The issue of whether to call the Legislature back to Harrisburg to make changes in the law legalizing slots casinos is mired in politics again.

Gov. Ed Rendell and Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate can agree on one thing: The law should be refined. But they can't agree on how to refine it and who should take the first step to renew the process.

Yesterday, Gov. Rendell reiterated his refusal to call a special session that state Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, has been pushing for and urged Republican leaders in the state House and Senate to call an early end to summer vacation by returning to regular session.

A Republican leader said there's no reason to call lawmakers back into session unless they know they can reach a consensus.

Democrats accused Ms. Orie of grandstanding and blocking previous attempts at changing the law.

Ms. Orie called for a special session two weeks ago after it was revealed that a Philadelphia lobbyist had listed his children as part owners of a proposed slot-machine supply company. They have since been removed.

Ms. Orie and others want to make several changes in the slots law, including prohibiting children as potential owners; eliminating middle-man slots machine suppliers; removing a provision that allows legislators to own up to 1 percent of a gaming company; and authorizing the state attorney general's office to oversee all slots operations, including background checks and operational oversight.

Ms. Orie said it is important for changes to be made to the July 2004 law as soon as possible because the first casino licenses are scheduled to be awarded at the end of next month. Several previous efforts to make changes have failed because other provisions were added to reform bills.

After a news conference in Penn Hills, Mr. Rendell said he wouldn't call a special session unless legislators ignored a call by Republican leaders to return early.

"As far as I know, they get paid to work in August, so all the leadership has to do is call them back into session," said Mr. Rendell. "There should be no reason for me to call a special session."

Ms. Orie sent a letter yesterday afternoon to Senate leaders requesting the Senate be called back into session. David Atkinson, a spokesman for Robert Jubelirer, Senate president pro tem, said Mr. Jubelirer is "fully committed" to changing the law but there hasn't been talk of going back into session early.

"There's no sense calling them back if we don't have agreement," he said. "People aren't going to feel a whole lot better if we come back and deadlock again ... There is no shortage of interest in reforming the gaming law, but there is a bit of difficulty in reaching agreement on a substantial set of reforms that the governor will sign."

Stephen Miskin, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, said the House isn't likely to be called back early, either.

Mr. Smith does want to fix the gaming bill to make it workable and responsible, Mr. Miskin said. It's been difficult to do that because Mr. Rendell has not shown leadership on the issue, he said.

"We haven't been able to reach a consensus [in the Legislature] because the governor has been silent when it comes to organizing a reform," Mr. Miskin said.

Mr. Rendell vetoed a previous attempt to change the bill because he said it would have been more liberal in allowing legislators and their relatives to be involved in gaming rather than being more restrictive.

Yesterday, Mr. Rendell said he likely would support the types of changes Ms. Orie is pushing.

Ms. Orie has become part of the issue herself as Democrats took shots at her motives.

"Everybody is committed to making it a better law, but there are those that are motivated to simply blow up the gaming issue because ... they want to create an issue to help themselves into leadership," said Christopher Craig, aide to Sen. Vince Fumo and main author of the slots legislation.

Ms. Orie is playing election-year politics and using the issue to launch herself into Senate leadership, he said. She's one of the ones who kept the Senate from voting on a House bill that would have made some of the changes she wanted, he said.

"Her call for a special session to deal with reform is akin to the arsonist complaining that the fire department hasn't come in time to put out the fire," he said.

"There are plenty of reforms that could be done to gaming and I don't think anybody really disputes that. People get really upset when politicians try to take an election-year advantage like this."

Senate Minority Leader Robert J. Mellow, D-Lackawanna, said it is "pure hypocrisy" to call for a special session.

"And now, what's worse is that Sen. Orie is looking to Gov. Rendell for leadership because she can't bring herself to make a strong case to her own Republican leadership."