Philadelphia Weekly

A new report from Pennsylvania Common Cause, a campaign finance watchdog, has bolstered activists’ allegations that casinos are buying influence in Harrisburg.

Photo by Flicker user Tricky(TM), used under a Creative Commons license.

The Philadelphia City Planning Commission’s 4-2 vote to approve the proposed SugarHouse casino on the Delaware River is only the most recent reminder that public officials have made up their minds in favor of gambling. But while deeply frustrated, anti-casino activists are not giving up their campaign. Last Thursday, nearly 100 protesters took to the sidewalk of East Market on Thursday in a mock circus of dissent, clowns and all. Angered by their inability to influence the political process, activists went theatrical at the SugarHouse vote, too, showering commissioners with Monopoly money and calling the whole process “a farce.”

Having come up short in the halls of power, activists are revising their strategy, looking towards other ways of blocking or hindering the two casinos proposed for Center City and the Delaware waterfront. At Thursday’s circus, protesters orchestrated unwinnable carnival games to showcase the predatory nature of casinos, called attention to Candidate/Mayor Nutter's doublespeak and sold cotton candy. The event also served as an office warming for the anti-casino movement's new space on East Market (“The No Slots Spot”), right across the street from the proposed Foxwoods Strawbridge casino—a real estate acquisition that must thrill potential investors. Asian Americans United, Casino-Free Philadelphia and the No Casinos in the Heart of the City Coalition will be sharing the storefront.

A new report from Pennsylvania Common Cause, a campaign finance watchdog, has bolstered activists’ allegations that casinos are buying influence in Harrisburg. The report details the $4.4 million in casino contributions to the governor, legislators and state Supreme Court justices between 2001 and 2008.

Common Cause and anti-casino groups say that the donations have paid off, from the governor and the legislature backing the 2004 Gaming Act, to the appointment of friendly Gaming Control Board members, to the April Supreme Court decision overturning a state law that limited casino contributions. According to the report, the lack of contribution limits, a poor campaign finance disclosure system and the absence of lobbyist disclosure requirements before 2007 allowed casino money to spill into the capitol with little public scrutiny. And the court’s role in defending casino money reinforces the widespread criticism of Pennsylvania’s practice of electing judges to the bench, which opponents argue is a recipe for conflicts of interest, at best.

Nearly a quarter of the donations—a whopping $1,092,090—went to Gov. Rendell. The runner-up in casino money is disgraced former Senator Vince Fumo, with a still sizable $400,900. Fumo was a key mover behind the 2004 Gaming Act, which paved the way for the 14 approved casinos. Other top recipients include Atty. Gen. Tom Corbett, State Rep. Bill DeWeese and former Mayor John Street. The report—which aside from Street did not cover municipal politicians—details the money and interests behind Pennsylvania gambling from the behind-closed-doors Gaming Act on.

The group says that lawyers and lobbyists representing the gambling industry donated an additional $12.3 million. While all of that money cannot be directly and conclusively attributed to casino interests, the figure was included because “the expansion of legalized gambling, and the resulting court cases and license applications, has created a significant source of business for lawyers and lobbyists.” The report also does not include contributions from “developers with an interest in casinos yet to be built” or from proposed casinos, like Donald Trump’s, that got turned down.

Pointing to the budgetary crisis, state legislators have upped the ante and now propose introducing table games like blackjack and roulette. A casino-funded report unsurprisingly claims that such games will raise a huge amount of money for the state.

The whiplash-inducing speed with which the legislature has gone from slots to table games underscores the industry’s political power and ability to expand. If casinos win on table games, critics should expect the industry to push for other potential legislation, including the elimination of the prohibition on 24-hour liquor sales. While there is currently no such legislation being considered in Harrisburg, both Foxwoods and SugarHouse respond to questions on the matter in their websites’ Frequently Asked Questions section, obliquely stating that they will comply with state law.

In an interview, political analyst Terry Madonna, a faculty member at Franklin & Marshall college, said that it was unlikely the gambling interests would soon make any such move that risks giving political ammunition to casino opponents. But given the casino money pouring into Harrisburg, it’s not clear what the industry couldn’t accomplish—a process referred to by some as “gambling creep.”

While far from unexpected, Wednesday’s planning commission vote was still a blow to the anti-casino movement. Activists will now be focusing their sights on consumer protection measures that could limit casino’s reach by barring ATMs from casino premises, prohibiting 24-hour operation and free alcohol. But it has also become increasingly clear to activists that elected officials are not likely to act in their favor, so now the question is how to use grassroots action to block casino construction, pressure investors and hobble any casinos that open.

City Council has blamed the state legislature for casinos, which is to a certain extent fair—the Gaming Act does not leave much room for municipal decision-making. But the city has gone above and beyond the call of duty, rolling out the red carpet to welcome casinos to town. At Thursday’s protest, Ellen Somekawa of Asian Americans United was wearing a two-faced Michael Nutter costume—one side was candidate Nutter, proclaiming his opposition to casinos, and the other, casino-friendly Mayor Nutter. “City officials cannot on their own stop the state from forcing us to have slot parlors,” she acknowledged. “But they can stop fast tracking and recklessness of the process. Why not demand impact studies, plans? There’s no excuse for not taking basic steps.”

According to Casino-Free Philadelphia’s Ivan Boothe, not a single politician has signed the group’s Declaration of Independence from Casinos. Anti-casino activists say that City Council and the legislature can do a lot to curb casinos, but aren’t optimistic they will do so. (Making for strange political bedfellows, most of the activists’ legislative allies are Republicans.)

Casino-Free Philadelphia leader Jethro Heiko, who lives 300 feet from the SugarHouse site, says that elected officials have shut critics out of the process. “I don’t think they’ll do it because they don’t seem to care about the citizens of Philadelphia. If they did, they wouldn’t be putting casinos here in the first place.”

If elected officials fail to act, as activists suspect will be the case, there are a variety of community organizing tools to put pressure on powerful businesses. Heiko says that activists will focus on grassroots action, noting that protesters could, for example, shut down road access to the SugarHouse site. But according to Madonna, casinos will be able to withstand any such protests since they can count on the backing of the entire political establishment. “I don’t see any roadblock that would matter. I think its pretty much a done deal.”

Overall, activists say they are going back to square one and focusing on public education, hoping to disabuse people of the idea that casinos are just good, clean fun. Thursday’s circus comes just a few weeks after a big protest at Harrah’s Chester, where protesters donned anti-casino T-shirts and, to the great consternation of casino management, occupied slots without playing.

While the casinos have as of recent been riding a wave of a compliant political class, the opposition is not giving up just yet. As Casino-Free Philadelphia’s Lily Cavanagh noted, "Our mission is to stop casinos from coming to Philadelphia and close any that open, and we will never stop fighting."