AUGUSTA – The leader of CasinosNo!, the citizen group that helped defeat a casino in Maine said Friday the group will use its financial and political might to send the racino issue back to the public if lawmakers tamper too much with the governor’s bill to regulate racinos.

In particular, Dennis Bailey of CasinosNO! said if Scarborough Downs is allowed two years to find a home for a racino, his group will seek a referendum.

“Instead of arguing about what it was that voters knew and didn’t know, let’s give people the right to vote on it,” Bailey said.

If a referendum happens, he predicts voters would reject slot machines at racetracks. He pointed to two December referendums – in Westbrook and Saco – where voters rejected slots.

At issue is Gov. John Baldacci’s bill to regulate slot machines at horse racetracks, which voters approved last fall. The governor has said the referendum language was written by and for gambling interests, and that his legislation adds protections for the public’s interest.

Initial action on the bill by the Legislature’s Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee indicated some sympathy to amend the bill and allow Scarborough Downs’ more time to find a town willing to accept the racetrack and slot machines. The original referendum language gave a deadline of Dec. 31, 2003.

The committee is also considering changes that would limit slot machines to 1,500 per track.

The potential changes prompted the CasinosNO! warning and its decision to hire a lobbyist, former House Speaker Mike Saxl of Verrill and Dana in Portland, to follow the bill through the legislative process.

Hiring a lobbyist was necessary, Bailey said, because keeping track “of all the law firms, lawyers and clients is more confusing than a racing program.” If anyone has doubt about how “big-time Las Vegas gambling will distort Maine’s political process, take a trip to Augusta and watch the scene at the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee,” Bailey wrote in an e-mail to his group’s 3,000 members.

Former Secretary of State Bill Diamond, now a lobbyist representing Scarborough Downs, said Friday he doesn’t like the idea of another referendum.

“The people have voted,” Diamond said. “If you start looking at a referendum because you don’t like how it came out and try to encourage another vote, that impacts a bunch of people. The people knew what they were doing” when the voted for the original referendum.

Diamond praised the governor’s bill to tighten up the law. “That’s wonderful,” he said. “I believe in the legislative process.” However, he is pushing for a language change that would allow Scarborough Downs more time to find a new home for a racetrack and slots.

Diamond said he thinks Legal and Veterans Committee members seem to understand that the origianal deadline was a “facade,” and only gave Scarborough one month to prepare for local votes. The deadline was “to kill Scarborough Downs” and create a situation where only Bangor would have slots, he said.

Diamond said he’s hoping to convince Baldacci the change would be appropriate, adding it’s “disingenuous” to say that people voted specifically on the Dec. 31, 2003 deadline.

The Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

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