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Piccola Unveils Bill to Close Gaming Act Loophole
and Strengthen Officials' Ethical Standards
HARRISBURG -- Recognizing
the need to require a higher ethical standard and sending a clear signal to both
public officials and the gaming industry that influence cannot be bought and
sold in Pennsylvania, Senator Majority Whip Jeffrey E. Piccola (R-15) unveiled
Senate Bill 765 today, legislation that would close a loophole in the state’s
gaming law. Piccola’s amendment to Pennsylvania’s Gaming Act would specifically
prohibit the industry from making donations to national and political
fundraising organizations when such donations were solicited by or received by a
public official of the Commonwealth.
In recent weeks, Governor Ed Rendell’s roles as the
Commonwealth’s Chief Executive and Finance Committee Chairman of the Democratic
Governor’s Association (DGA) have been questioned based upon his ability to
accept political contributions from gaming executives. This involved a
fundraising trip to Las Vegas to raise money for the DGA, which is charged with
the responsibility of making donations to candidates for governor. As reported
in an editorial by The Philadelphia Daily News on May 30: “…Rendell needs to
keep his distance from gambling executives. That’s common sense. It’s also
living by the spirit of ethics rules set down by the state’s slot machine law.
Recently, the governor slipped up. And he knows it.”
“Unfortunately, we cannot have individuals holding
public office, especially our governor, and taking advantage of a loophole in
this law by engaging in activities that are clearly unethical and violate its
spirit. When the gaming legislation was adopted and signed into law, the
governor and its proponents assured the public that we would have the toughest
oversight and most regulated gaming industry in the nation -- the last thing we
need now is for public officials to be using their office to pressure the
industry for donations,” said Piccola.
“Nonpartisan, good-government organizations, such as
the Center for Governmental Studies and the Center for Responsive Politics, as
well as Pennsylvanian citizens, are troubled by this type of unseemly behavior.
The bottom line is that our public officials need to keep their distance from
gambling interests if we are to keep this industry free of any corruption,”
Piccola said.
“It’s disappointing that Governor Rendell says we
should have a highly regulated gaming industry with strict oversight, yet he
makes the conscious decision to exploit a loophole in the very law he proposed,
and he then admits publicly that he ‘probably shouldn’t have done it.’ Once
again, he is exhibiting a pattern of saying one thing and doing something
completely contradictory,” said Piccola.
“Senate Bill 765 will make it clear that even though
you are raising money ostensibly for public officials outside of Pennsylvania --
this still violates the ethical prohibitions of the Commonwealth’s law. I have
said this before and will reiterate it again -- the ethics portion of the gaming
law needs to be above reproach,” he added.
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