BGA asks Quinn to hold off on signing construction bill

A government watchdog group is asking Gov. Pat Quinn to delay signing a $29 billion construction bill until public hearings are held on video poker gambling expansion, which would pay for part of the state program.

The Better Government Association says basic principles of good government weren't followed when lawmakers struck a deal for gambling expansion in a matter of days in Springfield.

The group wants Quinn to tell the Illinois Gaming Board to hold public hearings, and the BGA itself is offering to hold additional meetings. The board would be charged with regulating an expected 45,000 video poker machines, which would be in bars, restaurants, VFW halls and truck stops throughout the state.

The kicker, said BGA Executive Director Andy Shaw, is that the gaming board spent 10 years investigating operators of a planned Rosemont casino said to have mob ties. That deal was killed in a plan that would have added 1,200 gambling positions. Now, lawmakers have added about 40 times that number with their endorsement of video poker machines, he said.

Shaw said the BGA isn't taking a position on expanding gambling through video poker machines, but is concerned that the way in which lawmakers negotiated the plan lacked accountability or transparency. He said there are also serious questions to be asked about how the state would collect tax revenue and how the gaming board would properly regulate the machines.

The BGA held a press event Friday at the Union League Club of Chicago to detail its concerns. Those who attended included Cook County Commissioners Bridget Gainer and Deborah Sims, and Buffalo Grove Trustee Lisa Stone, known for her opposition to an off-track betting facility in the village.

Shaw noted that Quinn, when lieutenant governor, wrote then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich a letter expressing concern about expanded gambling in the state. "We should ask for (the people's) guidance before we take steps to make Illinois the Las Vegas of the Midwest," Quinn wrote.

"He's crusaded his whole life for people to make decisions and not lawmakers in backrooms," Shaw said.

A Quinn spokeswoman did not respond to the BGA charges Friday, but said that Quinn would have a statement on the construction bill on Monday. Quinn earlier this week told legislators he planned to sign the bill.