Hilary Spence

Comptroller Peter FranchotAmong the many issues that divide Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) and Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith (D), the debate over whether the state should permit slot machine gambling is certainly on that list.

Smith, who may challenge Franchot in the 2010 Democratic primary, is a proponent of the referendum, while the comptroller is a fierce opponent.

Voters will decide in November if the state should legalize the release of up to 15,000 slots machines at racetracks and other locations across Maryland.

ANNAPOLIS -- State Comptroller Peter Franchot (D) highlighted a series of guests who appeared at a rally this afternoon to speak out against the slots referendum, which will appear on the ballot in November.

Franchot appeared alongside members of the organization Marylanders United to Stop Slots.

Franchot explained his role with the group during an interview with PolitickerMD.com.

"Whatever they want me to do - I'm happy to consider," Franchot said.

ANNAPOLIS- Sen. Richard Colburn (R-Cambridge) would likely have voted against deregulating the electricity industry in 1999 “knowing what he knows now,” according to Jessica Stewart, the senator’s chief of staff.

Colburn, who voted for the 1999 bill, has received $7,615 in campaign contributions from the utility industry, the eighth highest among members of the current General Assembly, since deregulation, according to a report conducted by Progressive Maryland and Common Cause Maryland.

The senator chose not to comment when asked if the contributions created the appearance of impropriety or undue influence, as members of Progressive Maryland and Common Cause suggested.

Stewart said that if Colburn knew that electric rates would eventually be unfrozen, he “probably wouldn’t have voted” in favor of deregulation.