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New legislature still cool to slots

O’Malley could face resistance if he makes the gambling machines a priority

Friday, Nov. 17, 2006

Click here to enlarge this photo Laurie DeWitt⁄The Gazette Gov.-elect Martin O’Malley (left), with Lt. Gov.-elect Anthony G. Brown (center) and former Senate candidate Kweisi Mfume, announces the members of his transition team Thursday. The team includes Mfume and will be led by Brown. See story on Page A-6.

Legalizing slot machines was not a cornerstone of O’Malley’s campaign, but his pro-slots position has commanded a lot of attention since he defeated pro-slots Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), who failed for the past four years to get his signature initiative through the House of Delegates.

O’Malley is already getting pressure from slots champion Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. to push the issue in the coming legislative session — while the new governor is still in his ‘‘honeymoon” period. That pressure — combined with new budget projections that show long-term deficits — brings the prospects for slot machines more into focus.

That said, the slots rumble is being greeted coolly in the House where Speaker Michael E. Busch, who opposes slots, is urging O’Malley to concentrate on other pressing matters such as health care and higher education. Much of Busch’s opposition to slots is well-known, but it is also reflective of the anti-slot sentiment of many new and veteran members of the House from the Democratic Party’s power base in the Washington suburbs.

A survey of lawmakers from Prince George’s, Montgomery and the Southern Maryland counties shows that legalizing gambling continues to be very unpopular. Some lawmakers are urging the new governor to shift his attention elsewhere.

‘‘If I were in his shoes, this is not the issue I would trot out there right off the bat,” said House Economic Matters Committee Chairman Dereck E. Davis (D-Dist. 25) of Upper Marlboro, a key Busch ally. ‘‘I would be surprised if you got any more than a couple of votes out of the Prince George’s delegation and I doubt there would be any pressure from leadership to get it done.”

Davis said the clamoring for slots would increase depending on the severity of the state’s long-term budget deficit, but he said the voters in his district believe that it’s a ‘‘dead issue.”

O’Malley, Davis said, would have to change a lot of minds if he wants to get any slots legislation passed. ‘‘I really doubt the outcome of this issue will change because the administration changed,” he said.

A majority of the new crop of General Assembly members — especially those from Prince George’s and Montgomery — who will be coming to town in January oppose slots. New delegates and senators made their positions clear in The Gazette’s pre-election Voter’s Guide.

In Prince George’s County, 17 of 19 current and new House members who responded to The Gazette’s voter’s guide said they opposed slots, including newcomers from Prince George’s such as Ben Barnes (D-Dist. 21), Joseline Pena-Melnyk (D-Dist. 21), Gerron Levi (D-Dist. 23A), Aisha N. Braveboy (D-Dist. 25) and Jolene Ivey (D-Dist. 47) all said they were opposed to slots.

In Montgomery County, 19 of 22 new and veteran delegates who responded to the questionnaire said they opposed slots. Of the new Montgomery members, only Benjamin F. Kramer (D-Dist. 19) said he would support slots under certain conditions to raise revenue for state budget programs. In the District 15 toss-up race between Del. Jean B. Cryor, a Republican, and Craig L. Rice, a Democrat, the sentiment was the same. Rice said he opposed slots and Cryor doubted that there was the necessary ‘‘political will” to get a slots bill passed.

In Southern Maryland, incoming Charles County delegate Peter Murphy (D-Dist. 28) leans against slots. Murphy replaced Del. William Daniel Mayer (R-Dist. 28) of Newburg who supported slots.

Other prominent slots opponents were ushered into office last week. Del. Peter V.R. Franchot (D-Dist. 20) of Takoma Park was elected comptroller and Del. John R. Leopold (R-Dist. 31) of Pasadena was elected Anne Arundel County executive, giving the anti-slots crowd two more prominent voices for their cause.

Many veteran slots opponents in the House were re-elected last week, and they remain convinced that the state does not needs to move in that direction.

‘‘I think a lot of people figure we’ve done without them this long; [O’Malley is] going to have a hard time laying out the case to opponents that you really have to have them,” said Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. (D-Dist. 29B) of California, a slots opponent.

An O’Malley spokeswoman said the Baltimore mayor still supports a limited number of slot machines at racetracks to support the industry, but specific proposals will not be discussed until his administration has been assembled and the transition is complete. It is also unclear how much of an emphasis slots will be in the incoming O’Malley administration. O’Malley’s running mate, Del. Anthony G. Brown, a key Busch lieutenant who was a leading slots critic, said during the campaign that a slots bill should come from the legislature, not the administration.

Miller (D-Dist. 27) of Chesapeake Beach said that if a bill is going to be passed, it has to be pushed by the governor. He has said publicly that the Senate has no plans to push for a tax increase, leaving slots as the only revenue generator the Senate is ready to consider.

In a radio interview last week, O’Malley said the horse racing industry is vital to Maryland’s economic and environmental future.

‘‘I think the 18,000 racing jobs ... are important to Maryland,” O’Malley told WTOP radio in Washington. ‘‘I think racing is important to cultural tourism — having the Preakness [Stakes] here is the equivalent of having the Super Bowl in Maryland every year — not to mention the fact that horse breeding ... is one of the most environmentally friendly agricultural uses in a state that hugs a critical estuary that’s facing some serious challenges.”

O’Malley did say that he was ‘‘sick of this issue.”

Still, some Democrats are open to slots.

Del. Murray D. Levy said he would favor legislation that includes a competitive bidding process, limits the number of machines and allows individual counties to prohibit gaming.

‘‘You can never put the genie back in the bottle, but you can always expand it,” he said.

The state needs the additional income to keep pace with increased expenditures for schools, roads and health care, said Levy (D-Dist. 28) of La Plata. ‘‘[Regardless of] all the hot air, we cannot sustain our budgets at this level without additional revenue. And this is in a whopping economy; wait until a recession comes.”

Maryland already permits gambling through the lottery, keno, bingo and casino nights, so slot machines would not be a new venture for the state. ‘‘We’re hardly pure and virginal when it comes to gambling,” Levy said.