Rendell Playing Games Againb

Ed Rendell is trying to play games with the gambling issue in Pennsylvania after Lynn Swann criticized him for not reforming "the slots legalization law in the two years since it was passed." Here's how Rendell responded:
Dan Fee, spokesman for Mr. Rendell's re-election campaign, said Mr. Swann "is wrong to want to delay property tax relief." The state's share of slots revenue will go toward providing property tax rollbacks, primarily for senior citizens, in a few years.
That's such nonsense that it barely rates as spin, much less seriousness. Here's Swann's proposal to reform this program:

He also said the governor and the Legislature should move to:
  • Require state police to complete background checks before gaming board employees can begin working.
  • Add gaming law violations to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
  • Ban outside employment of gaming board members, and ban political contributions from gaming board members. (The Gaming Control Board, in its code of ethics, prohibits campaign contributions among the board members, but the contributions aren't prohibited legislatively.)
If Rendell isn't willing to urge the state legislature to implement these three commonsense provisions, then why should the people of Pennsylvania think that Rendell will take the issue of corruption seriously? It seems that there must be some sort of oversight board for any gambling operation.

Another question that should be asked is why hasn't Rendell pushed for oversight reform for gambling already? Why weren't these reforms in the original legislation? If they weren't, why didn't Rendell veto the bill and instruct them to get it right? Is it because he doesn't care about potential corruption opportunities?



Posted Sunday, August 6, 2006 11:46 AM

July 2006 Posts

No comments.

Popular posts from this blog

March 21-24, 2016

October 31, 2007

January 19-20, 2012