National Harbor to Host Anti-Gambling Conference
Taylor Branch will speak out against gambling.
(By Nikki Kahn -- The Washington Post)
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T aylor Branch, a Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and an acclaimed chronicler of the civil rights movement, will headline a two-day anti-gambling conference at National Harbor on Friday.
Branch is a member of the steering committee for Marylanders United to Stop Slots and has spoken out on the issue before. A national group called Stop Predatory Gambling snagged him to deliver the keynote address at an event designed to "sharpen the focus on relying on predatory gambling as a way to fund government," executive director Leslie Bernal said. November's ballot question on slots, if approved, would authorize up to 15,000 machines at five sites in Maryland.
Other scheduled speakers include Bishop John R. Schol, head of the Baltimore/Washington United Methodist Conference, the Rev. Jonathan Weaver, an anti-slots activist from Prince George's County, and Comptroller Peter Franchot (D), the most vocal state politician fighting the referendum. Other religious leaders, policy wonks, lawyers and journalists active in the anti-gambling movement also are scheduled to speak.
The National Harbor locale was strategic: It's a gambling-free environment. "It's one of the nicest entertainment properties on the East Coast that does not have gimmicks like slots machines," said Bernal, a Boston native.
The conference will feature workshops on how electronic gambling works, how slots are marketed, how they can become addictive and how many state governments are increasingly dependent on gambling revenue to fund their budgets.
-- Lisa Rein
Former O'Malley Staffer Joins the Anti-Slots Effort
Tom Smith, a 2006 campaign staffer and former member of Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration, has joined the anti-slots forces aligned against his former employer.
Smith, 41, who lives in the District, is now the deputy campaign manager for Marylanders United to Stop Slots.
"It's time we stop betting on Annapolis politicians and vote no on slots," said Smith, already on message, in an interview Friday. "Slots are the crack cocaine of gambling."
Smith served as director of advance in 2006 for O'Malley (D).
