Title-holder opposes plan for Miss America slots

John Curran

Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

ATLANTIC CITY -- She's not getting enough bookings, she hates the idea of a Miss America slot machine and her parents have been treated rudely by Miss America officials.

Five months into her reign as Miss America 2002, the shine is coming off the crown for Katie Harman.

The organization behind her is taking its lumps, too, between its uneasy truce with Atlantic City and an apparent uprising by state pageant directors.

The latest troubles came to light after the parents of the 21-year-old collegian sent an eight-page letter to the Miss America Organization's board of directors, complaining about their treatment at the hands of pageant officials and staff members.

Harman, who was in Birmingham, Ala., on Tuesday and flying to Des Moines later in the day, was unavailable for comment, pageant officials said.

In the Feb. 3 letter, Glen and Darla Harman of Gresham, Ore., said Harman was being forced to pay $750 for alterations and was billed $2,248 for a post-crowning party at Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.

Harman, a petite blonde who wears a size 2 or smaller, used up her $1,500 alteration allowance when she had 12 suits altered earlier in her reign. She was billed $750 for alterations to 26 other items, the letter said.

The letter -- a copy of which was provided by Miss America CEO Robert Renneisen Jr. in response to a request -- recited a litany of problems with Miss America Organization staffers, saying they failed to prepare the Harmans for the special demands of being the parents of Miss America, treated the parents rudely, ignored their requests for information on Harman's daily schedule and failed to follow up on requests for bookings.

"Katie is your Miss America, and I can't tell you how many times she is in trouble for things that are not her fault," the letter said.

In a separate letter, Miss Oregon Scholarship Pageant executive director Dana Phillips said Harman objected to the idea of a Miss America-themed slot machine.

To date, no such machine exists. Indeed, until recently, the Miss America Pageant has steadfastly steered clear of casino connections because of fears they could sully the image of Miss America.

"She felt this concept was demeaning to the image of Miss America and that she would not endorse nor promote it if it came to fruition," Phillips said.

Renneisen, a former casino executive who took over the pageant two years ago, would not comment on plans for a Miss America-themed slot machine Tuesday.

He said the organization was open to new product licensing initiatives and would not rule out such a venture.

A Las Vegas gaming executive said this morning he understood slot maker AC Coin & Slot had been in talks with the pageant to produce a themed slot machine based on Miss America, but did not know if a deal had been signed.

Until 1997, the pageant banned contestants from entering casinos at all, even though most contestants stay in casino hotel rooms while competing.

Renneisen said the two bills were mistakenly sent to Harman and have since been paid by the pageant. He said Harman's bookings, slow at first because of Sept. 11-related delays in launching her platform, had picked up recently that she is on pace to earn $250,000 or more in appearance fees during her reign.

He blamed Harman's complaints on uninformed expectations given to her by her parents and Phillips. "They've built up an expectation of what Miss America is supposed to be," he said.

He said Harman was being used as a tool in an "internal political squabble" in which the executive directors of the Oregon, California, Illinois and South Carolina state pageants are seeking to oust Renneisen and his management team at Miss America Organization headquarters.

"The Board has to find out to what extent they're speaking for themselves and to what extent they're speaking for the states as a whole," he said.

Joseph Sanders IV, executive director of the Miss South Carolina pageant, declined comment on the tiff, referring a reporter to Absecon attorney Timothy Crammer, who represents the state association.

"It's not accurate at all to characterize what's going on as four or five people with a small uprising. It is a lot more than that," he said. He said the state pageant directors weren't trying to take over the Miss America Organization, just to improve its communication with state pageants.

Meanwhile, a Feb. 22 meeting is set for the Miss America Task Force, a volunteer group assembled to help find new sponsorships for the pageant after Renneisen threatened to move the pageant out of Atlantic City.