Gaming chief to leave her position?

HARRISBURG - Mary DiGiacomo Colins, the chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board since 2007, is expected to step down from the agency within the next two months, according to sources familiar with the matter.

The governor is expected to replace Colins, 60, who is in line for an appointment as a senior judge within the Pennsylvania court system, with his chief of staff, Greg Fajt.

The move means the gaming board, which oversees the licensing and operation of slot machines in the state, would get its third leader since it was created 41/2 years ago, while also triggering changes at the top echelon of Gov. Rendell's senior staff.

Colins declined several requests for an interview. Through a gaming board spokesman, she released this comment yesterday: "There is still a significant amount of work to be done by this board and I continue to serve at the pleasure of the governor."

Chuck Ardo, Rendell's spokesman, said the governor would not comment on the matter.

But several sources confirmed that Colins has decided to step down.

"It is just time for her to move on," said one person close to Colins' decision but who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to comment on the matter.

"She has been there for nearly five years," that source said, adding that repeated criticism of her leadership by some members of the legislature also was a factor.

Word of her decision comes a month after a group of more than a dozen Republican legislators asked her to step down amid news accounts of lavish travel by gaming officials.

Four board members and another board official traveled to a conference in Rome in September, three days after Rendell set a ban on out-of-state travel. Gaming officials argued that they would have lost most of the nearly $30,000 spent on the nonrefundable trip if they had canceled it. Colins did not make the trip.

At the time, spokesmen for Rendell and the gaming board insisted that Colins had no plans to resign.

But, according to court officials, Colins - who had served as a Common Pleas Court judge in Philadelphia - had begun the process of becoming a senior judge more than a month earlier.

The state court system on Feb. 4 approved Colins' request to be certified to serve in such a role, said Art Heinz, a spokesman for the Administrative Offices of the Pennsylvania Courts. She has yet to receive an assignment to a county or appellate court, he said.

Senior judges are appointed to serve a need on a certain bench, whether it is to fill a vacancy or to help cover a heavy workload of cases.

In the part-time, as-needed role, Colins would be paid $497 for each day she works. She makes $150,000 annually as gaming board chairwoman.

Colins was elected to the bench in 1990 and won retention in 2000.

She was one of three original Rendell appointees to the gaming board in 2004. She became chair of the board in 2007 upon the departure of the first person to hold that post, Thomas "Tad" Decker.

Colins' move comes at a crucial time for the two casinos planned for Philadelphia. The gaming board is considering extending the time that the SugarHouse casino has to build. And the Foxwoods casino is expected to seek board approval for its planned move from the Delaware River waterfront to Center City.

Fajt, Colins' expected replacement, is an accountant, lawyer, former revenue secretary, and former state representative from the Pittsburgh area. He has served as Rendell's chief of staff since May 2007. Fajt will take over as chairman of the seven-member board that oversees the state's gaming industry upon Colins' departure, sources said.

Fajt would, in turn, be replaced as Rendell's top aide by Steve Crawford, Rendell's secretary for legislative affairs since the governor took office in 2003.

Rep. Mike Vereb (R., Montgomery), one of the gaming board's staunchest critics, called Colins' decision "some good news."

"I'm looking forward to new leadership, that's for sure," said Vereb, who first called on Colins to resign in June and has done so several time since, the latest coming on Monday.

Another critic, Sen. Jane Orie (R., Allegheny), said she considered Colins' move a "chance to get some fresh blood on the board." But she added that she was disappointed Rendell didn't select someone removed from his administration to replace Colins.

"This is just another example of the revolving door, and the governor will control the process," said Orie, who has scheduled a news conference for today to unveil a package of bills that would provide stricter oversight over the gaming board.