Local
Who paid for Task Force mailer on gambling?
LGBT group wades into Md. gaming debate, triggering reports of links to casinos and GOP strategists
Sources linked DCI Group’s Tom Synhorst — a gay Republican strategist — to an expensive mailer from the Task Force Action Fund critical of a proposed gambling expansion in Maryland. (Photo courtesy DCI)
As the dust settles over the Maryland General Assembly’s approval on Aug. 15 of a controversial bill to increase the number of casinos operating in the state, some political insiders say the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force appears to have taken the unusual step of accepting money from gambling interests to campaign against the bill.
The Task Force last month announced it opposed taking up the bill this year, noting it would trigger a voter referendum on gambling that likely would motivate more conservative, religious voters to turn out to vote against both gambling and the state’s same-sex marriage law, which is also on the November ballot in a referendum.
Earlier this month, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force Action Fund mailed an expensive tri-fold flier to thousands of Maryland households asking residents to urge their state representatives to vote “no” on the gambling bill. The mailer was likely part of the first round of an expected fierce campaign in which gambling and marriage equality may become entangled, sources familiar with the two issues told the Blade.
The sources, who spoke on condition that they not be identified, said the Task Force Action Fund mailer raised eyebrows among many political observers in Maryland, including officials in the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley, who introduced the gambling bill. Sources estimated the mailer cost well over $100,000.
“I know for a fact that the Task Force didn’t pay for it — a single, anonymous contributor paid for it,” said one of the sources.
Others familiar with the situation say they believe one or more of the five casinos already authorized to operate in the state and that stand to lose business from a sixth casino that the bill authorizes most likely paid for the mailer.
These sources note that Monique Hall, a member of the Task Force Action Fund board of directors, is a vice president for the DCI Group, a Republican-leaning political consulting firm that the sources say has been retained by one of the Maryland casinos to campaign against the gambling bill.
The sources believe one of the casinos paid for the mailing directly or reimbursed the DCI Group, which in turn paid the Task Force Action Fund for the mailing.
One of the sources said the Cordish Company, a national conglomerate that operates casinos in Las Vegas and throughout the country, including a casino located just south of Baltimore, is a client of DCI Group and may have been the source of the money used to pay for the mailer. The Blade could not independently confirm that Cordish is a DCI client. There are other gaming companies operating in Maryland that oppose the expansion, including Penn National Gaming, which owns 20 casinos throughout the nation, including Hollywood Casino of Perryville, Md.
The Task Force has declined to disclose the source of the money used to prepare and pay for the mailer.
“We do not have a position on gambling, but rather on marriage equality,” said Task Force Deputy Executive Director Darlene Nipper in a statement.
“The purpose of the marriage equality mailer, funded by the Task Force Action Fund, which like other nonprofits includes many donors, some named and some who are not, is to get marriage equality over the finish line,” Nipper said. “It was sent to a portion of registered Democratic households in Maryland.”
The mailer states, “If the gaming bill is on the ballot, opponents are likely to spend millions identifying and turning out voters who don’t like gambling…and who also don’t like Marriage Equality! So all the ‘no’ votes on gaming could also be ‘no’ votes for us.”
The mailer added, “The best thing that can happen – to give us a fair shot at winning on the ballot in November – is for the legislature to put gaming aside till next year and let the marriage issue proceed without complications.” The Task Force Action Fund is a 501c(4) nonprofit and contributions made to it are not tax deductible.
The Task Force did not directly answer when asked if it has made financial contributions to the Maryland referendum fight, but two knowledgeable sources said the Task Force has not made cash donations to the effort.
“We have provided staff resources specifically to advance marriage equality in Maryland,” said Nipper in an emailed statement. She also noted that the Task Force held its annual Creating Change conference in Baltimore earlier this year and that O’Malley spoke to attendees. Task Force executive director Rea Carey is on sabbatical and unavailable for comment.
Speculation over who could have paid for the Task Force Action Fund mailer has centered on Tom Synhorst, a gay Republican strategist and founder and chair of the DCI Group, which bills itself on its website as a public affairs company that “helps corporations navigate their most challenging political, legislative and regulatory problems anywhere in the world.”
Monique Hall (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Monique Hall, the DCI Group vice president and the Task Force Action Fund board member, did not respond to Blade inquires. A receptionist at DCI initially refused to take a message for Synhorst on Aug. 17 and declined to transfer a Blade reporter’s call into Synhorst’s voicemail. Another receptionist did take a message when the Blade called back on Monday, but Synhorst did not immediately respond.
DCI doesn’t disclose its client list on its website, but two sources with knowledge of the Task Force mailer said DCI has gaming clients, including possibly the Cordish Company.
Carmen Gonzales, a spokesperson for Maryland Live! Casino said Cordish has no immediate comment on any of the issues surrounding the approval of a sixth casino for Prince George’s County, including the Task Force mailer, except for this statement:
“Maryland Live! is, and will continue to be, the premier casino entertainment destination in the region. In the next few months, Live! will open new world-class dining and entertainment amenities, including the Prime Rib and Rams Head Center Stage.”
One political observer familiar with Maryland gambling rivalries, speaking on condition of anonymity, speculates that the existing casinos in the state that oppose the opening of a new casino “will create new or use existing faith-based organizations to front their campaign, arguing that gambling is morally wrong.”
Other observers familiar with Synhorst and the DCI Group say DCI has a history of creating front groups to wage battles in political campaigns.
Synhorst has a long record of working for Republican political candidates, including former Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.), and former Presidents George Walker Bush and George W. Bush.
DCI has been involved with “the creation of several front groups for the Bush administration and telecommunications, pharmaceutical and computer industries,” according to SourceWatch, which is published by the Center for Media and Democracy.
SourceWatch noted that the Associated Press reported in June 2001 that Synhorst “has been linked to South Carolina ‘push polls’ in the 2000 Republic primary that attacked candidate John McCain as ‘a cheat, a liar and a fraud,’ according to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.”
The Center for Media and Democracy added, “DCI and its affiliates offer ‘direct contact’ that bypasses the media entirely. The client’s message is directly delivered via phone banks, regular mail and/or the internet. Direct contact provides the campaigns with complete control over the message. Freed from the filters created by news outlets, they can be as biased and inflammatory as the message shaper deems necessary.”
Will gaming push derail marriage?
On Aug. 15, the General Assembly passed the gambling bill, with the House of Delegates approving it by a vote of 71-58 and the State Senate approving by a margin of 32-14.
Six of the eight openly gay or lesbian members of the General Assembly voted for the bill, citing arguments by proponents, including O’Malley, that the measure would generate an additional $174 million a year in revenue for the state. O’Malley said most of the revenue would be used to fund state education programs.
The gambling measure was drafted to include a provision requiring that it must come up before voters in the November election if the General Assembly passes it.
Meanwhile, earlier in the year, opponents of same-sex marriage obtained the required number of petition signatures needed to place on the November ballot a same-sex marriage law that the General Assembly passed and O’Malley signed in February.
Same-sex marriage advocates have expressed conflicting views over whether a gambling referendum would hurt chances for upholding the same-sex marriage law if both referenda were on the ballot at the same time. The marriage law has been on hold pending the outcome of the November referendum.
The Task Force, among other LGBT advocates, says a gambling referendum is likely to encourage a greater number of conservative, religious-oriented voters to go to the polls who oppose both gambling and marriage equality.
Other advocates, including Josh Levin, campaign manager of Marylanders for Marriage Equality, the organization leading the campaign to uphold the same-sex marriage law, say a gambling referendum would have no impact on the marriage equality vote.
“We’ve been looking at this carefully for a long time and we have yet to see any data that suggests there are any voters who would come out in the election because of the gaming initiative who were not already going to be out for a presidential election or to vote on the question of marriage equality,” Levin told the Blade.
Levin said he bases his assertion on private polls and focus groups commissioned by Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
At least one pollster sympathetic to LGBT equality, who asked not to be identified, said Levin’s assessment may not be correct.
“I don’t think a gambling ballot measure by itself will generate a greater turnout,” the pollster said. “But the Cordish Company is likely to spend millions to bring out anti-gambling voters … You are injecting a huge unknown factor if you put gambling on the ballot.”
The bill authorizes the state to expand the number of casinos allowed to operate in Maryland from five to six, with the sixth site to be located in Prince George’s County, most likely in the county’s National Harbor complex located near D.C.
O’Malley says the expansion would result in an additional $174 million a year in revenue when all six casinos are fully operational in 2017.
The five existing casinos approved for other locations in the state raised strong objections to O’Malley’s proposal, saying another casino in P.G. County would draw away patrons from the other five casinos.
Among the strongest opponents of the O’Malley proposal is the Cordish Companies. Cordish just opened its Maryland Live! Casino and entertainment complex at Arundel Mills just south of Baltimore. Observers say the Maryland Live! Casino would be impacted the most by a P.G. County casino because it’s the closest among the five casinos approved to operate in Maryland to the P.G. site.
Lessons from Ohio fight
Gambling industry observers say a furious battle between rival casinos in a 2008 Ohio voter referendum on whether a new casino should be allowed in the state might be a predictor of things to come in Maryland this year.
Known as Ballot Issue 6, Ohio voters were asked to decide whether Lakes Entertainment, a large casino owner, should be allowed to open a new casino in Ohio located 30 miles from an existing casino in Indiana owned by rival Penn National Gaming. Penn National reportedly put up $38 million to fund the “No on 6” committee compared to at least $26 million spent by Lakes Entertainment for the campaign in support of the casino.
Ohio voters ultimately defeated the proposal to build the new casino, with large numbers of conservative voters believed to have turned out to vote no.
The Task Force mailer included quotes from three commentaries critical of O’Malley’s push to expand gambling in the state published by the Washington Post, the Washington Blade, and the blog Care2.com. The Post piece was written by gay commentator Jonathan Capehart; the Blade’s was written by editor Kevin Naff.
The gay and lesbian legislators voting for the gambling bill were Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) and Delegates Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City), Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County), Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery County), Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City) and Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City). The gay and lesbian delegates voting against the bill were Peter Murphy (D-Charles County) and Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County).
Delaware
Delaware approves amendment protecting same-sex marriage
Measure must pass second vote in next year’s session
The Delaware General Assembly passed Senate Substitute 2 for Senate Bill 100 on the last day of the legislative session on Tuesday after being rescinded last week.
Senate Substitute 2 for Senate Bill 100 (SB-100) passed with 28 ‘yes’ votes, meeting the two-thirds threshold required for the bill to pass. Tuesday was the last day of the 153rd General Assembly.
The amendment would enshrine the right to same-sex and interracial marriage in the Delaware Constitution.
SB-100 was rescinded last week after it did not receive enough votes to pass. Democrats were short by three votes, with two Democratic members missing from the vote.
Rep. Josue Ortega (D-03) voted ‘no’ on SB-100 and Rep. Medinah Anton-Wilson (D-27) did not vote. However, both members voted ‘yes’ for Senate Substitute 2 for SB-100 on Tuesday.
Prime sponsor of SB 100, Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall (D-14), made the technical decision to change her vote last week from a ‘yes’ to a ‘no’ at the last minute to keep the bill alive.
Additionally, Republican Assemblyman Michael Smith (R-22) joined the Democrats with a ‘yes’ vote after voting ‘no’ on SB-100 last week.
In order for SB 100 to be enshrined into the state Constitution, it must be passed by two consecutive General Assemblies. Thus, the amendment will not be officially added to the Constitution unless it passes in the 154th General Assembly next year.
Rep. Snyder-Hall introduced the measure earlier this week.
“Just one week ago, we failed to pass this legislation. We failed the people of Delaware. But today, on the final day of the legislative session, the 153rd General Assembly affirmed that every Delawarean has the fundamental right to marry the person they love, regardless of race or gender,” said Snyder-Hall.
“Thank you to my colleagues for recognizing that the right to marry is a right worthy of protection and for voting yes on this important constitutional amendment.”
District of Columbia
Longtime Blade staffer Stephen Rutgers steps down after 14 years
Plans to focus on running Crush Dance Bar, other ventures
Longtime Washington Blade employee Stephen Rutgers announced he is stepping down after 14 years to focus on other ventures, including his part ownership of the popular Crush Dance Bar.
Rutgers was hired by the Blade in 2012 to help plan Pride festivities and over the years was promoted to director of sales and marketing. In addition to his broad set of responsibilities, Rutgers planned the annual Pride on the Pier celebration at the Wharf, which has exploded in popularity over the seven years since its launch.
“Watching Pride on the Pier grow from a new community event into one of D.C.’s signature Pride celebrations has been incredibly rewarding,” Rutgers said. “Expanding Pride on the Pier into a two-day festival for WorldPride in 2025 was definitely a career highlight. Seeing thousands of people come together to celebrate our community while supporting the Blade’s mission is something I’ll always be proud of.”
Rutgers described his biggest challenge as navigating the changing media landscape.
“More than ever, we’ve had to remind our community that local journalism matters and that it needs their support,” he said.
He added that he’s most proud of helping to ensure the Washington Blade is positioned to thrive for the next 50 years.
“I was fortunate to be part of the Blade during its 50th anniversary — a milestone that reflects its incredible history and impact,” Rutgers said. “The Blade has been an important voice for the LGBTQ community for more than five decades, and knowing I played a small part in helping its future is most important to me.”
Blade Publisher Brian Pitts praised Rutgers for juggling multiple responsibilities.
“We wish Stephen all the best,” Pitts said. “For the past 14 years, Stephen has been a vital part of the Blade, handling many things — marketing and advertising, sponsorships, and Blade signature events. We will all miss him.”
Blade Editor Kevin Naff thanked Rutgers for his years of service to the community.
“After 14 years, it’s hard to imagine the Blade without Stephen and his boundless energy and creativity,” Naff said. “He’s one of the hardest working and most dedicated people I’ve ever known and he will be missed. But change is the only constant and I know Stephen will move on successfully to new challenges and the Blade will expand on Stephen’s important work.”
As for what’s next for Rutgers, he said he plans to focus on Crush as well as his real estate business.
“I’ve always been someone who likes to stay busy,” Rutgers said. “For the past 12 years, I’ve balanced my work at the Blade and in real estate. Two years ago when I opened Crush, I never realized just how much time and energy it would take. The passing of my father earlier this year also gave me a new perspective. It reminded me that life is short and that it’s important to make time for the people and experiences that matter most. Stepping away from the Blade will allow me to focus on those ventures while also creating more balance in my life. After 14 incredible years, it feels like the right time for a new chapter.”
Naff said that for now Rutgers’s responsibilities will be divided between existing staff along with several new freelance contractors.
“The Washington Blade plays a unique role in our community’s fight for equality,” Rutgers said. “It’s the only LGBTQ news organization with White House credentials, giving it direct access to the people and institutions shaping policies that affect our community. The Blade continues to hold elected officials accountable, report on the issues that matter most to LGBTQ people, and tell the stories that often go uncovered by mainstream media.
“The Blade has been my family for most of my adult life. For 14 years, it has been part of my daily routine, so it’s going to feel very strange waking up and not logging on each morning.”
Maryland
‘Girlfriends’ wanted for murder in Silver Spring arrested in Ohio
Montgomery County police charged both with killing mother of one of them
Two women identified as a couple who have been wanted by Montgomery County, Md. police for allegedly killing the mother of one of them in her Silver Spring home on May 22 were arrested on June 10 in Ohio, according to a police statement.
The little-noticed statement released on June 11 says Vanessa Wahanganisa Tjongarero-Henderson, 29, of Clarksburg, Md., and Samantha Raebel, 36, of Phoenix, Ariz., who police earlier described as “girlfriends,” were apprehended by police in Genoa, Ohio after a local resident recognized them from news media coverage of the murder.
In their initial statement on June 4 announcing their investigation of the murder, Montgomery County Department of Police said they had charged the two women with first-degree murder for the death of Hilde Henderson, 67, who was the mother of Vanessa.
“Through the course of the investigation, detectives identified Henderson’s daughter, Vanessa Tjonhgarero-Henderson, and Vanessa’s girlfriend, Raebel, as the suspects,” the police statement said. It said detectives obtained an arrest warrant for the two women for first-degree murder and asked the public for help in locating them.
“A nationwide search was launched for the suspects, with media coverage extending throughout Ohio, Nashville, and Phoenix,” the most recent statement on June 11 announcing the two women’s arrest says. “Major Crimes Division detectives received multiple tips from several states before the two women were ultimately located in Genoa, Ohio,” it says.
It adds that an autopsy determined the cause of Hilde Henderson’s death was blunt-force trauma injuries brought about by a murder. Police have yet to disclose whether they have determined a motive for the murder.
“Tjongarero-Henderson and Raebel are currently being held at the Ottawa County [Ohio] Detention Center awaiting extradition to Maryland,” the statement concludes.
A spokesperson for the Office of the Montgomery County State’s Attorney, which prosecutes criminal cases in the county, told the Washington Blade the extradition was still pending and the two women had yet to be brought back to Maryland for prosecution as of June 29.
CBS News reported on June 16 that shortly after the two women fled almost 500 miles to Genoa, Ohio, they met a local resident at a fast-food restaurant and asked her for help, claiming they were homeless.
“They said they were living in Maryland,” CBS News quoted the resident, Adrienne Behrman, as saying. “They had taken what little money they had and left a toxic living situation, and they were headed to Arizona,” Behrman told CBS.
According to the CBS report, Behrman, who allowed the women to temporarily stay in her home, became suspicious that the stories they were telling her did not add up.
When one of them asked her for cigarettes and offered to reimburse her through the online Cash App payment platform, Behrman learned the woman’s real name—Henderson—through the app. Behrman then did an online search, “and that is when everything unraveled,” CBS reports, saying the search led to multiple press reports that the women were wanted for murder.
After leaving her home with the two women inside she called 911 to report the location of two people wanted for murder, CBS reports, adding that at least six police cars arrived and used a loud speaker to order the women out of the house and arrested them.
“I just hope the family and friends who knew the mother can have some peace,” Behrman told CBS News.
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