Reports released by the State Ethics Commission yesterday added more than $1 million in spending by the owners of Laurel, Pimlico and Rosecroft racetracks to the total that was tabulated Friday.
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One legislator described the outpouring as “an avalanche of money.” Spending on lobbying Maryland government grew from $22.4 million in 2001 to $26.4 million last year, and the infusion of gambling money could help set a record.
The lobbying disclosures also show that Bruce C. Bereano, who has continued to rebuild his practice after a 1994 mail-fraud conviction, was the top earner of the six-month period that includes the 2003 legislative session. His disclosure forms show he earned more than $600,000 during the November to April period despite playing almost no role in the debate over gambling – the session’s hottest issue.
Bereano also closed the same period last year as the apparent top earner in the Annapolis lobbying corps but slipped to fourth place for the full year. Lobbyists in Maryland are required to report their earnings every six months – at the end of October and the end of May.
Gambling was the dominant issue in the session that ended April 7, and the spending reflects the high stakes in that battle, which ended in defeat for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. and Maryland racetrack owners.
The spending on lobbying for slots appeared to surpass the $2.1 million marshaled by the utility industry and its allies during the 1999 legislative session. But unlike slots advocates, the deregulation proponents were successful.
The heaviest investments on pro-gambling lobbying were from those with an ownership stake in the three existing racetracks that would have been allotted slot machines under Ehrlich’s proposed legislation.
Magna Entertainment Corp., its affiliates and others with an interest in Laurel and Pimlico spent nearly $1 million to lobby for approval of the governor’s bill, which would have given the two tracks 7,000 of the 11,500 slot machines total proposed statewide.
The various stakeholders in the Rosecroft harness track in Prince George’s County – led by owner Centaur Inc. – spent just more than $1 million seeking 3,500 machines in what many experts believed to be the most lucrative location among the state’s tracks. Allegany Racing, which is planning to open a racetrack near Cumberland, reported a relatively modest $59,284 in spending.
At least an additional $375,000 was spent by various interests trying to grab a share of the gambling pie: casino owners looking to break the racetrack monopoly, slot machine manufacturers, the Timonium Fairgrounds, breeders and horsemen seeking a bigger cut of the take, jockeys wanting health insurance and prospective minority owners seeking a piece of the action.
“It’s an avalanche of money,” said Del. Peter Franchot. “It’s the single-minded focus of the governor on slots which is producing this huge amount of investment by the gambling interests.”
The Montgomery County Democrat said he assumes that this year’s total will double next year, when the legislature is expected to return to the issue. “When you have that amount of money being brought to bear on the legislature … it’s a recipe for a real disaster,” Franchot said.
Jeffrey Smith, Centaur’s chief executive officer for racing, said he doesn’t know whether his company will be willing to spend at the same level next year, but he insisted this year’s lobbying effort was not money down the drain. “The commitment as a whole will be different next year, principally because this year it was a new, unique, complex public policy issue,” he said.
Smith said some of the slots proponents’ investment in educating the public about the benefits of slots will carry over into future legislative sessions.
Keith Haller, president of Potomac Survey Research in Bethesda, called the total spending on pro-slots lobbying “astounding.”
“It really does take your breath away. Maryland has never seen this level of expenditure before for a single piece of legislation,” he said.
Like Franchot, Haller only expects the track owners’ spending to increase.
“People are in over their heads so there’s no turning back. It’s a little like a gambling frenzy and now there’s a tendency to believe this thing can be won,” he said. “If you’ve seen $2.5 million in 2003, you’ll see double that by the next go-round.”
Haller said a public perception of uncontrolled spending could create a backlash against slots advocates. “That image is going to hinder broader public acceptance,” the pollster said.
Overall, the lobbying business appears to be thriving in Maryland – with some lobbyists nearly equaling or surpassing their 2002 earnings in the last six-month reporting period.
Bereano, who according to the commission’s newly released annual report earned $648,150 last year, disclosed at least $614,000 in earnings for this year’s session. He narrowly edged out D. Robert Enten, who reported at least $604,000, to earn first place in a competition closely followed by Annapolis insiders.
Bereano could not be reached for comment.
Former House Speaker Pro Tem Gary R. Alexander, last year’s leader with $881,693, reported at least $530,000.
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Other lobbyists who took in more than $500,000 for the session include Joseph A. Schwartz III, Joel D. Rozner, Alan M. Rifkin and former Del. Dennis C. McCoy.
After Alexander, the top earners last year were Rozner, Rifkin, Bereano and Schwartz. Bereano concentrated his earnings in the session.
Sun staff writer Ivan Penn contributed to this article.