Six days after winning a state contract, the company Pennsylvania chose to run its computer system for slot machines gave $50,000 to a national nonprofit that raises money for Democratic governors -- including Gov. Ed Rendell, the group's finance chair.
GTECH, a Rhode Island lottery company, has given $481,267 to the Democratic Governors' Association since 2000, according to a political watchdog group. But the payment March 8 had nothing to do with the $6.3 million a year contract announced by the state Department of Revenue, officials said Wednesday.
Rendell spokeswoman Kate Philips said the state's decision to award GTECH the gambling contract was unrelated to the company's contribution to the governors' association. GTECH, with annual revenues of $1.25 billion, also has given $169,050 to a comparable group for Republican governors.
Penny Lee -- Rendell's communications director until she was named executive director of the Democratic Governors' Association in April -- also discounted a connection between GTECH's contributions to the association and the state contract.
As the group's finance chair, Rendell raises money for the organization, Philips said. Because of the state's ban on corporate giving to political candidates, the governor makes sure he doesn't directly benefit from the money he raises, she said.
But the group has given $462,000 to Rendell's gubernatorial campaign, according to the Center for Public Integrity. What do call that Ms. Phillips?
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
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