Casino friends, foes vie for task force seats

AUGUSTA – Pro- and anti-gaming forces are vying for seats on an 18-member task force that will help determine a potential site for the proposed Indian casino.

Legislative leaders anticipate making appointments to the group in the next two weeks.

The task force also will estimate how much money gaming taxes could raise for the state and attempt to quantify social costs caused by gambling addicts.

The task force is envisioned as an unbiased, bipartisan source of information, so its findings are expected to carry significant weight when the Legislature debates whether to allow a casino to be built in Maine.

That doesn’t mean advocates on either side of the casino issue will sit on the sidelines.

House Speaker Michael Saxl, who will make two citizen appointments, said he has been taking the names of volunteers on both sides of the issue.

The task force was formed after the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot tribes lobbied legislators for support of a $400 million to $600 million casino and resort in southern Maine.

The tribes’ lobbying efforts drew mixed reactions.

Residents in southern Maine have expressed concerns about the potential for increased traffic, crime and a housing shortage.

But projections of $100 million in annual gaming taxes have been seen by some legislators as a potential solution to a revenue shortfall.

The task force will hold four meetings, one of which may be a public hearing in the Augusta area, between September and November.

The group’s responsibilities include identifying appropriate locations for a casino; determining the impact of traffic; verifying estimated tax revenues and costs to social services; and estimating how many net jobs a casino would create.

Legislative leaders have arranged a scheme to divide task force appointments.

Saxl, a Portland Democrat, and Senate President Richard Bennett, R-Norway, will each appoint one pro-casino and one anti-casino member.

Bennett has been receiving inquiries from citizens and lobbyists, his staff said.

Rep. Mary Andrews, R-York, said she doubts the task force will produce anything meaningful in just three months.