
Attorneys for DeNaples dispute D'Elia's assertion, claiming he lied to the grand jury. As proof, Sprague has cited D'Elia's claim that DeNaples gave him his late father's rosary beads as a symbol of their friendship. The beads were buried with the elder DeNaples, Sprague told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
DeNaples' spokesman, Kevin Feeley, on Friday accused prosecutors of giving D'Elia a sweetheart deal in exchange for his testimony against DeNaples.
"It's clear to us that he's getting a deal to cooperate because he's the foundation of their case," Feeley said. "It is stunning that the government would agree to give a deal to a guy who allegedly tried to murder a witness."
Feeley also called D'Elia a liar. "It's clear he's willing to say anything if it helps him get a deal."
U.S. Attorney Martin Carlson declined to respond to Feeley's accusations Friday, issuing a press release that thanked state and federal law enforcement officials but said little about D'Elia's plea. He cited "sealing orders" entered by the court as his reason.
DeNaples' perjury case has yet to be scheduled for trial. His attorneys have asked the state Supreme Court to intervene, arguing Marsico overstepped his authority and the grand jury that issued the indictment was not properly empanelled.
D'Elia will be sentenced in June, when we may find out what, if any, deal he cut. He now faces up to 30 years in prison and a $750,000 fine.
On DeNaples' legal team, but away from the criminal case involving DeNaples, are four former federal prosecutors.
One of them is former Assistant U.S. Attorney Sal Cognetti Jr., who successfully prosecuted DeNaples for a government fraud conspiracy 30 years ago. He is now defending DeNaples' friend, the Rev. Joseph Sica, who also faces perjury charges. The grand jury claimed the Scranton priest lied to them about DeNaples' mob ties.
DeNaples also hired former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino, Carlson's predecessor. who was supposed to be building a federal case against DeNaples in 2006 when he secretedly vouched for his good character as a law enforcement reference on DeNaples' slots parlor license.Marino recused himself from the federal probe when word of his support of DeNaples leaked last year. He later resigned to take a job as DeNaples' in-house counsel.
DeNaples also hired Peter Vaira, a former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, and J. Alan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, to assure the control board that DeNaples had no relationships with organized crime figures.
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here. For more about Billy D'Elia, click here.
Labels: Bill DeWeese, Billy D'Elia, casino, Ed Rendell, Jeffrey Miller, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tad Decker, Tom Corbett
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Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Spinning the wheels of injustice in Slotsylvania
I couldn't resist writing that headline after reading today's editorial in the Towanda Daily Review, which calls Pennsylvania's slots parlor licensing system "a game of chance in terms of reliability and integrity" because of the Louis DeNaples mess."The scandalous failure of several state agencies to cooperate, as the Gaming Control Board considered Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples' application to operate the Mount Airy Casino Resort, must be the last such breach of the public trust."
I'll go that paper one step further and say it should never have happened in the first place.
It wouldn't have, had state law had prevented the billionaire from buying more than $1.1 million worth of influence among the state's top politicians despite his admitted federal felony in 1978.
Gov. Ed Rendell accepted at least $115,000 and state Attorney General Tom Corbett took at least $35,000 from DeNaples in campaign contributions. Neither will give it back now that DeNaples has been indicted for perjury.
A Dauphin County grand jury found he lied to the state Gaming Control Board during his closed-door licensing hearing about his relationship with two reputed mob bosses and two corrupt political fixers. DeNaples has denied any wrongdoing, but has been barred from his own casino pending the outcome of the criminal case.
Republican lawmakers, who are in the minority in the state House, have started a call for reforming the state's four-year-old law legalizing slot machine gambling. They also want a bipartisan committee to investigate DeNaples' licensing.
However, the bill to create that committee, House Resolution 652, still isn't posted online for the public to read. Is it any wonder that the Republicans are also decrying largely partisan efforts to block them?
"For all the grousing by lawmakers about the regulatory failure, they are responsible for creating a structure that compromised the independence of the investigative machinery responsible for licensing investigations and, potentially, of board members themselves," the Daily Review's editorial says.
I couldn't agree more.
Legalized gambling was a major change in Pennsylvania and should have been put to the voters in the form of a referendum. Instead, it was snuck into existence by gutting an existing bill and then ramrodded through the Legislature in the middle of the night on the eve of a July 4 holiday recess.
The newspaper also says, "Reforms now will be crucial not only regarding the determination of licenses for the remaining slots parlors authorized by the law, but for the inevitable future expansion of the gambling industry."
I dispute the inevitability of further gambling expansion.
Although House Bill 2121 is already pending to turn the 14 slots parlors - seven of which are already operating - into full casinos, Slotsylvania has yet to provide statewide property tax reductions for all homeowners, much less real tax reform.
Funding those tax cuts was the alleged public good behind slot machine gambling in the first place. Just because our lawmakers spend like drunken sailors and are now addicted to this revenue stream doesn't mean we should further feed their addiction. That's how New Jersey landed in budget trouble despite 30 years of gambling in Atlantic City.
Yet, even as America teeters on the edge of a recession, Pennsylvania's slots parlors continue to reap big profits. "What does this tell us?" state Rep. Paul Clymer (R-Bucks County) wrote in a letter to the editors of multiple newspapers today.
"It tells me that the path to addiction has a stronger hold on recreational gamblers than previously thought, because even though more and more people are carpooling, dining in and forgoing luxury vacations in an effort to save money, they are still spending money on the one-armed bandits."
The letter from Clymer, the minority chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, also calls for passage of his own bill, H.B. 783. It would require "each licensed gaming entity that offers patrons total rewards cards that track the amount of money and time spent gaming in order to determine the value of provisions or complimentary services to their patrons issue monthly statements that list patrons' gaming winnings and losses."
Clymer's bill has been stuck in his own committee for more than a year now. In fact, the oversight committee hasn't passed a single slots reform bill in that time under Chairman Harold James (D-Philadelphia).
"I encourage all citizens, as we face a sluggish economy and rising unemployment rates, to be smart about their finances and stick to a budget when it comes to recreational expenses," Clymer wrote. "Your money is better spent elsewhere than at a multi-billion dollar casino that has the odds in its favor...."
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: casino, Louis DeNaples, Paul Clymer, Pennsylvania, slots
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Monday, March 24, 2008
Pressure building in Slotsylvania House for DeNaples probe
"It seems like we're not getting the truth here," state Rep. Curt Schroder (R-East Brandywine) told the Daily Local News of Chester County last week.
That's why Shroder and other Republican lawmakers are throwing in behind House Resolution 652. It reportedly calls for creating a select committee with subpoena powers to to examine the process that awarded a state license to indicted slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples.
I'd love to link directly to the resolution and tell you all about it.
But in typical Slotsylvania fashion, HR 652 still isn't posted online for the public to read. It isn't among a list of pending resolutions even though 12 others have been added since it was introduced last week.
That isn't what's supposed to happen when something controversial gets introduced in the Legislature. Just look at this example, which also happens to reference a fictional House Bill 652.
If passed by the House, HR 652 would reportedly create a select committee composed of 10 members, including the majority and minority chairs of the Gaming Oversight Committee, two appointments each from the majority and minority leaders, and four appointments by the speaker - two Republicans and two Democrats.
The committee would hold hearings, take testimony and issue subpoenas to compel testimony or produce documents, records or other information deemed appropriate.
Any person appearing before the committee would be put under oath or affirmation. Any person refusing to testify or produce requested records would be subject to penalties. The committee would have 90 days to complete its work.
That work is includes figuring who was telling the truth: State Police Commissioner Jeffrey B. Miller, who testified on March 4 that the state Gaming Control Board knew or should have known DeNaples was under investigation for perjury before he was granted a license, or former Control Board Chairman Thomas "Tad" Decker who has publicly stated they didn't.
The board unanimously approved a license for DeNaples on Dec. 20, 2006, ignoring DeNaples' near-three-decades old felony, a complaint that he sold a Hurricane Katrina-wrecked tractor trailer for hauling instead of scrap as well as his rumored ties to mob figures.
DeNaples was indicted Jan. 30 on four charges of lying to the gaming board about his relationship with two reputed Northeastern Pennsylvania mob bosses and two corrupt political fixers in Philadelphia.
He has denied any wrong-doing, but has been barred from his own $412 million Mount Airy Casino and its profits.
"I think we have to get to the bottom of this," said Shroder, a member of the House Gaming Oversight Committee. We can't just say, 'Oh, we'll do better next time.' We really have to restore the public's confidence in this whole operation."
Shroder could start by asking state Rep. Harold James (D-Philadelphia), the majority chairman of the oversight committee, why he hasn't called for hearings himself. Or ask James why the committee hasn't moved a single slots gambling reform bill in more than a year.
Ditto for state Sen. Jane Earll, an Erie Republican who heads the Senate Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee and has similarly stymied reform efforts there.
Earll also stopped an effort last October to put state police in charge of slot licensee background investigations, saying, "I don't see any glaring problems that have been brought to light by today's testimony that we need to rush to fix."
As The Citizens Voice of Wilkes-Barre said in its editorial on Sunday, "Finding the truth is a matter of accountability to the public."
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: casino, Harold James, Jane Earll, Jeffrey Miller, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tad Decker
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Saturday, March 22, 2008
DeNaples fights back; key lawmaker in trouble in Slotsylvania
Now it's indicted slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples' turn to fight back.On Thursday, the Dunmore billionaire gave a copy of his own FBI file to the state Gaming Control Board. He initially refused to do that during the background check for his license, even though he requested it through the Federal Freedom of Information Act.
Kevin Feeley, DeNaples' spokesman, blamed the discrepancy on the FBI's failure to release the entire file to DeNaples in a timely manner. Since then, the FBI has supplied the entire file to DeNaples' attorneys, Feeley said. In response to a recent request from the gaming board, the lawyers gave it to the agency.
DeNaples' lawyer, Richard A. Sprague of Philadelphia, told the Inquirer the perjury case against his client rests on lies told by reputed Northeastern Pennsylvania mob boss Billy D'Elia.
Sprague said D'Elia lied when he told the grand jury that the D'Elia-DeNaples family relationship ran so deep that DeNaples gave his father's rosary beads to D'Elia after the elder DeNaples passed away. The rosary beads were black, not green, and are buried with the elder DeNaples, Sprague told the newspaper's editorial board.
Sprague also attacked D'Elia's testimony cited in the grand jury's Jan. 30 presentment that D'Elia's predecessor, the late Russell Bufalino, gave DeNaples the ring he was wearing after DeNaples complimented it while the pair were at the C&C Club in the early 1970s.
It never happened, said Sprague, who had asked to meet with the Inquirer's editorial board to complain about the way the newspaper's editorials had characterized DeNaples, who maintains his innocence. He has been barred from his own casino - and its profits - pending the outcome of the criminal case.
State police filed the four perjury charges against DeNaples, 67, accusing him of lying to Gaming Control Board agents about the extent of his relationships with D'Elia, Bufalino and two men at the center of a federal probe into corruption involving Philadelphia City Hall.
And before you go thinking DeNaples' was framed, remember he pleaded no contest to a federal felony in a 1978 fraud case, gave more than $1.1 million to the state's top elected officials in the years before he received his license, and FBI wiretaps are being used as evidence against him.
None of that also explains whether DeNaples attended the 1999 wedding of D'Elia's daughter, as D'Elia has also claimed. Stands to reason that if there was no friendly connection between the two of them, DeNaples might just have sent a gift and well wishes.
Better hope the feds, state police and/or Dauphin County prosecutors are going through the wedding album right now looking for DeNaples in group shots.
Nor does it explain why Tad Decker, the former chairman of the gaming board, refused to call D'Elia as a witness before the board unanimously voted to grant him a license on Dec. 20, 2006.
Decker told the Allentown Morning Call that someone - he refused to say who - told him that D'Elia would merely have evoked his fifth amendment rights against self-incrimination if called. It wasn't D'Elia's lawyer, who said his client is eager to testify on this matter.
Decker and other Gaming Control Board members knew or should have known that the state police were investigating DeNaples for perjury before they issued him a license, according to testimony state police commander Jeffrey Miller gave the Legislature during budget hearings last month.
Since then, you can understand why Republicans in the Legislature are salivating for an official probe into DeNaples' licensing by a bipartisan committee with subpoena power. They also want reform for the state's four-year-old slots law.
One of the biggest impediments to slots reform, though, has been state Rep. Harold James (D-Philadelphia), majority chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee. He has refused to move any slots-related legislation out of his committee for more than a year.
But the wheels in Slotsylvania go round and round - and James may now be hardpressed to win re-election this year.
According to the Inquirer: The state Supreme Court issued a three-sentence order Thursday overturning a ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Doris A. Smith-Ribner and ordered her to consider a challenge against James's nominating petitions, seeking to have him thrown off the April 22 primary ballot.The original deadline for submitting signatures was Feb. 12, and the deadline for challenging them was seven days later.
But a raging snowstorm in central Pennsylvania kept some candidates from reaching the state election bureau in time, and Gov. Rendell extended the filing deadline from 5 p.m. on Feb. 12 to noon on Feb. 14. Challenges were due seven days later.
James's opponent, Kenyatta Johnson, challenged James's petitions on grounds that he improperly listed himself as the person circulating his petitions, when in fact they were circulated by other people.
Johnson filed the challenge in mid-afternoon on Feb. 21. James's attorney, John Sabatina, contended that the challenge should have been filed before noon. Ribner-Smith agreed and dismissed the challenge, without hearing any of Johnson's evidence on the alleged petition problems.
The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling yesterday that the challenge had been "timely filed" and remanding the James case for a hearing next Wednesday.
There is no known direct connection between DeNaples and state Rep. James.
However, one of James' biggest political contributors over the years was former state Rep. Mike Veon, who gave him a total of $5,000. Although Veon is now a lobbyist in Harrisburg for gambling and other interests, as a lawmaker he received at least $60,000 in contributions from DeNaples.
Veon also was head of the House Democratic Campaign Committee and used that position to push for gambling expansion along with now-House Majority Leader H. William DeWeese, who reportedly received $5,000 in contributions from DeNaples.
James' committee is sitting on a bill DeWeese wrote, H.B. 2121, which would turn all of the state's 14 slots parlors - seven of which are already operating - into full fledged casinos.
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: Bill DeWeese, Billy D'Elia, casino, Harold James, Louis DeNaples, Mike Veon, Pennsylvania, slots
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Saturday, March 15, 2008
Time to put the blinders on in Slotsylvania
We may never know who lied - the state police commander or the former chairman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board - if key lawmakers like Jane Earll get their way.After first denying there was a problem with the way the state licenses its slots parlor owners, Earll (R-Erie) now says she's willing to hold hearings in light of the four perjury charges filed against slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples.
However, she does not want them to be about the conflicting testimony of state officials on how DeNaples got his license because "I'm not sure where that (investigation) gets us constructively."
As chairwoman of the Senate's Community, Economic and Recreational Development Committee, Earll is crafting the Senate GOP's plans to address the matter. "I have no desire to turn any of this into a side circus," she said.
Oops, too late.
The time for that was before the Gaming Control Board members unanimously handed DeNaples a license after a grand jury says he allegedly lied to the board about his ties to two reputed mobsters and two political fixers.
Adding to this freaky show is the fact that before DeNaples received his license he gave as much as $1.1 million an campaign contributions to the state's top officials. Among them, Gov. Ed Rendell and state Attorney Tom Corbett, who have refused to return DeNaples' money since his indictment.
The Dunmore billionaire and former federal felon has denied any wrongdoing, but has been barred from the $412 million Mt. Airy Casino Resort he owns until the charges are resolved.
Earll, whose district is home to Presque Isle Downs & Casino, voted to legalize slot machines in 2004. As chairwoman, she has refused to bring any reform legislation up for a vote in her committee for more than a year - defying many within her party who have called for change.
She also stopped an effort last October - three months before DeNaples' indictment - to put state police in charge of slot licensee background investigations, saying, "I don't see any glaring problems that have been brought to light by today's testimony that we need to rush to fix."
This being Slotsylvania, she's clearly trying to sweep things under the rug, telling the Associated Press that the conflicting accounts about what was shared between the gaming board and state police while vetting DeNaples is akin to "he said, she said."
It's much more than that.
Col. Jeffrey Miller, the Pennsylvania State Police commissioner, testified March 4 before the Senate and House Appropriations Committees that at least some of the state's seven Control Board members knew the state police were investigating DeNaples for lying to them, but they publicly voted to award him a slots parlor license anyway on Dec. 20, 2006.
In fact, Miller said, the board's own privately-hired background investigators were the ones who tipped the staties and the Feds off in the first place. (The Feds' case was later thrown for a loop when prosecuting U.S. Attorney Tom Marino left office and took a job with DeNaples.)
The Control Board's former chairman, attorney Thomas A. "Tad" Decker, has denied that the control board knew DeNaples was lying. "We didn't send a perjury referral," Decker told the Scranton Times-Tribune on March 7. "This is just flat out not true."
Yet, Sen. Robert J. Mellow, the Democratic leader from Lackawanna County and a longtime friend of DeNaples, called any Senate perjury investigation a "slippery slope."
"All we'll be doing is taking up our time policing (testimony) as opposed to doing public policy," Mellow, who voted for the slots law, told the AP.
However, Republican House leader Sam Smith, of Jefferson County, "It's hard to look at that stuff and not think, 'Somebody isn't being 100 percent truthful here.'"
Some lawmakers say they believe that lying to a legislative committee is a crime. Good luck proving that, since none of the PGCB members were sworn in during their House appropriations hearing last month.
It was an oversight and a mistake, David Atkinson, a committee spokesman, said then.
Sixty-eight House Republicans signed a letter to House Appropriations Chairman Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) this week asking the Appropriations Committee chairman to recall the Control Board members. "The members and the public deserve to be told honest and truthful answers from this regulatory agency." says the letter, which was released Friday
Like Earll, House Gaming Oversight Committee Chairman Harold James (D-Philadelphia) has been slow to call for hearings into the DeNaples' matter, even though Evans testified he asked him to look into it last month. James told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review this week he is gathering information from both agencies and will call a hearing to look into it.
And just like Earll, James hasn't let any slots law reform bills comes up in his committee for more than a year.
Meanwhile, slots parlor owners - including DeNaples, may be barred by law from contributing to political campaigns, but are still allowed to lobby lawmakers largely in secret.
Things are getting so ugly in Slotsylvania, that politicians here can no longer point at Louisiana as more corrupt than they are, wrotes Allentown Morning Call columnist Paul Carpenter.
"The entire slots scam was ballyhooed from the start as a razzle-dazzle way to ease local school taxes," Carpenter wrote. "That was the worst fraud of all."
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: gambling, Harold James, Jane Earll, Jeffrey Miller, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tad Decker
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Monday, March 10, 2008
D.A. to Slotsylvania A.G.: Return DeNaples' money
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli is calling on state Attorney General Tom Corbett to return all campaign contributions he received from now-indicted slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples."It is completely unacceptable to have the state's chief law enforcement officer financially tied to a person who is under indictment by a Pennsylvania grand jury for perjury, allegedly for lying about his ties to the mob and organized crime in order to obtain a gaming license," Morganelli wrote in a press release that arrived uninvited in my e-mail this morning. "Mr. Corbett's recalcitrance compromises the integrity of the Office of Attorney General."
Now put what Morganelli wrote through this prism: Morganelli is the lone announced Democrat running for state Attorney General. Corbett, the Republican incumbent, has already announced he's seeking re-election.
Corbett has refused to return DeNaples' campaign contributions to his first campaign, saying through his spokesman that DeNaples has not been convicted of perjury.
DeNaples did, however, plead no contest to a federal felony 30 years ago on a charge that he defrauded the federal government of $525,000 for cleanup work associated with Hurricane Agnes - a crime that did not bar him from obtaining a slots parlor license from the state Gaming Control Board.
Before he got the license, though, the Dunmore billionaire spread a lot of money around among the state's top elected officials. My research flound contributions from DeNaples of at least $679,375, but the state's records online are incomplete - perhaps purposely so. Some newspapers have reported that DeNaples' contributions topped $1.1 million.
At least $35,000 of DeNaples' money went to Corbett's campaign, state records show. Morganelli cites an additional $5,000 contribution to Corbett on Jan. 20, 2005, which I've been unable to verify. He also cites a Philadelphia Inquirer report that says Corbett received $55,000.
Regardless of the amount, Morganelli is troubled that Corbett has not given the money back because the Attorney General's position is one in which even the appearance of a potential conflict of interest can cause problems.
While I agree with Morganelli's premise, I think he's playing politics with an issue that should transcend politics. This is about doing the right thing ethically, whether or not the law says the contributions were legal.
Corbett should never have accepted the money from a known felon with long-rumored mob ties, no matter how rich and generous he is. But since he did, Corbett should have given the money back as soon as DeNaples was indicted. To do less calls into question his character and the character of his office.
Now, Corbett's opened himself up to political games and, dare I say, possible federal investigation.
And before you ask, I am a registered Democrat but not an ardent one. I am, however, a rod-ass when it comes to issues of good government and ethics, something I have in common with many Republican friends.
That's why I'm also calling on Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, to give back the money DeNaples gave him, which amounted to at least $115,000. Fast Eddie set the bar by accepting that cash and is still sitting on $2.25 million even though he can't run for a third straight term as governor.
It's also why I agree with the Harrisburg Patriot-News blogger Brett Lieberman, who admonished Morganelli for failing to disclose his candidacy for attorney general in the same e-mail he sent statewide this morning attacking Corbett.
Rules are rules. As a district attorney, Morganelli should know that better than most.
Finally, it's also why I stand firmly against slots gambling in this state. Not because I'm anti-gambling, I actually love blackjack and poker, but because the law was passed in such an underhanded manner, bypassing all public comment, and then rammed through the Legislature by some of the state lawmakers who took campaign contributions from DeNaples.
ANOTHER VOICE IN PENNS WOODS, ANOTHER SCANDAL
I've been around a while as a blogger, but I must admit I was unfamiliar with the Web site yardbird.com until today.
On it, writer Bill Keisling posted today, "Gov. Ed Rendell has awarded his former law firm an extremely lucrative contract to act as special counsel in the proposed privatization of the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and related matters, including the proposed change of Interstate 80 into a toll road.
"The law firm, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll, of Philadelphia, has billed the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approximately $1.8 million for turnpike privatization and related legal work from March 1, 2007 to January 8, 2008, state records show. An additional invoice has been submitted in February, bringing the actual total costs to date closer to $2 million."
I won't ruin the rest of it for you, other than to say Kiesling calls it a "no-bid, no-contract contract." Nice.
Labels: Ed Rendell, gambling, John Morganelli, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tom Corbett
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Full text of Morganelli's press release
Since Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli sent his press release via e-mail, but did not post it on his Web site, I'd thought I'd print the whole thing for you to read his rather lengthy argument.
The underlined portions were emphasized by Morganelli, not by me. It's verbatim, except I cleaned up a few extra spaces here and there.
FOR RELEASE: Monday March 10, 2008
Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli Says AG Tom Corbett Compromises Integrity of Office of Attorney General By Failing To Cut Financial Ties To Alleged Mob Associate Louis DeNaples
Today, I am requesting Attorney General Tom Corbett to immediately return all monies, which appear to be somewhere between $40,000 - $55,000 , that were contributed to him by Mr. Louis DeNaples and any entities controlled by Mr. DeNaples including, but not limited to, RAM Consultants and D& L Realty. It is completely unacceptable to have the state's chief law enforcement officer financially tied to a person who is under indictment by a Pennsylvania grand jury for perjury, allegedly for lying about his ties to the mob and organized crime in order to obtain a gaming license. Mr. Corbett's recalcitrance compromises the integrity of the Office of Attorney General.
First, let me make one point perfectly clear: Mr. Denaples IS INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, and THE CHARGES AGAINST HIM ARE ONLY, AT THIS POINT, ALLEGATIONS. I do not know Mr. DeNaples and have no opinion of him. My concerns today are not about Mr. DeNaples who is entitled to due process, but about our Attorney General. It is astonishing that our Attorney General sees no problem with the chief law enforcement officer of the state keeping large amounts of money given to him by a person who is now indicted for perjury, allegedly for lying about his ties to the mob and organized crime in order to obtain a gaming license which Mr. Corbett oversees as Attorney General.
Here are the facts:
1. Pennsylvania law at 4 Pa.CSA 1517 (c.1) provides that the Attorney General has the PRIMARY authority to investigate and institute criminal proceedings under the gaming law. In fact, the legislature specifically authorized the creation of a gaming unit in OAG. Although the law recognizes that each individual District Attorney ALSO has powers to investigate and institute criminal proceedings (4 Pa.CSA 1517(d)(1)), the law SPECIFICALLY grants the authority to the AG and creates the "gaming unit" in OAG. See also 4 Pa.CSA 1517 (d)(2).
2. In 2004 and 2005, Tom Corbett received a number of separate campaign contributions from Mr. Louis DeNaples. Campaign records show that Mr. Corbett received the following contributions:
January 27, 2004 - $10,000 from D&L Realty
April 15, 2004 - $25,000 from D&L Realty
January 20, 2005- $5,000 from D&L Realty
Online campaign records may not be complete , and contributions to Mr. Corbett totaling $55,000 were reported in the Philadelphia Inquierer on September 16, 2007 by reporter Craig McCoy. The largest single contribution received by Mr. Corbett on April 15, 2004, was less than 3 months BEFORE the slots law was passed on July 5, 2004. The contribution to Mr. Corbett on January 20, 2005 was just 2 days after the day Mr. Corbett was sworn in as Attorney General and well after the slots law had passed giving oversight of gaming law to the Attorney General. Once Mr. DeNaples applied for a casino license, Mr. DeNaples was barred by law from making campaign contributions. But DeNaples was smart enough to make all the contributions BEFORE applying, gaining favor with Mr. Corbett, the chief law enforcement officer of Pennsylvania specifically charged with gaming enforcement.
3. On March 2, 2008, Sharon Smith of the Patriot News reported that Attorney General Corbett defiantly refuses to return the large campaign contributions received from Mr.Louis DeNaples who is presently under indictment by a Pennsylvania grand jury for perjury, allegedly for lying under oath about his ties to the mob and organized crime in order to gain a slots license. Mr. Corbett's refusal to cut his financial ties with the alleged mob associate was also reported by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review on March 9, 2008.
Clearly, the financial ties between Mr. Corbett and Mr. Denaples has been and will continue to be troublesome for the integrity and independence of the OAG. It has in effect handicapped the Attorney General in his legal duty to oversee gaming. For example, Attorney General Corbett had authority to investigate Mr. DeNaples for perjury, but chose to permit Dauphin County DA Ed Marsico to pursue the matter. Mr. Corbett's spokesman has said that the large amounts of money Mr. Cobett received from Mr. DeNaples played no role in Mr. Corbett's deferral to DA Marsico. But how can the public be so assured? There is an appearance that the Corbett/DeNaples connection hampered the Attorney General. There is an appearance of impropriety. The public deserves to hear in detail, directly from Mr. Corbett, and NOT his spokesperson, on why he passed on the DeNaples alleged perjury matter. Was it the money he got from Mr. DeNaples? A friendship? Some other reason?
Another question that needs to be answered is why the state police brought the DeNaples case to the DA instead of the AG. WHY? Or did, perhaps, the state police bring the case to the AG and he declined? The DA of Dauphin County Ed Marsico appears to be doing the heavy lifting on DeNaples and other gambling related matters. It has been reported that DA Marsico was asked to handle prosecutions of several individuals who ran afoul of the gambling act's provisions regulating political campaign contributions. Mr. Marsico reportedly said that these "minor" cases were settled with regulatory fines and without criminal charges. If this is so, why is DA Marsico handling these matters when AG Corbett is primarily charged with gaming enforcement and has a specific unit in the OAG to do so?
The Corbett/DeNaples financial tie also hampers the OAG going forward. On Sunday March 9, 2008, the Pittburgh Tribune Review rightly called for an investigation into the clearly inconsistent testimony between state police officials and others regarding the issuing of the license to Mr. DeNaples. Unfortunately, the Tribune-Review's call for the Attorney General to investigate cannot occur until Mr. Corbett gives back the DeNaples money. Mr. Corbett cannot ignore the clear conflict of interest he has relative to any investigations related to the DeNaples license.
It is perplexing why AG Corbett continues to fail to recognize conflicts of interest. Just like the BonusGate investigation where he is also severely conflicted and continues to jeopardize the ultimate outcome of any prosecutions, here again Mr. Corbett is allowing campaign cash to affect his duties. Mr. Corbett cannot have it both ways. He cannot continue to scoop up large campaign contributions from people he has an obligation to investigate. Mr. Corbett's non-recognition of the cloud that now hangs over the OAG is incomprehensible. If Mr. DeNaples is truly connected to organized crime figures as alleged, should the Attorney General also be so connected by a $55,000 campaign contribution? Again, I am not questioning Mr. Corbett's integrity. But I do again question his judgement in failing to recognize that he should give back all the money he received from Mr. DeNaples.
Lastly, Mr. Corbett may argue that Mr. DeNaples gave money to many officials of both political parties and that all contributions were, at the time, legal. Such an argument fails to appreciate the unique nature of the Office of Attorney General. Unlike other recipients of campaign funds from Mr. DeNaples, the Attorney General is the state's chief law enforcement officer. Also unlike the other recipients, the AG is uniquely and specifically charged with gaming oversight. Clearly, Mr. Corbett, as the chief law enforcement officer of Pennsylvania, must immediately give back all money received from Mr. DeNaples. He must disconnect the OAG from any relationship with a person who now stands indicted as associated with organized crime. And, Mr. Corbett must answer why he has declined to date to investigate the circumstances surrounding the issuing of the gaming license to Mr. DeNaples and the apparent conflicting testimony that has surfaced regarding same.
Contact: John Morganelli 610-248-7701
Labels: John Morganelli, Louis DeNaples, Tom Corbett
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Sunday, March 09, 2008
Something stinks in Slotsylvania
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review is now calling on state Attorney General Tom Corbett to conduct "a thorough investigation" into whether it was the state police or the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board that screwed up before Louis DeNaples was issued a slots parlor license."Everybody's pointing fingers at everybody else. But, clearly, the truth is not being served," the newspaper's Saturday editorial says.
I doubt the truth would be served if Corbett did launch a probe with his unproven seven-attorney gambling corruption unit.
That's because Corbett accepted at least $35,000 in campaign contributions from DeNaples, a Dunmore billionaire and admitted felon who now stands accused of perjury for lying about his alleged ties to two reputed mobsters and two political fixers.
Corbett, who is up for re-election this year, has "no plans to give the money back," his spokesman, Kevin Harley, told the Harrisburg Patriot News little more than a week ago.
Pressure is beginning to build, though, on him, Gov. Ed Rendell, state lawmakers and judges to give back the $1.1 million DeNaples gave their campaigns until he got his slots parlor license, according to the Tribune-Review.
My research says DeNaples contributed at least $679,335. The Scranton Times-Tribune puts DeNaples' contributions at $1,002,950.
"There was never anything hidden about" the contributions, DeNaples' spokesman Kevin Feeley told the Tribune-Review. "They were ... recorded under the proper campaign election law guidelines. They are perfectly legitimate."
They were also recorded shoddily by high-ranking state officials, the Department of State or both. For instance, newspapers often quote the amount of DeNaples' money that went to Corbett as $25,000.
However, a $10,000 donation by D&L Realty, one of DeNaples' many companies, to Friends of Tom Corbett on Jan. 27, 2004 does not appear in the state's online contribution database. It does, however, show up in that campaign committee's finance report with no mention in subsequent reports of the money being returned.
"There's only one good rule," Larry Sabato, a political science professor at the University of Virginia, told the Tribune-Review, "Return the money by certified mail, immediately."
But Harley insists Corbett won't return the cash, nor will he recuse himself from any investigations involving DeNaples. "If an issue came up ... we would investigate it," he told the Tribune-Review.
Corbett has denied a conflict of interest exists and said he opted to let Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico pursue the perjury case against DeNaples because he had already prosecuted a couple of slots parlor applicants who illegally gave contributions after the state passed the law legalizing slot machines in 2004. They each received civil fines.
Corbett has a seven-lawyer corruption unit, which was established with slots gambling in mind. But it has yet to prosecute a single casino-related corruption case in two years.
Yet, Corbett said on Feb. 28, 2006, "By creating a Public Corruption Unit, the Attorney General's Office is putting a spotlight on investigating and prosecuting public corruption cases at a crucial time in our state's history when slot machines and casino gaming is about to become reality."
By the way, the Feds were also interested in DeNaples. But while his office was probing DeNaples, Tom Marino, the U.S. Attorney for Central Pennsylvania, was one of two legal references that DeNaples used on his slots parlor application. Marino recused himself when the information leaked publicly, resigned his office and now works directly for DeNaples.
Former Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey summed the situation up nicely in the Tribune-Review, "To have contributions going to people who could have an influence on a license and have the gaming board ignore all signs along the way just stinks."
State Sen. Jake Corman told the newspaper that Corbett should probe, if necessary, but first Corman wants the state Senate to take a whack at finding out if either the state police or Gaming Control Board was being untruthful in testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee about DeNaples.
"At a minimum someone has not been honest with this committee," said Corman, a Centre County Republican. "Someone made a decision to turn a blind eye on this DeNaples matter."
Sen. John Rafferty, whose Law & Justice Committee oversees the state police, is planning a hearing. He wants to do it with Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, who chairs a gambling oversight panel. Rafferty, R-Chester County, is viewed as pro state police. Earll, who has a casino in her district, is viewed as pro-gaming.
Earll stopped an effort last October to put state police in charge of slot licensee background investigations, saying, "I don't see any glaring problems that have been brought to light by today's testimony that we need to rush to fix."
She also has not let any slots reform legislation out of her committee in more than a year now.
It shouldn't be such a shock considering lawmakers are still being lobbied hard by the gambling industry - to the tune of at least $2.6 million last year, my research shows.
That includes the parent company of DeNaples' slots parlor, Mount Airy #1 L.L.C, which spent $67,375 lobbying lawmakers for "casino gambling" through the Philadelphia firm of S.R. Wojdak & Associates LP.
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: casino, gambling, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tom Corbett
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Friday, March 07, 2008
Some things I still don't understand in Slotsylvania
FOLLOW UP FRIDAY - Has indicted slots parlor owner Louis DeNaples ever faced an opposing lawyer or prosecutor he didn't hire?He hired Sal Cognetti Jr., a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted DeNaples sucessfully in 1978 on a charge that he defrauded the federal government of $525,000 for cleanup work associated with Hurricane Agnes. The Dunmore auto parts dealer, landfill owner and banker pleaded no contest to a felony conspiracy count, paid a $10,000 fine and spent three years on probation.
Cognetti is now defending the Rev. Joseph Sica, who has been charged with perjury for lying to a Dauphin County grand jury that later indicted DeNaples for perjury. The grand jury believed the Dunmore billionaire lied to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board about his ties to reputed mobsters and political fixers.
Cognetti was also one of two law enforcement references DeNaples used on his successful slots parlor application. "You judge a man by his whole life, not something that happened 30 years ago and I think when you judge Mr. DeNaples by his whole life, he is an honorable person," Cognetti told reporters then.
The other reference came from U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino, who was supposed to be building up a federal case against DeNaples even as he secretly supported the suspect's bid for a casino.
He left office last October and was hired as DeNaples' in-house counsel two months later.
Former Gaming Control Board Chairman Thomas "Tad" Decker was supposed to be weighing the public acceptability of DeNaples' license, but the board did most of its work behind closed doors under his reign and he seems to have disregarded any of the warning flags that were blowing at hurricane strength.
As soon as DeNaples got his license in 2006, one of the first things he did was hires Decker's former Philadelphia law firm, Cozen O'Connor, to handle the financing of his $412 million resort and casino. When Decker resigned from the PGCB last year, he immediately became CEO and President of Cozen O'Connor.
DeNaples also hired Peter Vaira, a former U.S. attorney in Philadelphia, and J. Alan Johnson, a former U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, to assure the control board that DeNaples had no relationships with organized crime figures.
He never hired Attorney General Tom Corbett, but he did contribute $35,000 toward his election campaign and the state's top law enforcement officer now won't return it. Corbett opted to let Dauphin County District Attorney Ed Marsico prosecute DeNaples, instead of having his own seven-attorney slots corruption unit handle the case.
But given this track record, one can only wonder which honorable barrister is getting his resume together next?
It reminds me of what another felon, Bob Bolus Jr., an enemy of DeNaples and a competing auto parts dealer, testified to during a public hearing on DeNaples' license.
"DeNaples will lie, cheat and even allow someone to be imprisoned to get his own way," Bolus said. "Louis feels he can just buy anyone he wants."
I guess they have their uses s long as they have a law degree.
COMBATING ILLEGAL GAMBLING VS. TREATING GAMBLING ADDICTS
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board is handing out as much as $5 million to combat illegal slots and poker machines out of its 55 percent rake from legal slots parlors, even though some law enforcement officials are confused about how the money can be spent, according to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
But they're not looking a gift horse in the mouth, either. For instance, the Washington County District Attorney's office received a state grant of more than $151,000 this week to establish an illegal slot machine task force so the state can defend its gambling monopoly.
However, there are already more than 200 Pennsylvanians so addicted to slot machine gambling that they've legally barred themselves from the seven operating casinos, with seven more parlors left to open, PGCB Chairwoman Mary DiGiacomo Colins testified to last month.
Yet, two bills that would require the PGCB to spend $1.5 million to $3.5 million on treatment for compulsive gamblers have been stuck in the House Committee on Gaming Oversight for more than a year.
And no offense to state Rep. Tom Creighton, but sending gamblers a monthly win-loss statement without providing additional means for them to seek help is just whitewashing over the social cost of legalized gambling.
MONEY AND LOBBYING TRUMPING PUBLIC REFORM EFFORTS
One thing I'll never understand, is why did the 2005 pay raise cause such a public outrage that it was later repealed, but no groundswell can seemingly beat back the 2004 slots law, which was similarly passed in the middle of the night on the eve of a holiday with no public debate or referendum?
And now even after the Legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell have reneged on the promise of using the extra $1 billion generated from slots for statewide property tax reform, one slots parlor owner has been indicted, and lobbyists are secretly spending at least $2.6 million to influence lawmakers, the public still isn't stirring.
What's it going to take? Will the public stay silent now that the state's estimate of $3 billion annually from the 14 slots parlors is expected to fall far short of projections while there's a bill waiting in the wings to expand the slots parlors into full fledge casinos?
For more about Louis DeNaples and to read my complete take on this long-predicted Slotsylvania snafu, click here.
Labels: casino, Ed Rendell, Louis DeNaples, Pennsylvania, slots, Tom Corbett
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Somebody else may be lying in Slotsylvania...
... And I don't think it's the state police commander.
Former Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board chairman Thomas A. "Tad" Decker is once again telling newspapers that his board did not know slots parlor applicant Louis DeNaples was lying to them before they issued him a license."We didn't send a perjury referral," Decker told Robert Swift, the Scranton Times-Tribune's Harrisburg reporter on Wednesday. "This is just flat out not tru