Annapolis, MD – In March, the Annapolis Capital called it “fiscal blackmail” when it was reported that Senator Mike Miller was threatening teacher pension funding prior to an Maryland State Teacher’s Association’s vote on the slots issue. This weekend Delegate Tony O’Donnell warned voters about the use of scare tactics by the pro-slots side [AP, 07/20/08]. And today, we read about both raising their ugly head again in the slots debate.

Like Senate President Miller’s earlier threats to teachers pension funding in return for their support for slots, the Gazette reported today that Baltimore County Executive and pro-slots advocate Jim Smith made thinly veiled threats that the failure to support slots would lead to an end of state funding of teacher pensions. Thankfully, strong teacher advocate and Marylanders United Steering Committee Member Councilman George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) spoke out against the shameful blackmailing of Maryland teachers, calling for county pensions to be “decoupled” from the slots issue. Leventhal said “We need to know MACo will fight for our teacher pension regardless of how we vote on slots.” [Gazette, 07/23/08]

This is yet another example of how voters cannot trust Annapolis in this slots debate. Marylanders were offered the opportunity to cast a vote on slot machine gambling through November’s referendum, but the pro-slots lobby has worked to impede the open debate from the start, threatening and cajoling groups, and, refusing to take the Common Cause Pledge and thereby agreeing to accept millions from national gambling special interests. If voters cannot trust Annapolis to facilitate an honest conversation about this important issue, how can they trust their elected officials to ultimately do what is best for Maryland families?

“The fact that Senator Miller would hold our teacher’s pensions hostage and use funding for their hard earned pensions as blackmail is appalling,” said Scott Arceneaux, Senior Advisor of Marylanders United to Stop Slots. “Annapolis and the pro-slots lobby are desperate to keep voters from learning that slot casinos won’t keep taxes down and won’t solve Maryland’s budget crisis, but will put hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of casino executives that they sunk to new lows. We cannot gamble our teachers’ pensions or Marylanders’ future on slots.”

“We join Councilman Leventhal in his strong appeal to MACO and Annapolis- don’t hold teacher pension’s hostage for slots,” said Arceneaux.

The Capital
Editorial: Teachers' union yields to fiscal blackmail on slots
March 24, 2008

With Senate President Mike Miller pointing a funding gun at its head, the Maryland State Teachers Association has blinked.

In deciding this month to support a November referendum item that would legalize slot machines in Maryland, the teachers' union has determined that the ends justify the means - even if the threat of exposing students to a spreading gambling culture flies in the face of what teachers should care about the most.

A good many rank-and-file teachers and even some local teachers' unions either disagreed with the endorsement or urged the state union to remain neutral or at least allow more internal debate. But union leaders voted to support amending the state constitution to authorize 15,000 slots in five jurisdictions, including Anne Arundel County.

Citing the state's dismal fiscal outlook, the union was convinced - and apparently unnerved - by the threat from Mr. Miller, a longtime slots promoter, that its lack of support could result in painful cuts in public education. Under the plan, half of the windfall from slots - estimated to be anywhere from $600 million to $800 million - would go to an Education Trust Fund.

The powerful union's support is a victory for slots proponents because it helps to falsely frame the argument as an all-or-nothing proposition on funding public education. But it was not just the classroom the union was thinking about.

According to published reports, Mr. Miller warned that without slots revenue, lawmakers might be forced to look for other funding sources for teacher pensions. And if hamstrung local jurisdictions have to help fund those pensions, they may decide to spend less on raises for teachers.

The MSTA is a union; its purpose is to represent its membership. But by caving in to what amounts to fiscal blackmail, the union not only let its membership down, but failed students as well.

College and high school students are among the most likely to become problem gamblers, especially if you make it easier for them, according to University of Maryland professor Stephen McDaniel. His research, reflecting national studies, shows that college students are about twice as likely to become problem gamblers as the average adult.

The days of friendly dorm-room poker games are gone. Now, young adults are immersed in a glamorized gambling culture, with TV poker, Internet gambling and a state-run lottery - and the College Park campus is less than 30 minutes from the proposed slot machine emporium at Laurel Race Track.

The state's funding woes come and go, but slot machines, if approved, will be here "forever," as state Comptroller Peter Franchot, a slots opponent, aptly puts it. Even in harsh fiscal times, the state legislature has found ways to enhance education funding without resorting to slots. It can do so again in the years to come.