A new grand jury report suggests various policy changes at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board in light of testimony showing political interference in the workings of the board.
The GCB is charged with regulating the growing state-sanctioned gambling industry.
The 102-page report of the 31st Statewide Grand Jury was released Tuesday and concentrates almost entirely on 2004 to 2007, the first four years of legalized gambling in the state. Since 2007, the gaming industry has grown from slot machines at horse-racing tracks to 14 casinos, including table games, statewide.
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The grand jury report criticized state investigations of gaming license applications, political interference in GCB operations, the heavy influence of special interest groups and lobbyists in creating the state gambling laws and political atmosphere at the regulatory agency.
The grand jury was formed under the direction of former Attorney General and now-Republican Gov. Tom Corbett.
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Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Chairman Greg Fajt dismissed the report as “old news” and “a waste of taxpayer time and money.”
Fajt said his office spent more than 4,000 staff hours and produced 2.7 million pages of documents to comply with the demands of Corbett’s office’s requests for the grand jury during the past two years.
“After this grand jury met for more than two years, there were no arrests, no presentments, no indictments. They found no criminal activity, because there was, in fact, no criminal activity to be found,” said Fajt, who was named to the GCB chairmanship in 2009 by then-Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat.
The governor could not be reached for comment.
State Rep. Mike Vereb, R-Montgomery, who has been pushing a number of reforms to the gaming board, said the report was further evidence that changes were needed.
The state Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement "has absolutely had political intrusion in scrubbing reports, and that needs to change,” Vereb said.
Among the changes pushed by Vereb is the removal of the GCB’s investigation and enforcement arm, which regulates the gaming industry. A proposal to make the BIE office independent of the GCB and part of the attorney general’s office passed the state House and is waiting in the state Senate.
The grand jury also recommended removing the BIE from the direct authority of the GCB.
According to the grand jury's report, the GCB “neglected or wholly ignored” its own, stated policy objectives, “failed to thoroughly protect the public from unlawful gaming practices” and “failed to maximize … support for property tax relief.”
Testimony from former state lawmakers, legislative staff members, past and present GCB employees, and others provided the basis for the grand jury report.
The report said the GCB regularly ignored objective outside professional advice, manipulated reports provided by its own investigators, and was influenced by political leaders from both sides of the aisle in the General Assembly.
Those leaders--particularly state Rep. Mike Veon, then-House Minority Leader and former House Speaker Bill DeWeese--regularly sent lists to the GCB of people “recommended” for employment. Veon is serving a six-year prison sentence for public corruption, and DeWeese is under indictment on similar charges.
The report also singled out former state Senate President Robert Jubilerer and Senate Minority Leader Bob Mellow for apparently meddling in GCB affairs. Mellow and Jubilerer have since left the Senate, and Mellow is under investigation by the FBI.
However, the grand jury did not recommend any criminal charges in the report, though it did recommend 21 policy changes.
The recommendations include making the GCB’s Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement an independent law enforcement agency; creating a new chapter in the state crimes code to focus on gambling issues; requiring strict enforcement of the state’s Sunshine Law; and requiring detailed transcriptions of GCB closed-door meetings.
The grand jury also called for “significantly overhaul(ing) the current employees of the board."
"The board should be staffed with experienced and notable individuals in the fields of gaming and administration," according to the report. "This is especially crucial of the attorneys employed by the board."