Local Dems leery of slots

Party club members pan referendum

Friday, June 13, 2008

The early returns among members of one politically active group indicate that slots proponents might face an uphill battle in Charles County.

‘‘I think it’s a lousy way to set your budget,” said Howard Dent, a Newburg resident who attended Monday’s meeting of the 4th and 5th Districts Democratic Club of Charles County that featured a discussion of the referendum with Del. Peter F. Murphy.

Slots are a bad bet for other reasons, too, club members said.

Legalized gambling doesn’t belong in the state constitution, said club President Frank Lancaster, a well-respected Democrat who has deep ties with organized labor. And other states where gambling is legal have faced deep deficits in recent years, referring to multibillion dollar shortfalls in New Jersey and Nevada.

‘‘Other states that have gambling are in the red,” he said. ‘‘Why should we follow suit?”

Voters will settle the years-old debate on slots in Maryland by deciding whether to allow 15,000 slot machines at five locations in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties and Baltimore.

About half of the proceeds will be put into an education trust fund and one-third of revenues will go to slots licensees, but Lancaster is disturbed that Charles County will receive no direct impact. Up to $100 million a year — about 7 percent of revenues — will bolster thoroughbred racing purses and 5.5 percent will go back to the jurisdictions where slots parlors are located.

Club Vice President Karen Andreas is upset that the referendum won’t prevent money earmarked for education from being raided in the future. At least 48.5 percent of slots proceeds is slated to be spent on education, but Andreas worries that the revenue will instead be used for other purposes.

‘‘It’s going to be like my Social Security that I’m never going to see,” she said. ‘‘I don’t trust that the hands will stay out of the pot.”

Parents should have greater assurances that the money will be put towards schools that are in desperate need of more funds.

‘‘We have people trying to sell a bad idea using our children as bait once again,” said Andreas, who lives in Rock Point.

‘‘It’s a simple thing to add a mandate. They do it to our children all the time.”

To wit, lawmakers dedicated $400 million to the Transportation Trust Fund during last fall’s special session, only to see $50 million removed as part of the computer services tax repeal.

‘‘We have a history in this state of taking from trust funds,” said Murphy, who is not a fan of the bill because it doesn’t respect local courtesy. If voters statewide approve the referendum, slots could be placed in areas where those voters did not endorse it, which troubles Murphy.

He also would have liked the state to get more money up front from the eventual license-holders through an auction.

Even if the referendum passes, revenue from slots will not start pouring into the state treasury for three or four years, Murphy said.

Some voters might end up casting their vote on the referendum without really knowing what it does, said Mary Ann Grooms of White Plains.

That’s because the bill refers to slots as ‘‘video lottery terminals,” which might confuse some voters about what they really are.

‘‘When you word a bill that the very title itself doesn’t tell you what it’s doing, you know right away that they’re trying to obfuscate it,” she said.

‘‘If you don’t know, vote no,” Lancaster instructed the club members.

But not everyone is wary.

If slots don’t pass, the state will likely take more money from local jurisdictions to fill the revenue hole, said Charles County Commissioner Samuel N. Graves Jr. (D).

As long as the machines are properly maintained and the revenues are used as intended, he favors slots because counties will be held harmless.

The slots discussion followed a visit last month from Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot (D), a top critic of legalized gambling.

But Murphy (D-Charles) predicted slots supporters, a coalition that currently includes the Maryland Chamber of Commerce, Maryland State Teachers Association, Maryland State and DC AFL-CIO and the Maryland Association of Counties, will spend lots of money promoting the referendum before November. He also expects neighboring states where gambling is legal – West Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania — to pump money into defeating the referendum so their business doesn’t suffer.

While most people are focused on the presidential election, Murphy believes the referendum takes top billing in Maryland.

‘‘I think it’s an incredibly important vote that we as Marylanders are going to be taking in November and certainly if it passes, one that we will live with for a long time.”