Marylanders United to Stop Slots

A ballot question for the state of Maryland, to allow limited gambling, has created a furor with special-interest groups. Leading the charge is the Stop Predatory Gambling group which has hired big name activists, like Taylor Branch (Pulitzer Prize winner author of the biography of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.), Bishop John R. Schol and activist Peter Franchot (D), among others.

Along with others, the group is determined to see their two-day anti gambling conference at National Harbor, Prince George's County, Maryland succeed. Up to 15,000 slots in 5 locations in Maryland could be approved come November.

Marylanders United to Stop Slots
Taylor Branch, a member of the more than 100-strong steering committee of MUSS, is against gambling as a means of funding government revenue. The group comprises business, community and labor leaders. It's bipartisan and they reject statewide commercial gambling in Maryland. They fear that inaction by government in trying ease the plight of working-class Americans - through tax cuts - is the core issue, and that gambling is not the answer.

Why National Harbor
The location has been hailed as a pristine environment, one which protest organizers view as gambling-free. The conference, set to begin on Friday, will feature workshops warning against allowing gambling in Maryland and especially how state government departments tend to rely on gambling revenue to fill their coffers. Among many vested interests is Tom Smith, the deputy campaign manager for MUSS and surprisingly a former member of Maryland Governor O'Malley's team. Smith was retrenched from O'Malley's office after a year as part of a departmental reorganization. He has recently been quoted as saying, "It's time we stop betting on Annapolis politicians and vote no on slots."