Local Democrats Halt Gambling Industry Lobbyists

A pair of local Democrats called Wednesday, August 2, to halt the practice of gambling industry lobbyists underwriting Pennsylvania political campaigns.

Both State Senators Jay Costa and Sean Logan seek cosponsors for a bill to ban political contributions that includes casino owners, machine manufacturers and suppliers.

Lack of lobbyists disclosure law, made it hard to determine how much gambling industry lobbyists have spent wooing state lawmakers exactly. Costa and Logan had a review that said campaign finance records revealed lobbyists have pumped nearly $1.6 million into Pennsylvania campaigns in the last 18 months.

Kathleen Daugherty, cofounder of Democracy Rising PA, said "The voices of those of us who tried to stop slots were muted because we didn't have the money to fight it. Now that the horse is out of the barn, they're trying to put some controls on it."

Logan said, "If we had 150 attorneys drafting what we thought was an airtight law, the gaming industry had 150 attorneys looking for loopholes." Logan voted for the slots law. The Costa-Logan bill is just the most recent in a series of proposals to amend the slots law.

The Associated Press reported Wojdak was selling the trust's interest in Liberty, several days after the license was approved.