Ex-Maryland Politician On Tape Advocating Spread Of Slots
Former Maryland state Sen. Thomas Bromwell Sr. in tape-recorded conversations
revealed as part of a federal racketeering conspiracy case against him said that
legalized slots would start “at [horse] tracks, spread to off-track betting
parlors and move to such places as downtown Baltimore and Owings Mills,”
according to Doug Donovan of the Baltimore SUN. Bromwell, who was the state Senate
Finance Committee Chair when an FBI agent recorded the conversations in November
’01, also said that he “expected a piece of all the action.”
Bromwell said on one tape, “If you get the (expletive) slot machines, you
can build a casino.” Donovan notes slots opponents are “seizing on
the comments to bolster their case against legalizing slots.” State Senate
President Thomas Mike Miller Jr. said, “I prefer that they be located only
at the racetracks. We don’t want (slots in) neighborhoods, we don’t
want (them in) any restaurants.” Bromwell is also recorded as calling himself
a “whore” for then-Maryland Jockey Club CEO Joe De Francis. De Francis
declined comment, but the Washington Post quoted him as saying, “I can tell
you that he never said anything to me that even remotely approximated that”
(Baltimore
SUN, 4/5).
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