Once again in a vital matter that cries out for due diligence, Gov. Ed Rendell speeds past the public's interest.
The Rendell administration has authorized the state gambling board to sign no-bid contracts on background checks of 10 slot machine manufacturers that have applied for the state's business. The need, of course, is to ensure the integrity of competing businesses, their executives and employees.
To move things along -- you know, for Pennsylvanians awaiting the promised payday from slots -- Mr. Rendell is allowing the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to dispense with competitive bidding as an emergency measure. Under state law, emergency procurement is allowed when there is "an urgency of need."
What's urgent is for the gaming board to make sure that any enterprise involved in the state's slots is squeaky clean. Anything less is an affront to the public -- which remains duly concerned about the entry of slots into the commonwealth.
If indeed time is of the essence, then why aren't state police being tapped to investigate slot machine manufacturers⢠And to what degree will taxpayers be fleeced as a result of no-bid deals?
No contract will be approved before the gambling board's Sept. 8 meeting. Pennsylvanians need to let Lead-foot Eddie know there'll be no speeding past requisite checkpoints where the state's slots are concerned.
