Slots win by a nose at wire

by David Grand
March 5, 2005

Although matched stride for stride coming around the final turn by the opponents of slots in the House, its proponents burst of speed down the stretch allowed them to hold on to win by a nose (one vote). And wonder of wonders, if it wasn't Carroll's Del. Nancy Stocksdale who provided the 71st vote required for House approval. Considering that she'd voted against slots heretofore on moral grounds, made it all the more remarkable. But as she remarked afterwards, "principles can get worn down and give way to politics over the years in Annapolis." (Hope the head deacon in her church Sen. Larry Haines still allows her to sit next to him in the front row.)      

However, while it was the first win for the governor in three years, it was really only a warm-up for the high stakes runoff that'll take place in the conference committee, which will attempt to reconsile the differences between Senate bill SB 205 (that Ehrlich supports) and House bill HB 1361, and to come up with a compomise bill that would pass in both chambers and which the governor would sign.      

While I don't question that they'll make an ernest effort to achieve that goal, my gut reaction is that it will prove to be as futile as shoveling sand into the sea. For those two bills are about as alike as an oil portrait and a polaroid snapshot, particularly as regards the number of machines (15,500 in SB 205 vs. 9,500 in HB 361); the different number of and locations for the slots; different profit level for slots operators (36 percent for the former and 30 percent for the latter); and different ways in deciding who gets licenses to run the facilities. And most significantly, the marked difference between the state's share of the annual proceeds under HB 136, estimated at $300 million, verus the $915 million state's share in SB 205.  

Now, there's no question but that the ideal choice for the one racetrack under HB 1361 would be Laurel Park in Anne Arundel, which coincidentally is Busch's home ground. It's recently been completedly renovated, the track re-surfaced and is less than two miles from the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. And the same ready access to major highways is also true for Harford and Frederick counties. But Ehrlich has vowed to veto any bill that designates Frederick as a slots location.      

Given my druthers, I'd pick the picturesque and historical Annapolis as the perfect site for a slots emporium. It's a mecca for tourists and boating enthusiasts the year around. But I fear that legislators might object to having slot machines just down the street from the state capital, albeit it'd be a more fun place for them to hang out than at the local bars.  But in the final analysis, as long as Busch persists in taking the hard line position he has (namely, that he wouldn't be amenable to changing even a comma in the House bill, and that, therefore, he sees no reason to have the fomality of a conference committee), that could be the "kiss of death" for slots in Maryland, or at least for as long as he hold the "whip hand."       

Needless to say, his "take-it-or-leave-it" stance had Senate President Mike Miller bristling lika a porcupine, and saying that "nobody has a monopoly on ideas, and that I would just as soon leave it on the table before anyone says that to me." And it also puts Ehrlich in a real quandry of having to decide whether to accept the House bill, or to walk away from this year's session empty handed.

So, barring any miraculous turn of events, any hope for breaking up that three-year logjam will disappear like a bad dream. But then again, I never thought I'd see the impasse broken between Israel and Palestinians over the removal of troops and settlers from the Gaza strip and four remote settlements on the West Bank, a first in Israel's 38-year-old occupation of territory claimed by Palestinians.