Slot Machine Conflict of Interest?

Guam Greyhound is trying again to get slot machines at their race track, but first they have some legal paperwork to attend to. They are in the process of challenging a Guam law that they say allowed opponents of the slot machines in the last election to spread vicious lies about them.

However, they say that the judge that is presiding over the case may have a conflict of interest. It seems that Superior Court Presiding Judge Alberto Lamorena is the bother of Senator Tony Lamorena, who had co-sponsored the law.

The track is adamant that they feel like the judge cannot serve on the case as it is clearly a conflict for him, and said that the court rules are set up in a way that keeps this from happening to judges. This way however the case unfolds, the judge cannot be questioned.

Last year Guam Greyhound was trying to get slot machines approved at the track, and in August they filed suit against the anti slot machine group Lina’la Sin Casino and its spokeswoman Jackie Marati. They had also said that there were about a dozen other people opposed to the slot machines as well that were to be included in the suit.

They said that the two had spread lies about them in order to keep slot machines out of Guam Greyhound. Marati said that they were simply trying to get her to stop speaking out against the slot machines and filed the suit to silence her. She says that they were trying to intimidate her because she was opposed to the slot machines.

The problem for Guam Greyhound is that there is a law that states they cannot simply file a suit in order "to censor, chill, intimidate, or punish citizens, businesses and organizations for involving themselves in public affairs." The Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation protects people from that sort of thing, and Greyhound is challenging that law.

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