HARRISBURG

The much-maligned Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement (BIE) did its job.

A statewide grand jury report, however, described how the bureau’s recommendations were often short-circuited by politically connected supervisors at the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). Reports were “scrubbed” — washed of controversial material — before they were submitted to board members considering applicants for casino licenses in 2006. On some occasions, agents were told not to interview certain people, according to the grand jury.

Following a nearly two-year investigation, the grand jury last week issued a report on problems it saw at the gaming board. The chief criticism was that the board’s main interest seemed to be protecting license applicants rather than taxpayers. The grand jury issued no indictments. It did, however, make recommendations, one of which called for an independent investigative agency.

The ranks of BIE agents include highly competent law enforcement officials — former FBI agents and police officers.

Some Republican House members for years have been trying to get BIE moved to the Attorney General’s Office. With the GOP freshly in the majority this year, the House in February approved a bill to do so.

“The lack of criminal indictments does not dilute the sweeping general indictment that the report makes against the way the PGCB and BIE have operated in violation of the public trust,” said House Gaming Oversight Chairman Curt Schroder, R-Chester County.

But the House-passed bill has languished in the Senate, where Sen. Jane Earll, R-Erie, pronounced it dead — before it even arrived. Earll, who chairs a committee with gaming oversight, has said previously the bill would not change anything and there are unknown costs. She did say in February that the Republican Caucus would ultimately decide.

“How many more grand jury reports will it take before (PGCB Chairman) Greg Fajt and (enforcement counsel) Cyrus Petrie get this message and the Senate moves the Vereb bill to the governor’s desk?” said Schroder, noting a Dauphin County grand jury also recommended moving BIE.

Now, the statewide grand jury report didn’t say BIE should be moved to the Attorney General’s Office as the House bill proposes. Perhaps the prosecutors who wrote the grand jury report thought it might appear a bit self-serving to say the unit should be moved to the Attorney General’s Office because deputy attorneys general guided the grand jury. Or maybe the grand jury merely thought BIE needs to be independent and wasn’t that concerned about where it goes.

Making BIE a stand-alone agency would be costly. Moving it under the attorney general or state police, accredited law enforcement agencies, makes more sense.

It’s unclear to me why Earll has staunchly resisted this move. But she has now appeared to soften her position, saying she is weighing the benefits of moving BIE.

Gov. Tom Corbett, the former attorney general, says there’s a conflict with BIE at the PGCB.

Board members judge casino applicants. But their agency also does the investigations. That’s a dangerous mix when the board members are political appointees of legislative leaders and the governor, and they in turn hire staff sometimes recommended by legislators, according to the grand jury.

It’s like judges employing the cops.

The report is chock-full of examples of how BIE reports were toned down, ignored or changed by politically attuned staffers in Harrisburg.

Granted, the heavy lifting on casino investigations was done in 2006, but BIE still plays a critical role.

Adding weight to the House argument: Republican Sens. John Rafferty of Chester County and Jane Orie of McCandless plan to introduce legislation to implement the grand jury’s recommendations, including making BIE an independent agency. Of course, for step one, they could just urge the Senate to pass the BIE bill already in Earll’s committee.

In short, the scathing indictment of the Gaming Control Board’s handling of investigations will likely jump-start a Senate effort to separate the investigators from the political appointees.

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