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Consultants are Early Slots Winners

FLORIDA – As reported by the Miami Herald: "A key Broward School Board member complained this week that a proposal to help fund education by allowing slot machines at South Florida parimutuels would be a sucker's bet -- but in Miami-Dade, School Board members have remained silent on the question.

"Don't look for high-minded policy debates to explain the difference, critics say. Instead look to the highly paid political consultants and lobbyists who advise each board:

"Broward officials have long-standing political ties to Dan Lewis, a consultant who was recently hired to coordinate the unlikely collection of activists, Indian casino owners and gambling boat operators who form the anti-slots movement.

"The Miami-Dade board is represented in Tallahassee by Ron Book, an influential lobbyist who represents the dog track, horse track and jai-alai fronton owners who want slots.

"Consultants on both sides say they haven't tried to influence any school board members on the slots question, which goes before voters in Broward and Miami-Dade on March 8.

"But critics say it's naive to believe that politicians don't consider advice from their own lobbyists and consultants -- despite the potential for conflicts of interest when those consultants also work for others.

"…If the measure passes in both counties, and the terms of the deal are not altered later by the legislature, the parimutuel industry will contribute at least 30 percent of the slots revenue -- some $438 million in the first year -- to public education, Book said…"

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