By Stephanie Samuel

Sentinel Staff Writer

Slots referendum (Question 2)

Right up to Tuesday's Election Day, the battle over the slots machine referendum remained a heated back and forth struggle: Slots opponents pulled out all the stops, churning out every supporter they could find to condemn slots. The list included state Comptroller Peter Franchot, a gaggle of state legislators and business leaders and Republicans such as former Gov. Bob Erhlich.

However as Election Day drew closer, opposition group Marylanders United to Stop Slots took it to church with a number of church leaders and religious non-profit heads giving a resounding "No" vote to the resolution that would change the state constitution to allow video gambling in Maryland.

"They are supporting the destruction of the family," said Rev. Anthony Evans, founder of the National Black Church Initiative. "Slots is against the faith, it's against God and it's against the family."

Several other leaders of religious non-profit agencies such as Bishop Larry Lee Thomas of the United Christian Clergy Alliance have taken the front stage to add religious fervor to the debate against slots.

"The church is charged with taking a stand for those who can't do so for themselves in our communities. So we are standing in unison to say that slots will disproportionately impact those who can least afford it," Thomas said a Stop Slots press conference last week.

In both Thomas and Evans, the Marylanders United to Stop Slots campaign has two mighty supporters. Combined, both ministers' organizations have a membership of over 15,000 clergy members located throughout Maryland. Behind them is a captive audience of Maryland residents and churchgoers who are bound to those who lead them from the pulpit. And neither Thomas nor Evans are afraid to give out marching orders.

"We have authorized all 6,500 of our affiliate churches to use their moral energies to defeat slot in Maryland," Evans said.

Marylanders United to Stop Slots also enlisted several ministers including Rev. Byron Brought of Calvary United Methodist Church, Rev. Louis Boston of First Baptist Church, Rev. Callie Matthews of Mt. Zion United Methodist Church and Rev. Dr. Walter Middlebrooks of Asbury United Methodist Church to take a stand against slots in Maryland.

On the other side, slots proponents ran several radio and TV ads selling slots as a beneficial measure for the state's public schools. State Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez especially has traveled the state, presenting the pro side at community meetings and even doing a TV interview defending slots. He argued that slots would supply much needed revenue and bring jobs.

Question F (County telecommunications services tax referendum)

Of the Prince George's County Council's seven referendum questions, none seemed more controversial than Question F, which would enact a 3 percent tax hike on telecommunications services such as cell phones, cable voice and land lines. The referendum question, proposed and presented by Prince George's County Council Members including Marilynn Bland (D-Dist. 9), Tom Dernoga (D-Dist. 1), Camille Exum (D-Dist. 7) and Council Chairman Samuel Dean (D-Dist. 6), proposed the increase from 8 percent to 11 percent and say it will result in $17 million in revenue. The ballot question angered groups MyWireless.org and Americans for Tax Reform, both of which ran media campaigns against the county referendum.

ATR President Grover Norquist, also a fiscal conservative and board director of the National Rifle Association, said in a press release, "Question F would slam Prince George's County taxpayers with one of the highest combined state and local telecom tax rates in the entire country." The same press release blasted the Prince George's County School System, which would a major recipient of the telecommunications tax revenue, for allegedly overspending its fiscal year 2008 budget and a drop in its student enrollment.

MyWireless.org ran several county ads painting the increase as being "the last thing consumers need" in the midst of hard economic times.

Both groups are listed on their Web sites as consumer groups. However MyWireless.org is funded by CTIA - The Wireless Association, an association for international wireless companies.

According to responsive politics site OpenSecrets.org, AFTR is a lobbying firm which has pumped $980,000 this year alone into Republican coffers. Norquist, a registered lobbyist according to OpenSecrets.org, has given over $1,000 to Republican leaders, namely President George W. Bush. Also a $250 donation to Arizona Sen. John McCain was made in his wife Samah's name.

Contact Stephanie Samuel at

ssamuel@thesentinel.com