The second case is a bit more involved. It involves the gaming bill, Act 71 of 2004. This gem of ethicless legislation gave us casino gambling in Pennsylvania. While it has not resulted in a single slot machine running legally in the state yet, it has posed a number of ethics problems on varying levels.
First, and foremost, our glorious leader, Governor Edward G. “Fast Eddie” Rendell, has brought us the gambling casinos he promised to the big money folks out in Las Vegas. Originally supposed to be four or five river boats on waterfronts in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Erie, Scranton/Wilkes Barre, and Harrisburg, there will now be eleven casinos, six of which will be “racinos”, located at the state’s six races tracks, and five stand alone casinos, two anchored in Philadelphia, and one in Pittsburgh, with the remaining two allowed to be built anywhere no matter the opposition, no matter the zoning laws. One has been proposed for the Gettysburg area, where it will supposedly draw people from Maryland and West Virginia, which states already have, or soon will have gaming casinos nearby.
The problem is that the legislature and Governor “Fast Eddie” are introducing an industry into the Commonwealth that is hazardous to the health and well being of the citizens of this state. Gambling brings crime with it. It brings addictions with it, often feeding off alcoholism to feed addiction to gambling, or at least to make the gambler more susceptible to losing, and to keep on losing.
Act 71 allows the house and senate leadership to select members of the Gaming Control Board. It also designates the Governor as another person who appoints members to the Gaming Control Board.
These are straight appointments, requiring no confirmation from either legislative body.
This board has, since its inception, cut the State Police out of the vetting process for hiring, conducted closed door meetings to conduct business in violation of the state’s Sunshine Law, and let contracts without any public comment or review. This board is responsible for the vetting of board personnel, contractors, and equipment. Slot machines will be licensed and casinos will be licensed by this board. This board will also make the decision as to where the 5 free standing casinos (not connected to any race track) in the state will be located, and the legislation allows them to totally ignore public sentiment and zoning ordinances.
Anybody smell anything yet?
Lobbyists who regularly ply the halls of the Capitol have suddenly become investor/partners in startup companies required by Act 71 as the “middlemen” who will purchase slot machines from outside the state, and sell them to the 11 casinos in Pennsylvania.
Lobbyists who regularly ply the halls of the Capitol have suddenly become investor/partners in startup companies required by Act 71 as the “middlemen” who will purchase slot machines from outside the state, and sell them to the 11 casinos in Pennsylvania.
Whew! The smell is getting bad.
A state representative from Philadelphia is being investigated on his efforts to gain a lock on the location of a casino in Philadelphia on land that he owns.
According to Act 71, state legislators are permitted to own a percentage (initially it was 15%) of a casino. These are the same folks who are part of the process to appoint members to the Gaming Control Board.
A state representative from Philadelphia is being investigated on his efforts to gain a lock on the location of a casino in Philadelphia on land that he owns.
According to Act 71, state legislators are permitted to own a percentage (initially it was 15%) of a casino. These are the same folks who are part of the process to appoint members to the Gaming Control Board.
Man, that stinks!
All the members of the Gaming Control Board are political appointees.
All the members of the Gaming Control Board are political appointees.
Wow! The smell is getting really bad here.
Six “racinos” (slots parlors at Pennsylvania thoroughbred and harness racing tracks) and 5 free standing casino slot parlors (two mandated in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and the other two up for grabs, with a strong effort in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, and another in the Pocono resorts area, while a third one is pushing for a slot parlor with 6,000 machines in it at Gettysburg. Other areas of interest include Erie (but it must be a fair distance from any race tracks so it may not work out there, the resort at Nemacolin along the western Pennsylvania southern border, and outside of Pittsburgh. Odds are, that one will go to either the Poconos or to the A-B-E area, and this blogger guesses the Poconos are a lock.
Resistance at Gettysburg is fierce, organized and international. The local investor group has a real PR problem, and is attempting to sugar coat everything negative about casinos to ram it down the throats of the local residents. They do this by throwing unimaginable numbers around. Hundreds of millions of dollars! Thousands of jobs! And so on. These are things the area does not need. The economy in Adams County is just fine, and unemployment is, and has always been, one of the lowest rates, not only in the state, but in the nation.
Six “racinos” (slots parlors at Pennsylvania thoroughbred and harness racing tracks) and 5 free standing casino slot parlors (two mandated in Philadelphia, one in Pittsburgh, and the other two up for grabs, with a strong effort in the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton area, and another in the Pocono resorts area, while a third one is pushing for a slot parlor with 6,000 machines in it at Gettysburg. Other areas of interest include Erie (but it must be a fair distance from any race tracks so it may not work out there, the resort at Nemacolin along the western Pennsylvania southern border, and outside of Pittsburgh. Odds are, that one will go to either the Poconos or to the A-B-E area, and this blogger guesses the Poconos are a lock.
Resistance at Gettysburg is fierce, organized and international. The local investor group has a real PR problem, and is attempting to sugar coat everything negative about casinos to ram it down the throats of the local residents. They do this by throwing unimaginable numbers around. Hundreds of millions of dollars! Thousands of jobs! And so on. These are things the area does not need. The economy in Adams County is just fine, and unemployment is, and has always been, one of the lowest rates, not only in the state, but in the nation.
Smelling really bad now.
So, what’s the rest of the good news on gaming in Pennsylvania? Well, there’s this: gambling in Pennsylvania will increase the number of bankruptcies, suicides, addicted gamblers, alcoholics, divorces, broken homes, and crimes, including robbery, drunken driving arrests, (and accidents), neglected and abused children, spousal abuse, and other assorted problems associated with social breakdown. The costs of social services will skyrocket out of sight as family after family breaks down as a result of legalized gambling. Prostitution will explode, as will sexually transmitted diseases. Oh, the gaming industry will not import prostitutes, but there are plenty of folks who will move into an area near a casino and take advantage of “the traffic”.
None of this addresses the massive costs in infrastructure, the ongoing maintenance of which will cost taxpayers a bundle, certainly far more than they are paying now. Service will go up, too, as in fire, police, and ambulance services, hospitalizations, and incarcerations. Police in particular will have to have force increases, or departments started from scratch. That is more cost thrust on the taxpayers.
So, what’s the rest of the good news on gaming in Pennsylvania? Well, there’s this: gambling in Pennsylvania will increase the number of bankruptcies, suicides, addicted gamblers, alcoholics, divorces, broken homes, and crimes, including robbery, drunken driving arrests, (and accidents), neglected and abused children, spousal abuse, and other assorted problems associated with social breakdown. The costs of social services will skyrocket out of sight as family after family breaks down as a result of legalized gambling. Prostitution will explode, as will sexually transmitted diseases. Oh, the gaming industry will not import prostitutes, but there are plenty of folks who will move into an area near a casino and take advantage of “the traffic”.
None of this addresses the massive costs in infrastructure, the ongoing maintenance of which will cost taxpayers a bundle, certainly far more than they are paying now. Service will go up, too, as in fire, police, and ambulance services, hospitalizations, and incarcerations. Police in particular will have to have force increases, or departments started from scratch. That is more cost thrust on the taxpayers.
Boy it smells like something died here.
Something did die here. The souls of the good people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania died because they failed to hold their government officials accountable, and those officials literally sold them out to the gambling industry, in exchange for massive infusions of campaign cash.
This is how your legislators, your judges, and your Governor and his administration protect you, the citizens of the Commonwealth. They use the new ethics, the ethics of greed, to get theirs, while you pay the price. And unless you do something about it NOW, you will pay, not just in cash, but in the priceless commodity of the human soul.
THE CENTRIST
Something did die here. The souls of the good people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania died because they failed to hold their government officials accountable, and those officials literally sold them out to the gambling industry, in exchange for massive infusions of campaign cash.
This is how your legislators, your judges, and your Governor and his administration protect you, the citizens of the Commonwealth. They use the new ethics, the ethics of greed, to get theirs, while you pay the price. And unless you do something about it NOW, you will pay, not just in cash, but in the priceless commodity of the human soul.
THE CENTRIST
"It is the duty of every citizen according to his best capacities to give validity to his convictions in political affairs. " Albert Einstein
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