Slots & Taxes: What our legislators are saying (part 5)

(Posted 28 Oct 2007)

---

O'Malley Plan Puts Slots Issue To Voters; Md. Governor Is Calling For Machines at 5 Venues.
Post, 27 Oct 2007 (Wagner).

* * *
But the chairman of the Senate committee with jurisdiction over slots legislation said last night that Senate leaders were heartened by the number of machines included in the bill and predicted that a referendum would pass in the chamber.

"I think the Senate will live with a referendum," said Sen. Ulysses Currie (D-Prince George's), chairman of the Budget and Taxation Committee. "You probably get greater support than with a straight slots bill."
* * *

Slots to cut deficit, says Md. Association of Counties.
Examiner, 27 Oct 2007 (Miller).

* * *
Jim Keary, spokesman for Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson, said the county's top elected leader would support a referendum on slots because the "voters should decide."

According to Keary, Johnson had concerns over a 2005 slots plan discussed by the legislature because it would have resulted in slot machines at Laurel Park racetrack in Anne Arundel County without sending any cash to nearby Prince George's County.

"All the roads leading to Laurel are in Prince George's County, and the impact to both Laurel and Prince George's would be great if slots were added to the racetrack there," Keary said.