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Under the Table
Eleven people, including lobbyists, casino operators and 4 Alabama state senators, have been indicted for a "conspiracy" to help pass favorable legislation in exchange for campaign contributions and other campaign help â like the appearance of country music stars at rallies.
According to the indictment, which you can read in its entirety here:
Alabama State legislators and legislative staff, as agents of the State of Alabama, corruptly solicited, demanded, accepted and agreed to accept money and things of value from defendants and others, intending to be influenced and rewarded in connection with pro-gambling legislation.
What's most striking about the alleged crime is, well, how un-striking it really is â especially by the standards of Pennsylvania.
Our Great Commonwealth places almost no limits whatsoever on campaign contributions.
The key notion in these allegations, of course, is that the politicians "corruptly" accepted money and things of value, "intending to be influenced."
In Pennsylvania, politicians â Democrats especially â have received vast amounts of money from pro-gambling interests, and have voted favorably for all kinds of concessions to casinos â their legalization, of course, but also such goodies as the ability to extend credit to slots players (a nicety packed quietly into the recent table games bill).
It's all perfectly legal â as long as those politicians don't "intend to be influenced" by the wads of money they receive.
I'm reminded in particular of the case of lobbyist Stephen Wojdak, which I wrote about during the table games debate last winter. Wojdak, a powerful lobbyist said to have a hand in all legislation casino-related, and who represents several casinos, controls a political action committee which has given generously to Harrisburg lawmakers.
As the table games legislation was being drafted, an obscure clause appeared in it that would favor one casino venture, that he represented, over another. Asked if he held any interest in the favored casino, Wojdak did not reply to several inquiries.
I should emphasize that I'm not implying any crime here. On the contrary: I'm implying this kind of stuff is business as usual.
Well, folks, it's game on: the House is debating the table games bill as we speak (my understanding was that it can't be voted on until about 5:00 tonight; will report back on that).
I'll be covering the discussion (or whatever's left of it) and vote today via Twitter and on the Clog â simultaneously in this case!
My Twitter coverage (PhillyfrScratch) will be streamed below.
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| Isaiah Thompson |
Tonight, the state House of Representatives is set to vote on the table games bill â a bill that contains more shady clauses than a Santa convention.
Does it matter? Do I spit into the wind?
Maybe so: but at least I'm spittin'.
This bill is about much more than whether or not you can play blackjack at a casino.
- It expands the powers of casinos to extend credit
- It expands their powers to share information about pools of potentially lucrative gamblers.
- It keeps enforcement and scrutiny of casino operators under the Gaming Board, despite almost uniform agreement among law enforcement officials that it shouldn't be.
- It grants special favors to private interests â including, CP found, favoring a company represented by a top Harrisburg lobbyist to get the last unawarded casino license.
- It extends the opening time for Foxwoods.
- It offers casinos laughably low tax rates and licensing fees â even though its sole purpose, ostensibly, is to raise money for the state.
- It appears to create a new category of casino supppliers, subject to less scrutiny.
The list goes on.
Meanwhile, Governor Rendell â the same who refused to tax the massive gas drilling operations underway in Pennsylvania â maintains his hostage tactic over the small pot of money tied to table games, threatening to lay off 1,000 workers if the bill isn't passed by Friday.
His office argues that, because the projected â key word, there â revenues from table games were included in the budget to the tune of $250 million, the state legislature simply must pass this bill.
Perhaps Rendell â and, indeed, the state legislature â ought not to have included money in the budget that would come from an activity not yet legal! Rendell signed off on a budget that expected money from table games without having seen the actual law that would provide for table game in the first place.
When, lo and behold, the law turned out to be riddled with earmarks, casino giveaways, and greedy in-fighting among the legislature, and therefore got held up â Rendell is all the more to blame for allowing such provisions in his budget in the first place.
Yet it seems to me that the media has played easily into Rendell's hands, covering all sorts of issues â even a natural history exhibit â in a context of something terrible happening "if the House doesn't pass table games," â as if passing table games was some sort of abstract bureaucratic hurdle that simply must be overcome; as if Rendell's bullying and threatening layoffs is somehow more reasonable than the delay of a thoroughly corrupted law.
Example: "Rendell: Might have to close Pa. museum, parks" â Inquirer
Example: "Rendell: Without table gaming, the state budget is ruined." â Business Insider
Example: "Rendell: Layoffs to come if no table games by Jan 8" â Inquirer
Example: "At last, a table games deal" â Allentown morning Call
I've made my personal opinion clear before and, in the interest of disclosure â an, frankly, as an appeal to readers who trust my reporting â I state it again. This bill is a disgrace. It expands the power of a predatory industry, and it reeks of pay-for-play politics.
If you'd like to contact your representatives to urge them to vote either way, you can look them up here by zipcode.
Coming up: table games' shady provisions explored.
Gov Rendell: What do you plan to do if the casinos don't earn your projected money in the state budget???
Thank you for continuing to uphold justice for the unheard & unseen citizens of Philadelphia. Thank you to CP for not being run by corporate America.
@Elizabeth Gutman: Rendell could always push through legalized prostitution and cocaine sales, threatening to close Pennsylvania's elementary schools.
[...] way it passed was by threats and bribery of pet projects to buy legislators' votes. Read this insightful commentary by Isaiah Thompson of the CityPaper. And of course, as we learned late Monday evening, this bill exempts the [...]
What's really weird is that presumably to prevent casinos from competing with normal lenders, they are only allowed to lend for the purpose of gambling. What does that mean? It would seem to imply that after getting such a loan you either have to win (always unlikely) or gamble it away. Walk in with nothing, walk out with a debt. The beauty part is that the casino need not charge usurious rates for these loans, since the gamblers will normally lose the money right back to the casino, and then have to pay it back too. Unless they can bet it all and break even, and then walk away and use the money for something else? It makes no sense at all. Money is fungible, or it used to be. This really is a strategy for the casinos to go beyond the empty pockets of destitute gambling addicts, and seize their other assets as well. We'd best start building more homeless shelters.
[...] The 1000 state employees whose jobs are secure now that the table games bill has been signed by the governor are breathing easier. Still, we’re not crazy about the Governor using them as pawns in his battle with the legislature. [...]
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