A rift has developed over Comptroller Peter Franchot's role in the campaign against legalizing slot machines in Maryland, with some in the anti-gambling coalition unsure whether his high political profile will help or hurt the effort.
It is a problem that both sides face as the multimillion-dollar campaign takes shape in the months leading to November's referendum on legalized gambling. Gov. Martin O'Malley acknowledged recently that his ability to enact his agenda over the coming years is strongly tied to the passage of the slots referendum, and he said he will campaign for it.
The prospect that the public face of the anti-slots campaign could be Franchot, who has frequently clashed with the governor, has already led to Annapolis buzz that the vote could shape up as a quasi- gubernatorial primary between the two Democrats, a perception that could inject the issue of conflicting loyalties into the debate.
But without the strong profile of a statewide elected official and the political machinery, donors and news media attention that inevitably mobilize around them, either campaign could struggle to get off the ground.
"Peter Franchot is a controversial character in some quarters," said Aaron Meisner, the leader of StopSlots Maryland, a grass-roots group that has spent years building a diverse coalition of slots opponents from religious, small-business, rural and progressive communities. "And that issue has the possibility of becoming a distraction. Obviously, his name and his office carry an additional weight, but we want to be clear that from our perspective, this is not about Martin O'Malley or Peter Franchot - this is about the direction of the state."
Joseph Shapiro, a spokesman for Franchot, said the comptroller has been "pretty careful" to "do what [StopSlots] has been asking of him, but he's a statewide elected official, which means he maybe gets a little more attention than the average member of the coalition."
As a result of the Assembly's special session last year, voters will consider in November whether to amend Maryland's constitution to allow 15,000 slot machines at five sites - one each in Baltimore City and in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties. Within a few years, the locations are expected to bring $600 million to $800 million into state coffers annually.
