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State Gaming Board Chairman Blasts Casino Expansion Bill As "A Pile of Garbage"

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 16, 2011 1:30PM

Illinois Gaming Board Chairman Aaron Jaffe minced no words about what he thought of the gaming expansion bill still waiting Gov. Quinn's signature during a meeting of the Board in Springfield yesterday. "You can't make perfume out of a pile of garbage," Jaffe said.

Jaffe raised serious issues with the constitutionality of the bill and criticized not only the scope of gaming expansion, but how fast the State Legislature pushed it through prior to the end of the spring session and how they're now trying to re-shape the bill to avoid a Quinn veto.

"I realize that the state is in financial trouble, if gaming is the way that our leaders want to go, so be it. But they should do it in a fashion other than the way they did this particular bill,” he added. “It’s chock-full of items, that in my opinion, would never pass on their own.”

What are some of those items? One would get rid of the requirement that those seeking to operate slots at tracks undergo fingerprinting. Jaffe said that should be a requirement so that prospective employees undergo criminal background checks. Jaffe also wondered why the bill promises casinos to Rockford, Danville, Park City and a town in Southern Cook County, when normally those cities would have to go through the Gaming Board's process in order to be awarded a casino license.

Jaffe also expressed reservations for a Chicago casino and slot machines at O'Hare and Midway Airports under city oversight, stating that language in the legislation would eliminate the Gaming Board's oversight.

Skokie Rep. Lou Lang took umbrage to Jaffe's contentions.

“If he wants to go back and be a legislator, he ought to run for the Legislature. If he wants to postulate on the constitutionality of a bill, he ought to go back to being a judge. But he’s neither of those things.”

State Senate President John Cullerton placed a parliamentary move on the bill preventing it from going to Quinn and possibly being vetoed. Cullerton, Quinn, Lang and bill co-sponsor Sen. Terry Link plan on meeting today to hammer out an agreement that will address Quinn's opposition to the bill and shape it in a way so that he will sign it.

Jaffe considered that another risible notion.

“Here’s my suggestion to them, which I don’t expect that anybody will follow: Have the governor and mayor of the city of Chicago meet with legislative leaders and other civic leaders before a bill is proposed and not afterward. You’re just going to make a worse mess than it actually is already."