Casino group hires justice
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share thisThe revolving door that quickly developed between the state's gambling industry and the gambling regulation arm of the state government apparently is just one part of a much bigger portal.
Last week newspapers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh revealed that former Chief Justice of Pennsylvania Stephen A. Zappala Sr. heads a gambling industry trade association, the Pennsylvania Casino Association.
That group led an advocacy and advertising blitz recently to hold down the costs of licenses for table games and the tax level that the state would assess on the take from those games.
The association represents Mount Airy Casino Resort, Monroe County; Rivers Casino, Pittsburgh; and the SugarHouse casino, Philadelphia.
Mr. Zappala, who left the high court in 2002, was executive director of the organization for two years after its incorporation in 2007 and is now its chairman. His daughter, attorney Michele Zappala Peck, originally was the group's operations director and is now a candidate for a judgeship on the Allegheny Court of Common Pleas.
The Pennsylvania Casino Association is a nonprofit trade association but is not registered as a lobbying group despite its issues advocacy.
Mr. Zappala is, of course, free to pursue whatever employment he chooses. But having his name attached to the gambling industry is an unfortunate choice at a time when the industry already has more than enough influence at the highest levels of state government. Association press releases, for example, have praised the "partnership" between the industry and the government, when the relationship more properly should be that between a government and an industry that it is supposed to regulate in the public interest.
It's also unfortunate that the former chief justice is affiliated with an association that has threatened to sue the state government. During the state budget impasse, the association warned that it would sue if the government followed through on increasing the number of slot machines allowed at casinos smaller than those it represents.
Regulators and lawmakers should review the definition of lobbying and rules for public disclosure of the board members, officers and top-level staffs of nonprofit associations.
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