Illinois Gaming Board called ‘most messed up state agency’

Maura Kelly Lannan

Thursday, Sept. 2, 2004 | 9:11 a.m.

CHICAGO -- The Illinois Gaming Board is the "most messed up state agency" because it cannot conduct business or even officially meet until Gov. Rod Blagojevich appoints another member, one of the two remaining board members charged Wednesday.

But a spokeswoman for the governor said new members won't be named until qualified people are found, and said Blagojevich will wait until he has at least two people to appoint.

The five-member board already had a vacancy and was further crippled when chairman Elzie Higginbottom resigned Friday and member Violet Clark quit on Monday. Only two members are left and three are needed for a quorum, which is required to meet or take action.

"So we can just about go on record that we're the most, most messed up state agency operation running," member William Dugan said. "Why the governor didn't keep Violet and Elzie is beyond me. It's a travesty to let those people go."

Blagojevich spokeswoman Cheryle Jackson said the governor has had a hard time finding people willing to serve on the board, which was criticized for awarding the state's only unused casino license in March to a company that wants to build a casino in Rosemont.

"The new appointments will be made as soon as we settle on qualified members who have no ties to gaming or any other conflicts and who are also willing to serve on the board given the amount of media scrutiny that they would be subject to," Jackson said.

Higginbottom and Clark's terms ended at the end of June but they were serving until Blagojevich replaced them.

Before Higginbottom and Clark resigned, the board had a closed-session meeting scheduled for Wednesday. Member Gary Peterlin and Dugan met anyway -- Dugan was out of town but participated via speakerphone -- because they said they wanted to talk about how to proceed on several issues.

They questioned why Blagojevich has not given them permission to hire legal counsel in a lawsuit filed against them by Attorney General Lisa Madigan related to the proposed casino.

Other pending issues include whether the board can hire additional staff to review the new casino plan, appoint a judge to preside over a hearing in which it will try to revoke the bankrupt Emerald Casino Inc.'s license and act on requests by some casinos to expand or build hotels.

"It's obvious we have a lot of work that needs to be done and can't be done until we're back in operation," Peterlin said.

Dugan and Peterlin's terms expire July 1, 2005. Jackson would not say if the governor plans to reappoint them, saying only that Blagojevich was "not focused" on their appointments now. Peterlin said the governor has not talked to him about being reappointed. Dugan could not be reached after the meeting.

Madigan filed a lawsuit in June that seeks to stop the board from reviewing Isle of Capri Casino Inc.'s $518 million bid for the license now held by Emerald, claiming the board overstepped its authority.

The board wants to hire outside counsel because several of its attorneys have conflicts after they were named as part of Emerald's bankruptcy court filings, Peterlin said.

Jackson said the governor would not approve hiring a lawyer until "a new board comes on line and decides what they want to do."