Taxpayers Fund Defense of Gaming Board Employees

As table game legislation inches towards final approval another reason to doubt the integrity and fiscal responsibility of the PA Gaming Control board has come to light. The Gaming Control Board has hired outside lawyers to represent agency employees and a former employee in a grand jury investigation.

The Morning Call of Allentown reported information from a Right to Know Law request revealing that the Gaming Board hired Pittsburgh lawyer W. Thomas McGough Jr. and the Philadelphia law firm Goldberg Katzman. McGough was hired in June at $500 an hour (a total of $25,856 so far) and the agency is paying $295 an hour to Goldberg Katzman.

Gaming Board employees “earn” generous pay checks compared to other state’s gaming boards, and the commission has been under scrutiny in the past for lavish travel habits, but spending taxpayer funds to defend their questionable actions before a grand jury is appalling.