AUGUSTA — After months of hearing aggressive lobbying and behind-the-scenes vote-wrangling, the Senate on Tuesday rejected an attempt to directly authorize a Biddeford racino and a partner facility in Washington County.

The Senate voted 15-19 against the authorization, meaning the project will likely go to the voters in November, along with a proposal for a 1,500-slot-machine facility planned for Lewiston’s Bates Mill No. 5.

Tuesday’s vote saw several senators withdraw their preliminary support for the Biddeford-Calais proposal, including members of the Androscoggin County delegation. 

Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, and Sen. Margaret Craven, D-Lewiston, indicated they changed their minds after the Senate voted two weeks ago against authorizing the Lewiston facility.

They said they wanted to treat the projects equally.

Snowe-Mello said that her constituents had urged her to send the Biddeford-Calais project to voters. She also indicated that she’d been contacted by Black Bear Entertainment, the developers of an approved casino project in Oxford County.

Black Bear has opposed direct authorization of either gambling project, arguing that those proposals should face the same voter test as Oxford.

An Oxford County project was rejected by voters in 2008, but another one was approved in 2010. Since then, supporters of the project have worried that introducing more gaming facilities would doom Oxford before construction on the facility begins.

Meanwhile, the Biddeford-Calais proposal was advanced via powerful interests, including Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry, the developer Ocean Properties and a session-long lobbying effort that has already eclipsed the $100,000 mark.

Several lawmakers have remarked that the lobbyists representing various gaming interests had been particularly aggressive this session.

Raye, however, may have been the biggest advocate for the Biddeford-Calais project.

Two weeks ago, he abandoned a last-ditch effort that he hoped would clear the path for the direct authorization of the project. Raye had submitted late legislation that would have sent the racino project to a county referendum following full authorization by the Legislature — a move Raye hoped would shake Gov. Paul LePage from his vow to veto any gambling proposal that didn’t first go to voters.

The move was initially characterized by Oxford County casino spokesman Peter Martin as “11th-hour, 59th-minute shenanigans.”

Raye’s move was also blasted by proponents of the Lewiston casino. Those supporters were crestfallen after learning that their project was headed to referendum, after the Senate voted against direct authorization.

But Raye quickly changed his mind about the late legislation, saying it “would not work” because it raised constitutional issues.

Raye reiterated his support for the project during Tuesday’s floor debate and urged lawmakers to end the Legislature’s “maddening, nonsensical” tradition of “punting” gaming projects to the voters.

He said the racino was particularly important to his constituents in Washington County where residents and the Passamaquoddy Tribe were desperate for economic development and “yearning for self-determination.”

He said the tribe had tried for nearly 20 years to land a gaming facility, only to have voters in southern Maine repeatedly nix the proposals at the ballot box.

Raye also attempted to convince the Androscoggin and Oxford county delegations to support Biddeford-Calais, despite the outcome of the Lewiston project and pressure from the Oxford developers.

He said he knew it wasn’t easy for lawmakers trying to help poor constituencies.

“I’ve walked many miles in those moccasins,” Raye said.

“It’s unfortunate for the people of Biddeford and Washington County, because it’s a good project,” Stavros Mendros, a major backer of the Lewiston project, said Tuesday. Mendros noted that both Lewiston and Biddeford were struggling to jump-start their economies, decades after the closing of the mills.

Mendros said he was happy that the Lewiston and Biddeford projects would get the same treatment, and added that he was confident both would be successful when the referendums reach voters.

Supporters for Biddeford-Calais released a short statement thanking the Legislature following Tuesday’s vote.

Advocates say the project would create 800 construction jobs and 500 full-time jobs with $35,000 in annual wages and benefits in Biddeford, with comparable job forecasts in Washington County.

Despite the drama in the legislative branch, the governor, mostly through his staff, continued to stand by his vow to send any gaming project to referendum. Despite the influence driving the Biddeford-Calais project, the administration has said that LePage wanted to treat all gaming projects equally.

The administration has also indicated that it wants to change how gambling proposals are approved in the state.

Historically, all projects have ultimately gone to the voters. But critics say the result has been a patchwork of laws and inconsistent distribution of gaming proceeds to the state.

Staff writer Andrew Cullen contributed to this report.

smistler@sunjournal.com

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