As reported by: The Associated Press
Gov. Ed Rendell on Sunday named Sanford Rivers, Carnegie Mellon University's chief labor negotiator and a National Football League official, as the second of three members he will appoint to the state's new gambling commission.

Rivers, 61, who has worked at Carnegie Mellon for 34 years, is now assistant vice president of enrollment and handles labor negotiations as well as student and faculty grievances. He has also been an NFL line official since 1989 after officiating at the high school and college level.

"Sanford Rivers' name at Carnegie Mellon is synonymous with incorruptibility," Rendell said in a statement released Sunday. "Sanford will help ensure that the right people get gaming licenses and that the Pennsylvania gaming industry is respected throughout the country for its incorruptibility and commitment to excellence."

Rivers said he is prepared to serve full-time on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, something Rendell wants his appointees to do. The appointment is for a two-year term.

Rendell must make his third appointment by Sept. 4. Legislative leaders also have two remaining seats to fill.

Already named to the seven-member board are:

-Frank Friel, former Philadelphia police officer who supervised the task force that took down "Little Nicky" Scarfo's mob organization.

-Bill Conaboy, general counsel and corporate compliance officer for the Clarks Summit-based Allied Services, a nonprofit health care and human services provider to the elderly and disabled in northeastern Pennsylvania.

-Joseph W. Marshall III, chairman and chief executive of the Temple University Health System and a former chairman of the state Ethics Commission.

Pennsylvania's new gambling law allows as many as 61,000 slot machines at the 14 gambling halls. Nearly half the gambling revenues are to be used to lower the residential property taxes that pay for public schools by about 20 percent.