The state’s elected lawmakers have made it clear that taking care of their own remains a top priority, and the state’s Gaming Control Board continues to be a preferred landing spot for the favored few.
The latest glaring example is the appointment to the board of Frances “Fran” Regan, the wife of state Sen. Mike Regan, R-York. The appointment — done without prior announcement or press release — was made by Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre. She was sworn in March 1.
When reporters asked for Ms. Regan’s resume, board officials said they didn’t have one. Later, they provided a biography which said she spent 24 years conducting background and criminal investigations for the federal probation office, and for the past six years has run a small business holding public and private fitness classes for women.
Mr. Corman, in an interview with the news consortium Spotlight PA, said he chose Ms. Regan because of her background in law enforcement, and because she’s a friend whom he can trust.
That friendship will land Ms. Regan a two-year term on the Gaming Board and an annual salary of $145,000, one of the higher-paying appointed positions in state government. Nice work if you can get it.
Only a month ago, the Gaming Board was under public scrutiny for the two-year appointment of former state Rep. Frank Dermody, of Oakmont. Mr. Dermody lost his bid for a 16th term in the House, but he’ll now make more than he did as a state representative while padding a 30-year state pension that exceeds six figures. And his situation is not unique — he’s the fourth former House Democrat to serve there, and the board includes two other former House members.
The Gaming Board oversees Pennsylvania’s legalized gambling operations, typically meeting only once or twice a month. And the board makeup is practically a blueprint for cronyism in state government: The governor gets to name three board members, and the four Democratic and Republican leaders in the state House and Senate each get one appointment. There are no clear skills or abilities necessary for membership on the board.
How Ms. Regan’s background will provide expertise for a board overseeing a gaming industry that recorded $3.4 billion in revenue in 2019 is unclear, and Mr. Corman did not offer much in the way of explanation. He did, however, go out of his way to say that she shouldn’t be disqualified just because her husband is a state senator.
But maybe she should. Lawmakers should establish a waiting period for former colleagues so that they could not move immediately from an elected position to an appointed one in state government. A nepotism policy that would prohibit the appointment to state boards and commissions of elected officials’ relatives would at least provide some slight hint of integrity in the selection process.
Ultimately, the five people who have the power to appoint people to the Gaming Board owe their constituents an explanation for their choices and how that member can provide needed expertise in overseeing a multibillion-dollar industry. The appointment should be about more than finding a cushy job for a friend or colleague.
First Published: March 7, 2021, 5:00 a.m.
