Last week's entry about former Gaming Control Board chief Tad Decker co-chairing a fund-raiser for Michael Nutter sent the blogs haywire with concern over Nutter's status as a reformer, and set the anti-casinoistas on Nutter himself. Not all entries were as nasty or incorrect (the event is not at Decker's house) as today's Philebrity.com, but Nutter was stung by the letters and blog attacks.
Now it looks like Decker is not only NOT chairing the event, he's probably not even showing up.
Nutter's campaign said they didn't even know Decker was a co-chair until alerted by Heard in the Hall, and promptly warned him and partner Pat O'Connor that their law firm, Cozen O'Connor, could blow its $20,000 campaign contribution limit in one night if they stayed on as chairmen of the event (there were five co-chairs). New campaign laws could attribute all of the contributions from the $500- and $1,000-a-plate dinner to the chairs, forcing Cozen to drop its contracts with the city. Ouch. Decker and O'Connor were happy to withdraw.
Two of those co-chairs, businessmen Tony Hayden, Sr. and Jim Maguire, were the ones who organized the event and recruited Decker, Nutter and Decker said this week.
Decker said he needed no other reason -- and was given no other reason by the Nutter camp -- for dropping the event. But on Monday Nutter said he wouldn't have asked Decker to chair Thursday's event, held at the Philadelphia Country Club in Gladwyne, because of Decker's Gaming Board role.
Decker has been demonized by anti-casino opponents -- consisting of a very vocal group of neighbors and progressive activists -- for his role in approving two casinos on the riverfront in Fishtown and Pennsport, then returning as CEO to his old law firm Cozen, which also represents one of those casinos, SugarHouse.
"There are some very public concerns about his recent service at the Gaming Board and his return to the firm," Nutter said.
Decker said yesterday he'd probably stay away from the event. "If it's inconvenient for him to have my support because of certain parts of the city, I can understand that," Decker shrugged.
Nutter may have to get used to this. Casino Free Philadelphia will try to delay the city's approval of SugarHouse and Foxwoods plans until Nutter gets in office, in the meantime trying to push Nutter to take up their cause in an active way. They have promised to lay down in front of bulldozers to stop casino construction -- will they ask the new mayor to do the same?
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