PITTSBURGH Lawmaker: Slots backers paid for attending rally

One state official said the organizers should have been up front about paying.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Dozens of public housing residents were paid about $15 each to attend a rally in support of a planned casino and sports arena, a lawmaker said.
Neighborhood residents confirmed the payments to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which reported in Sunday's paper that about 80 people from the Bedford Dwellings housing complex were bused to the event last month.
"Some got paid $15, some got paid less," said Howard Parker, who lives in the Hill District and talked to several neighbors who attended the rally.
A handful of people among the three buses supported the plan, Parker said, and though not everyone came to get paid, "that's the reason why most of them did."
Organized event
The rally was organized by Pittsburgh First, a group supporting the proposal by Isle of Capri Casinos and the Pittsburgh Penguins to build a $290 million arena if Isle of Capri wins the city's sole license for slot-machine gambling.
The plan also promises economic development in the Hill District, a predominantly black neighborhood near the Penguins' current home of Mellon Arena.
The rally was April 18 outside a building where the state Gaming Control Board was hearing pitches by Mississippi-based Isle of Capri and the two other groups vying for the license.
State Rep. Jake Wheatley Jr., D-Allegheny, said Bedford Dwellings residents were promised $15 if they got on buses to join the rally.
Offering payment for public support isn't necessarily wrong, he said, but "you should be open and up front with people."
The Rev. James Simms, head of Pittsburgh First, denied involvement. Transportation coordinators were given stipends, he said, but those were not intended to encourage participation.
"I stipended the field coordinators, and if they made arrangements, they made them on their own," Simms said.
Were payments authorized?
But others told the paper Simms authorized the payments.
Alissa Hughes, who lives in Bedford Dwellings and attended the rally, said Simms paid a man named Tony Eaves to offer people $15 to go to the rally.
"I was right there," she said.
Eaves was given $400, but that wasn't enough to cover everyone, so some residents complained and Eaves paid them with his own money, Hughes said.
Eaves declined to comment.
Les McMackin, an Isle of Capri spokesman, said his company was not involved and that he did not believe it happened.
David Morehouse, a Penguins spokesman, also doubted the story.
"I don't believe people were paid, and I think this is more of a dirty trick effort" by opponents of the plan, he said.
The Penguins' owners are trying to sell the team and have said they would consider moving to another city if a new arena isn't built.
Mellon Arena, which was built for $18 million and opened in 1961, is the oldest and smallest in the NHL.