PENNSYLVANIA Slots foes say pork greased the skids

Some lawmakers votes were obtained by tacking on special considerations.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- Ever since the birth of Atlantic City as a casino destination more than 25 years ago, some Pennsylvania lawmakers have dreamed about creating their own gambling Mecca.
Now, proponents say they have the votes to approve a massive plan to legalize 61,000 slot machines at 14 venues such as racetracks and resorts, and approval could come next week.
If the plan does pass, opponents say it will have been because it provided enough pork to sway individual legislators, and a relatively painless way to raise $1 billion a year to lower property taxes. The social ills and other problems associated with gambling have received little attention, they say.
"The bones have been thrown out there," said Rep. Paul I. Clymer, the Bucks County Republican who has helped spearhead opposition to the plan. "It's not about the substance of the issue, to debate the pros and cons of the issue. It's what's being put out there to grab on to."
Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell reinvigorated the drive to legalize slots in Pennsylvania during his 2002 election campaign when he proposed it as a revenue source to reduce the more than $5 billion in property taxes that Pennsylvanians pay to fund schools.
Barry Kauffman, the executive director of the Pennsylvania chapter of government watchdog Common Cause, contended that lawmakers desperate to satisfy upset voters are "taking the easy way out."
The down side
Taxing gambling revenue is a Band-Aid that could end up costing the state money if slots parlors sow social problems and depress nearby businesses, he said.
Since lotteries, riverboat and land-based casinos were outlawed by the early 1900s, most states have reintroduced some form of legal gambling, particularly in the last two decades, said Bill Thompson, a professor of public administration at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
Currently, about 30 states have slot machines, according to the trade publication International Gaming & amp; Wagering Business.
Gambling opponents like to cite studies on the impact of adding casino gambling to a community: Increases in crime, gambling addiction, public corruption, and personal bankruptcies; and a drop in customers for other businesses.
But those concerns, in some cases, were outweighed by the considerations given to lawmakers whose votes are needed to pass the measure.
Give and take
Take Sen. Robert M. Tomlinson, the Bucks County Republican who has Smarty Jones' home track in his district. Tomlinson was regarded as a key negotiator for the handful of Senate Republicans who were willing to go along with slots, but he demanded that 4 percent of the gambling revenues from Philadelphia Park go to the county and the track's host municipality, Bensalem.
Democrats, who likely will supply most of the votes for the plan, privately regarded that amount as an expensive political gift to Tomlinson, but eventually gave in.
Tomlinson's chief of staff, Jim Cawley, said his boss wanted to ensure that the local governments could afford related new services such as traffic improvements or addiction treatment. And the track would get a huge boost in an industry struggling to hang onto fans, Cawley said.
"Is it poor public policy to save a business in his district that employs 1,000 people, keeps hundreds of acres of open space, and has over the life of the park given millions of dollars in property taxes?" Cawley asked.
Then there's Republican Sen. John Pippy, whose suburban Pittsburgh district includes the debt-ridden Pittsburgh International Airport.
Pippy offered his vote if the slots plan earmarked $150 million to lower the airlines' debt payments to the airport. The aim is to keep US Airways from further reducing its flight load and to attract other airlines, he said. Legislative staffers said the idea has strong support among the plan's negotiators. "It might help rehire some of the people who lost their jobs and maintain the businesses that provide services to the airlines," Pippy said. Without extra money for the airport, "we would have all the social cost [from gambling] without any of the direct benefit."