For those keeping score at home, Pennsylvania now has two ex-cons who have been given coveted licenses to run slots parlors.
One of the felons has since been accused of mob ties. Another was convicted of dealing drugs. Can Bugsy Siegel be far behind?
Unfortunately, Gov. Rendell is too busy counting the tax dollars rolling in from slots to realize that the state's gambling venture is quickly becoming a laughingstock.
Rendell pushed for, and state regulators approved, the gaming law in 2004 with little public input. Now, it's clear that the law is riddled with loopholes. But the Gaming Control Board's response is to act like the three wise monkeys - See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak No Evil.
It shouldn't be too much to ask that operators of a business known for attracting unsavory characters have a clean record.
But the gaming board gave a license to Louis DeNaples, who pleaded no contest in 1978 to charges that he and three others bilked the federal government out of more than a half-million dollars of recovery funds after a tropical storm. On top of his criminal past, DeNaples was indicted last year for lying to the gaming board about his alleged ties to mobsters.
Now comes word that Michael Thomas, the lead partner in the Foxwoods slots parlor planned for Philadelphia, was convicted in 1988 of dealing drugs. He spent 18 months in prison and was placed on probation until 1994.
Foxwoods was awarded its slots license in 2006 - 12 years after Thomas completed his drug-dealing sentence. The gaming law prohibits felons from getting a license until 15 years have passed from the completion date of the sentence. However, the gaming board let Thomas slide because his felony conviction had been expunged. It cited a separate law that prohibits the use of expunged records in considering a license or permit.
Thomas apparently disclosed his conviction to gaming officials. But attorney Tad Decker, the former chairman of the gaming board, said the board wasn't given that information. Decker says it was appropriate that the board didn't know of Thomas' criminal past given the expungement provision. Right; again it's the wise-monkeys approach.
Some legislators now want to change the gaming law so regulators may consider expunged criminal records. Senate Majority Whip Jane Orie (R., Allegheny) rightly said a gaming license is a privilege, not a right. As such, gaming regulators should know everything about whom the state gets into bed with when it comes to gambling.
State Sen. John Rafferty (R., Chester) wants to ban felons who committed certain crimes - such as extortion, weapons offenses and drug dealing - from the gaming industry for life. But why pick and choose which crooks to do business with?
If Rendell and state lawmakers were really serious about cleaning up the gambling mess they have created, one step would be to ban any felon from having a license. As the saying goes: If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas. At this juncture, Rendell & Co. need a Hartz 2 in 1 Dog Collar.