Column: Penobscot slot bill goes against voters

Thursday, February 7, 2008  

"After a few weeks of revving up, the Maine Legislature is finally getting the second regular session of the biennium into gear.

Quite often, last session's leftovers are served up as fresh entrees. Issues that seemingly have been settled or overtaken by political developments are revived and treated as something completely new by lawmakers who should know better.

Exhibit A for this year is a bill that would allow the Penobscot Indians to add slot machines to their high-stakes beano operations on the Old Town reservation.

Coming as it does on the heels of a statewide referendum that rejected a Passamaquoddy tribal slot-machine operation in Washington County, the Old Town proposal would seem a likely candidate for quick dispatch to the legislative trashcan, at least for the current session.

Nope. A majority of the Legislature's Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee this week blithely endorsed the new bill, displaying a cool indifference to the results of the November balloting."

Get the Story:
Jim Brunelle: Penobscot slot-machine bill a slap in the face to Maine voters (The Morning Sentinel 2/7)