AUGUSTA — State Sen. John Patrick, D-Rumford, has terminated the work of a special legislative commission meant to examine the economic impacts of gambling in Maine and New England.

Patrick, chairman of the 20-member Gaming Commission, said the group’s work was “sidelined” when a majority of members shifted the focus.

The commission was charged with inspecting what casino gambling has meant for Maine and what its future would look like as other New England states look to add gambling facilities. But the focus shifted to how to expand gambling in the Pine Tree State, Patrick said.

“No experts were called to testify,” Patrick wrote in a guest column for the Sun Journal. “No data was collected. No research was discussed. It was a simple power grab on the part of a few self-serving individuals who were willing to undermine an entire process for their own personal gain.”

The panel, created by a state law passed this year, included non-elected representatives of those with vested interests in gambling, including Maine’s American Indian tribes and the two casinos already operating in the state. Also on the commission were representatives for Maine’s harness racing industry and four state lawmakers.

The main focus of the law setting up the commission, LD 1897, was to develop a competitive bidding process for gambling expansion going forward.

So far, Maine’s two casinos have been approved by statewide referendum.

According to Patrick, the panel was established to:

* Examine the impact of existing casinos on Maine and local economies and any other legal gambling conducted in the state.

* Examine the impact of the establishment of casinos in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and the Canadian provinces bordering Maine.

* Consider the feasibility of licensing expanded gambling activities by groups who are already eligible to operate games of chance, beano, high-stakes beano, harness racing and off-track betting.

“While there were a number of issues we agreed to take on,” Patrick wrote, “the primary task was to review the research, hear expert opinion and gather information about the question of expanding gaming and what kind of impact expansion would have on our state and on the existing gaming venues.”

Patrick serves on the Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which has oversight over gambling in the state. He said he would continue to pursue the commission’s original task as a member of that committee when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

“That’s the good news,” Patrick wrote. “The gaming industry in Maine, whether you approve of gambling or not, is now an important revenue stream, employing nearly 1,000 Mainers. It’s important that we get it right.”

Dennis Bailey, a longtime casino opponent and public relations expert, also served on the 20-member panel.

In an email Tuesday, Bailey said he agreed with Patrick’s view and his decision to fold the commission.

“The commission could have fostered a much-needed policy discussion of gambling casinos in Maine and their impact,” Bailey wrote. “Instead, Scarborough Downs and its allies rushed through a wide-scale proposal that essentially would put a casino on every street corner in Maine. Once the process was hijacked, there was really nothing left for the commission to do.”

Bailey said he believed Gov. Paul LePage and the Legislature would ignore the commission’s work and form a new, independent panel to complete the original objectives of LD 1897.

According to minutes from the commission’s Sept. 27 meeting, Peter Connell, a representative for Ocean Properties and the hospitality industry, made a motion to make a seven-point recommendation to the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee that included allowing four more entities to apply for casino licenses.

Connell’s motion included a resort racino with table games for southern Maine, slot machines and table games for the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Penobscot Nation and the Houlton Band of Maliseets. The motion also would have allowed nonprofit veterans organizations to apply for licenses to operate slot machines.

The motion, seconded by Rep. Wayne Mitchell, the Penobscot Nation’s representative to the Legislature, passed on a 10-8 vote despite warnings that the motion did not encompass the commission’s task in statute. Mitchell, who voted for the motion, is a Democrat.

According to the minutes, several members felt the motion was premature but others felt the commission had only been established to protect the interests of Maine’s already existing casinos in Oxford and Bangor for the next four to five years. 

Under the law that set up the commission, it was allowed to hold up to six meetings but held only four.

Connell, who was on the panel because his company previously supported the creation of a southern Maine casino in Biddeford, said Tuesday he was disappointed with Patrick’s characterization of how things transpired with the commission.

“With all due respect, when the majority of the people on the committee wanted to move forward that really doesn’t rise to the level of hijacking,” Connell said. “The majority wanted to continue the meetings.”

Connell said that Mitchell made a motion at the fourth meeting to continue the meetings and to move forward with a report but that did not transpire.

“So the idea that the majority (of the commission) had anything to do with the commission ceasing was completely wrong,” Connell said. 

He said Patrick’s assertion that data were not collected and that people were not heard from was also incorrect.

“I’m confounded by that conclusion,” Connell said. “There were more than 50 studies and submissions to the commission. There’s a huge amount of empirical data.”

Mitchell said Tuesday he believed if there was any blame to be placed for the commission’s failure it rested squarely on the shoulders of Patrick and the commission’s co-chairman, Rep. Louis Luchini, D-Ellsworth.

Mitchell said the seven-point plan put forward by Connell was meant as an outline for discussion points, not for recommendations to the Legislature.

“It was a plan and not a power grab as (Patrick) said,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said he voted for Connell’s motion because it was the first actual step forward in moving the commission toward its assigned mission.

Mitchell said he was in the hospital for the first two meetings of the commission but followed it online and determined they had done relatively little work.

“Nothing had been done at all, prior,” Mitchell said. “There was absolutely nothing done. It’s unfortunate. Not only unfortunate for the interests that were represented there, but unfortunate for the people of Maine. I think Sen. Patrick’s statements are way off base.”

Mitchell and Connell seemed to agree that the way forward would be as Patrick suggested, for the issue to be addressed in a series of bills carried over for consideration in 2014 by the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee.

sthistle@sunjournal.com

Full text of Sen. John Patrick’s letter to the Sun Journal

Although the Legislature is currently not “in session,” many committees work throughout the summer and fall to tackle more difficult issues that often require substantial time and additional public input prior to any Legislative action.  The Legislature will occasionally convene a “study commission” with a specific purpose and may include non-legislative members who have a great deal of knowledge or particular interest in that issue.

During the “off season,” I’ve had the opportunity to chair a special commission charged with looking at a host of issues regarding casinos and gaming in our state.  We had more than a dozen new proposals during the legislative session, and it was clear to me and to many of my colleagues that it would be well worth the extra time to pull together a group to tackle these issues head on. The commission’s charge included the following:

• Examine the impact of existing casinos on local economies and the state economy overall and any impacts on other forms of legal gambling conducted within the State.
• Examine the impact of the establishment of casinos or similar facilities in the states of New Hampshire and Massachusetts and neighboring provinces in Canada on the state economy and on the revenue generated by existing casinos in the State.
• Gather information to determine the potential market for the establishment of new gambling opportunities in the State.
• Consider the feasibility of the licensing of expanded gambling activities by persons or groups who are eligible for existing licenses to conduct games of chance, beano, high-stakes beano, harness horse racing and off-track betting, including but not limited to the operation of slot machines and table games.

While there were a number of issues we agreed to take on, the primary task was to review the research, hear expert opinion, and gather information about the question of expanding gaming, and what kind of impact expansion would have on our state, and on existing gaming venues.   

Membership on the commission included all the major players, including both opponents of gaming, members of the Native American tribes, representatives from the existing two casinos, Maine horsemen, and four legislators.

Things did not go well.

While I certainly did not expect to have a unanimous report from such a diverse group of people, I did expect a level of discussion that would — at a minimum — allow the members of the commission to meet the objectives that were laid out for us.

That did not happen.

The real work of the commission was sidelined when a majority of the members on the commission simply decided to disregard the process—even before the commission had a chance to conduct any of the work that was assigned to us—and, instead, put forward a proposal that satisfied each of their special interest groups and created a massive expansion of gaming. 

No experts were called to testify.  No data was collected. No research was discussed.  It was a simple power grab on the part of a few self-serving individuals who were willing to undermine an entire process for their own personal gain.

That doesn’t work for me.

People who know me know I like to follow the rules.  In fact, I have found that most Maine people think that way too.  But the commission established to help the Legislature get a firmer grasp on the gaming industry here in Maine decided, by majority vote, to ignore the rules. 

The commission will no longer meet, and there will be no report, for now.  That’s the bad news.   

I’m simply not going to waste tax payer dollars, staff time, and the time of the folks who were following the rules. 

However, as I am a member of the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee, which is responsible for the gaming industry, I have already spoken to my Republican and Democratic colleagues, and we are in agreement that the work still must be done and we will make the time this January to complete our assignment. That’s the good news.

The gaming industry in Maine, whether you approve of gambling or not, is now an important revenue stream, employing nearly a thousand Mainers.  It’s important that we get it right.

I am committed to doing just that.

– State Sen. John Patrick, Rumford.