Slots Flip-Flop – Shame on Brinkley & GOP

Minority Leader and Minority Party No Longer Support Slots?

The New “Brinkley Tax” = $500,000,000

Dangerous Partisan Budget Games Highlight GOP Hypocrisy

Annapolis, MD – Embracing partisan hypocrisy like never before, some Maryland Senate Republicans say they’re flip-flopping on slots and will vote against a measure now that a Democrat is putting a proposal on the table. No Republican supported slots measures more vigorously over the last four years than current Senate Minority Leader, Sen. David Brinkley.

"The focus isn't slots; it’s the shameful lack of character by Sen. Brinkley and his Republican colleagues. Republican partisanship is behind their willingness to throw Marylanders, including their constituents, under the bus and undermine progress on behalf of the people of this state,” says Quincey Gamble, Executive Director of the Maryland Democratic Party. “If Brinkley's voting history wasn't a matter of public record, some might be led to believe that he has a conscience. But the glaring evidence of his consistent support for every slots bill since 2003 makes you wonder how he plans to explain the blatant contradiction to anyone, especially himself.”

Senator David Brinkley voted in favor of slots is 2003 (SB322), 2004 (SB197) and 2005(SB205). Now he’s not only declaring he will vote against a slots proposal but, after first demanding a quick solution to the budget crisis inherited from the previous administration, Brinkley now says it’s time to wait. Such a wait may cost his constituents $500 million for schools, roads, health care, the environment and more.

Until now, Republicans claimed the budget deficit can be closed by budget cuts and slots. They haven't offered any specific cuts, and now they say they'll vote against slots. Is Brinkley willing to flip-flop again and return to his old self, voting for higher taxes, as he did from 2003 to 2006?

“Does this senator want to be known for the ‘Brinkley Tax’ – a $500 million dollar drain on the taxpayers for vital priorities that are important to the people of Maryland,” asks Gamble. “The Republicans are whining from the sidelines having offered no specific budget cuts, urging delays in finding a fiscal solution and now threatening a flip-flip on their own positions - all for the sake of pure partisan politics.”  

Brinkley is now a shining example of what he condemned in 2005 when he was quoted by the Washington Times complaining about the Democratic response to the first Republican governor in 34 years: 

“You still have a legislative temper tantrum going on about what happened in 2002," Mr. Brinkley said. "It is going to get worse before it gets better." 

[Washington Times, 2-7-05]

“It’s obvious this type of flip-flopping qualifies as a temper tantrum in 2007. Sometimes it’s like these Republicans don’t know there is a record of what they’ve said, how they voted and why,” added Gamble. “The people of Maryland can expect this kind of hypocrisy time and again from Republican lawmakers who supported slots, voted for tax hikes and 32% budget growth when such things were the policy of a Republican chief executive.”