Powerful interests that stand to benefit the most from Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to legalize slot-machine gambling have contributed nearly $1.25 million to state candidates and political parties since 2003, and spent $2.6 million on State House lobbying fees during the past two years, according to a Sun analysis.
Gambling supporters have poured at least $135,000 into the campaign accounts of O'Malley and Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, records show. Former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., an avid slots supporter, received about $131,000 during the same period.
The two horse-racing tracks positioned to get slots under the plan that the House of Delegates is set to debate tomorrow - Laurel Park and Ocean Downs -led all Maryland tracks in spending on lobbying from November 2005 to April 2007, according to records filed with the state Ethics Commission.
The owner of Ocean Downs, William Rickman - through family members and companies he controls - has given almost $400,000 to Maryland political candidates and committees since 2003.
The infusion of money shows how those associated with Maryland's once-vaunted horse-racing industry and others are waging an aggressive campaign on multiple fronts to sway the slots debate in Annapolis. The General Assembly is considering a referendum that could allow up to 15,000 slots machines at five locations, including two racetracks.
"It is an example of how money moves legislation," said Bobbie Walton, a board member of Common Cause-Maryland, a watchdog group. "Money elects people who share a common viewpoint with the givers."
`Nature of the game'
Contributors, and public officials who received the money, cast the donations as part of a legal and long-standing system that lets people give financial support to candidates who share their views.
"That's the nature of the game," said Lou Raffetto, Jr., president of the Maryland Jockey Club, who himself has given $8,000 to four candidates and a political action committee since 2003. "We all make contributions, myself included, to support the individuals who support our causes."
Campaign cash flowed to state candidates from current and former owners of the Pimlico and Laurel Park racetracks, horse farms and breeding outfits, political action committees, developers with land interests near track sites, out-of-state gambling interests and even bingo machine makers, a Sun review of thousands of campaign finance records revealed.
