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The View From Philly

Schroder responds to Ballard and Spahr lawyers’ accusations of defamation

State Representative Curt Schroder (R-Chester), who is running for Congress in the 6th District, recently responded to accusations of defamation made by the former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Ed Rendell, Adrian King. An attorney with the Ballard, Spahr, Andrews and Ingersoll law firm in Philadelphia, King is representing GTECH, a gaming technology firm that is based out of Rhode Island.

In a statement on the House GOP Web site, Schroder lambasted King for accusing him of defaming his client, GTECH, in a Gaming Oversight Committee meeting. At the meeting, Schroder expressed his concerns about GTECH’s close ties to the Rendell administration and about awarding no-bid contracts to businesses that are associated with the law firm that Rendell once worked for.

“There is a company out there by the name of GTECH,” Schroder said at the meeting, “which I believe has other contracts in this state. This company is represented by Adrian King, who is the former deputy chief of staff under Governor Rendell and is also with the Ballard Spahr law firm, which has to be one of the chief and largest recipients of no-bid contracts and largess from the administration in the entire state. … So I have very, very big concerns about the close ties of this particular outfit to the administration…”

Schroder has been active in discouraging casinos and gaming technology vendors from receiving political support from state legislators. He is pursuing the reinstatement of a ban on political contributions by gaming interest groups that was overturned by the state Supreme Court earlier this year.

According to his statement, Schroder provided King an unedited DVD containing footage of the meeting “so he could see what he missed.”

In a written response to King, Schroder said, “I am startled that you would draft such a letter alleging defamation and demanding an apology when, by your own admission, you were not in attendance at the meeting, nor did you review a transcript. I hope for the sake of your client, GTECH, that this lack of preparation and recklessness is not indicative of your quality of representation.”