Republican delegates in the Maryland General Assembly are considering boycotting a second special legislative session proposed by Gov. Martin O’Malley for the sole purpose of approving a new casino at National Harbor. There are several good reasons why the GOP should indeed stay home.
For one thing, convening in Annapolis would cost Maryland taxpayers upwards of $25,000 per day. This is a totally unnecessary expenditure of public funds. State lawmakers had ample time to consider expanding gambling twice this year: during the regular 90-day session and during the first special session in May when they found the time to raise taxes on working Marylanders. O’Malley and the Assembly’s Democratic leadership have painted themselves into a corner on the casino issue, and Republicans would be wise to let them figure a way out of their current predicament alone.
Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker supports the new $800 million casino at National Harbor, even though he opposed slots as a state delegate. So does Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert and Prince George’s, whose family built Rosecroft Raceway. But House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, is against it because he rightly fears it will siphon gamblers from Maryland Live! — one of five voter-approved gambling venues that recently opened in his district. Baltimore is also planning a casino, so Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is against one at National Harbor for the same reason, even though state analysts estimate the new casino would generate $82 million or more in annual revenues for the state and county governments.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International claims it can’t make a profit at National Harbor unless Maryland lowers its 67 percent tax rate on slot machine revenue to 52 percent and table games are allowed. This would put Maryland Democrats in the extremely awkward position of raising taxes on taxpayers earning more than $100,000 during one special session, then turning around and slashing taxes on casino owners during another.
O’Malley has been meeting with Democrats behind closed doors in an attempt to cobble together some sort of compromise by Aug. 20, the deadline for getting the casino proposal on the November ballot. He is now floating the idea of having an unaccountable “gambling commission” lower casino taxes, rather than elected legislators. Senate Minority Leader E.J. Pipkin, R-Eastern Shore, rightly derided this proposal as “one of the worst and most cowardly policy decisions I have ever heard.” No conscientious lawmaker should have anything to do with such a cop-out.
