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).
District of Columbia
Capital Pride chair resigns from board after just 10 months
Anna Jinkerson ‘taking step back to move forward’
Anna Jinkerson, who has served as chair of D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors for the past 10 months and has served on the board for the past four years, confirmed she is resigning from the board effective Sept. 30.
Capital Pride Alliance serves as the lead organizer of D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events.
“I am taking a step back to move forward and plan to stay engaged in the community,” Jinkerson told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Serving as a volunteer leader during a period of transition following World Pride was both an honor and a challenge,” she said.
“Throughout my tenure, I focused on strengthening accountability, improving communications, supporting staff and volunteers, and helping position the organization for long-term success,” she told the Blade in her statement. “Meaningful organizational progress requires collaboration, dedication, and a shared commitment to serving the community, and I am proud of the work accomplished during this period.”
In February of this year, during Jinkerson’s tenure on the board, Capital Pride announced it had expanded the size of its board from 12 to 25 members.
Around that same time one of the existing board members, transgender activist Taylor Lianne Chandler, announced in a letter to fellow board members that the Blade obtained from an anonymous sender that she was resigning from the board. Among her reasons for resigning, she said in the letter, was the board’s failure to address “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
In the letter, which she confirmed for the Blade was authentic, Chandler said she and other board members raised “credible concerns” of alleged sexual misconduct within the Capital Pride organization and the board chose not to adequately respond to those concerns.
Chandler told the Blade a Capital Pride investigation identified an individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior, but said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement that applied to all board members and she could not provide further details.
When the Blade contacted Capital Pride for comment on Chandler’s allegations, Jinkerson responded with a statement saying Capital Pride was addressing her concerns.
“When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” Jinkerson said. “As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” she said.
In her statement to the Blade this week commenting on her planned resignation from the Capital Pride board, Jinkerson appeared to refer to the concern raised by Chandler.
“I am proud to have advocated for sexual harassment training, supported staff and volunteers when concerns were raised, engaged community leaders in important conversations, and helped advance practices that strengthen safety, transparency, and accountability,” she said.
“As I step away from board service, I do so with gratitude for the opportunity to serve and with confidence in the organization’s future,” she added. “I am taking a step back to move forward, and I look forward to remaining actively engaged in our community and continuing to support efforts that advance equality, belonging, and pride for all.”
District of Columbia
Over 2,000 turn out for Hands Around the Kennedy Center protest
Drag performer Tara Hoot serves as MC, Gay Men’s Chorus of DC performs, attendees shout for Trump to keep ‘hands off’ Kennedy Center
More than 2,000 supporters of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts turned out on Sept. 18, for a rally in support of the performing arts center and a vocal protest against President Donald Trump’s threats to permanently close the center and possibly demolish it.
The event was organized by a group called Hands Off the Arts, which initially called for participants to form a “human chain” around the Kennedy Center’s main building following a rally on the plaza in front of the building.
However, due to a decision by the Trump-controlled Kennedy Center’s board of trustees to close the center earlier in the week and install fencing around part of the building, participants could only form the chain around part of the building, according to organizers.
Drag performer Tara Hoot, who co-organized the event and served as master of ceremonies for the rally preceding the “human chain,” said the large turnout could have fully surrounded the building at least twice had the fencing not prevented a full encirclement.
Among the musicians and singing groups that performed at the rally was the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which, like other rally performers, had performed at the Kennedy Center in past years. They drew loud applause after singing one of their favorite songs from the Broadway musical show Ragtime, which includes the lyrics, “Will justice be demanded by 10 million men? Make them hear you. When they hear you, I’ll be near you again.”
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Prior to their performance, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s artistic director, Thea Kano, spoke at the rally, reminding participants that shortly after the Trump takeover of the center last year, Kennedy Center officials cancelled a concert the chorus was scheduled to perform there for World Pride 2025.
A Kennedy Center spokesperson said the cancellation was due to a scheduling conflict, but chorus members and LGBTQ activists believe it resulted from policies put in place by Trump and his leadership team at the Kennedy Center following Trump’s statements that he would end controversial “woke” performances that he claimed the majority of Americans disapprove of.
“Now this building sits empty in silence,” Kano told the crowd at the rally. “Let us raise our voices together and bring back the Kennedy Center as it was intended, a place where American culture could be celebrated and elevated, embracing the vibrancy with the spectrum of identify without censure and without politics,” she said.
Among the others who spoke at the rally were U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), and D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At-Large).
Most speakers, along with LGBTQ participants in the hands-around-the-building event expressed strong opposition to Trump’s demand that the Kennedy Center name be changed from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to the Donald J. Trump and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
At Trump’s request, his appointed board initially made that name change and placed Trump’s name on the front wall of the building along with the Kennedy name. But following legal action taken by opponents who pointed out that Congress must approve such a name change, a judge ordered the removal of Trump’s name from the building. Trump has said he will take steps to reverse that order and has said he will stop plans to renovate the Kennedy Center building and possibly demolish it if his name is not restored in the Kennedy’s Center’s official name.
Throughout the Sept. 18 rally, LGBTQ participants repeatedly responded to the Trump threats by shouting, “Hands Off!”
Chris Raleigh, one of the founders of Hands Off the Arts and a lead organizer of the Sept. 18 event at the Kennedy Center who spoke at the event told the Washington Blade that more similar events are being planned and he welcomes the support the event has received from the LGBTQ community.
“The LGBTQ community was here first, and we’re following them,” he said. “They’ve been the spearhead; they’ve been the vanguard. And I’m so thankful for heroes like Tara Hoot,” he said, adding, “It’s because they know what it means and how this is a safe place – the theater – for many LGBTQ people.”
The DMV’s own furry group was on full display on the Metro on Sept. 12.
Shutterpaws is a volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit organization located in Maryland.
The furry group has been doing the FurRide event since 2024 and has blown up in popularity for furries around DMV. They showcased themselves on the Silver and Blue Lines near the Smithsonian on Sept. 12.
“A lot of careful planning goes into running these events, with the goal being a seamless and enjoyable experience for everyone who attends,” says Zayre, a Shutterpaws staff member. “There’s a lot that you learn just by trial and error, and as Shutterpaws hosts more and more events, our team of event organizers continues to learn and refine our approach to keep things running smoothly and finding new ways to engage with our community.”
With a larger growth of participation in the community comes many challenges with the group, especially when it comes to the Metro rides and organizing.
“The biggest challenge that we face as organizers is keeping things fresh and finding new and engaging venues to host events,” says Zayre. “Recently we saw a lot of success hosting a meet at On Target Battlezone, an indoor NERF gun battle arena where our crew was welcome to show up and play both with and without a fur suit.”
Nevertheless, Shutterpaws receive overwhelming support from the community and partners.
“Across the DMV there are so many amazing places to host a Shutterpaws event so we can pursue our mission of helping connect fur suiters and photographers, and we’re blown away with the amount of support we’ve received from our community partners,” says Zayre.
Shutterpaws plans to do more events for anyone in the DMV who is interested.
Their next event in collaboration with DC Fur Meet will take place at Pitchers (2317 18th St., N.W.) on Saturday. Visit Shutterpaws’ website for more information.
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