The gambling expansion bill that clears the way for a Chicago casino and four others statewide and adds slot machines at racetracks is 400 pages long. But it is 16 words on Page 263 of the legislation that are of particular concern to Art Bilek, the Executive Vice President of the Chicago Crime Commission.
That sentence changes the process of selecting an administrator for the Illinois Gaming Board, which regulates gambling in the state. Instead of the five-member board choosing an administrator to oversee its day-to-day operations, as it currently does, the bill calls for the governor to appoint the administrator. The pick would be subject to Illinois Senate confirmation.
“We have a big objection to that,” Bilek said last week in an interview with the Chicago News Cooperative. “The board loses control over the staff. The administrator is responsible to the governor and not the gaming board.”
The controversial gambling bill covers a range of issues, from rules governing the operation of a city-owned casino to complicated formulas that will determine how profits will be taxed. Gov. Pat Quinn hasn’t said whether he’ll veto or sign the bill, but he described it as “top heavy” a day after the legislature passed it. Quinn met Tuesday morning with Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) for about two hours to discuss his concerns. Cullerton is expected to send the bill to Quinn’s desk within the next few weeks.
Many key concerns critics have about the bill are addressed in the actual text of the legislation, a CNC analysis of claims about the bill found. On the matter of an independent administrator, however, critics cite recent history as a reason to be worried.
In 1997 a casino in East Dubuque closed, leaving the state’s 10th gambling license up for grabs. The north suburban village of Rosemont emerged as a leading contender, due in part to its proximity to O’Hare Airport. The village’s bid foundered after a gaming board investigation uncovered ties to organized crime figures and revealed inconsistencies in the investors’ testimony during the vetting process, but not before former Gov. Rod Blagojevich interfered with the board’s operations in an attempt to steer the license to Rosemont.
According to a federal lawsuit filed in 2006 by then-gaming board administrator Jeanette Tamayo, Blagojevich sent his his friend and chief fundraiser, Christopher Kelly, to internal gaming board meetings in order to sway the board’s decision.
Tamayo alleged in the lawsuit that Blagojevich and his staff sought confidential records about casino profits, which she refused to give them, and placed their own hire on the board’s staff in an attempt to obtain the information and to block investigations into the company that was planning to build the casino.
The lawsuit also claimed that a liaison Blagojevich employed as a point person between the legislature, the governor’s office and the gaming board never communicated with gaming board staff, leading Tamayo to believe the woman was a ghost payroller. The lawsuit also alleged that Blagojevich tried to hire an advisor for matters unrelated to the gaming board using board funds.
Tamayo eventually settled the lawsuit. Neither she nor her attorney could be reached for comment.
The allegations in Tamayo’s lawsuit provided ammunition to gambling bill critics who fear that changing the administrator selection process will increase political interference. An administrator who is selected by the governor and confirmed by the Senate will be more responsive to political pressure, according to Bilek.
“It gives access into the operation of the staff through [legislators] having a more direct relationship with the appointment of the administrator. It’s more influence than the crime commission considers appropriate,” Bilek said.
Former gaming board administrators, however, said the effect of the change would be minor. Because the five gaming board members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, the governor already can influence who they choose as their administrator, they said.
“I don’t see the concern, based upon the fact that the board itself is appointed by the governor,” said Mike Belletire, who oversaw the gaming board from 1995 to 1999.
Belletire has consulted for firms interested in obtaining state video gaming licenses, but he has not taken a position on the expansion bill, nor lobbied on it, he said. Making the administrator a gubernatorial appointee would not automatically weaken the agency’s independence, he said.
“The board is the ultimate decision-maker, and each member is appointed by the governor,” Belletire said.
Sergio Acosta, a former gaming board administrator and U.S. attorney now in private practice, said control over the appointment matters less than ensuring the governor leaves the board and staff alone.
“Once the appointment is made, the governor needs to butt out and let the gaming board and staff operate free from politics,” he said. “That’s the most important thing.”
Former gaming board interim administrator Tom Swoik—who now represents existing casino operators as executive director of the Illinois Casino and Gaming Association and who lobbied against the expansion bill—said he didn’t think the change would make a difference.
“In the past, the gaming board administrator has been somebody who has been approved or assigned through the governor’s office,” Swoik said.
State Sen. Terry Link (D-Waukegan), who sponsored of the bill in the Senate, said the change would bring more scrutiny to the administrator position.
“This is the biggest revenue-producing administrator in the state,” he said of gambling revenue, which is heavily taxed. “The governor should have the same authority as every other agency.”
Swoik agreed, even though the gaming board considers itself more independent than the state’s other departments.
“I think there are some individuals in the legislature who believe there needs to be more oversight with the gaming board,” Swoik said. “Some of the board’s cautiousness has been questioned, and they want the agency head confirmed like other directors. I don’t see a reason why they couldn’t be confirmed by the Senate.”
Having an administrator chosen by the gaming board does not mean the governor won’t get his way. In 2004, the board ignored Tamayo’s recommendation and followed Blagojevich’s wishes in awarding the dormant 10th casino license to the Rosemont bid. That decision was eventually reversed and the license went to Midwest Gaming, which opened Rivers Casino in Des Plaines last month.
Kristen McQueary covers state government as part of a partnership between CNC and WBEZ