A work group focusing on the expansion of gambling in the state of Maryland is working behind closed doors. This has caused a lot of objections from a lawmaker from the Republican Party. Despite these objections, the deliberations are technically legal. This group was handpicked by the governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley and other leaders. The “secret” deliberations continued through Tuesday. The two main topics that were being talked about are the possibility of allowing a Prince George’s County casino in Maryland and to allow gambling venues in Maryland to offer table games.

According to sources, this secrecy and the private meetings are permitted because the group consists of eleven members and this group doesn’t fall under the definition of a public body according to the Open Meetings Law of the state of Maryland. To clarify it more, according to the law of the state, a public body can be formed in many ways. One of the ways is to be done through a governor’s executive decision but this is not the case, as it was not formed through an executive order form the governor.

Another way is for the public body to be appointed by the governor and it has to have two members who are not state employees. This work group has only one member who is not an employee of the state, the Chairman of the work group John Morton III. The rest of the group is either state legislators or administrative officials of the governor. This group doesn’t have the rules of The Open Meeting Act applied to it. Therefore, any decisions taken by the group is not going to be binding on the public.

Pinkin is also said to be pursuing his plans in order to propose a legislation that would result in tightening the Open Meetings Law. According to him, closed doors deliberations are wrong because they shut the public out of everything and that the people have the right to know.