Jim Roddey

Also known as James Roddey and James C. Roddey
==Background==
James C. Roddey was elected as Allegheny County's first Chief Executive. 
Roddey is a Republican.
Roddey had many ups and downs as Allegheny County's Chief Executive. He has had a long, distinguised career as a public official and enterpreneur.
In 2001, Roddey, while in office as Allegheny County Executive, and while a resident of the City of Pittsburgh, refused to sign the petition to enable Mark Rauterkus onto the ballot as a Republican for the Mayor's race. In the ballot petitioning period, Rauterkus, like all candidates, needed signatures from registered voters in the party to get onto the ballot. On the first minutes of the petitioning period, Rauterkus went to Roddey's office with his petition and persisted. The request from Roddey was denied because of the public stance from Mark Rauterkus concerning the proposed sell-off of the public telivision station, 16, WQEX. Rauterkus had joined with others to advocate for the stewardship of QEX as a re-energized public asset. Roddey had been a board member of QED, along with Elsie Hillman and others. QED had burned a lot of money and was in serious debt. 
Roddey was not able to win re-election as County Executive. 
Roddey was appointed to the ICA Board to help with financial oversight. 
Rauterkus spoke before the ICA Board on a couple of occasions on various matters while Roddey was a board member. 
Roddey moved off of the ICA Board after moving out of the city. Today his role is that of an advisor.
==Media==
===Biz move in 2008===
Roddey joins McCrory & McDowell
: Pittsburgh Business Times - by Anya Litvak in September 2008
Jim Roddey, a former Allegheny County chief executive and the man who led Allegheny County through its home rule adoption process, has joined local accounting firm McCrory & McDowell LLC as a senior consultant.
Roddey was a leading force in abolishing the county’s three-commissioner governing system in favor of a 15-member council and a chief executive post, which he held for its first four years. Roddey, a Republican, lost his reelection campaign to Democrat Dan Onorato in 2003.
During his term, Roddey led a county-wide reassessment effort that raised property values and increased tax revenue to the county by the maximum 5 percent allowed under the county code. Many, including Roddey himself, attributed his reelection defeat to fallout from higher property taxes.
A North Carolina native, Roddey graduated from Texas Christian University and served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps before embarking on a business career that included top posts at ten different companies and memberships in more than 30 nonprofit boards. Among several other civic obligations, Roddey currently serves as president of the board of RiverQuest, a nonprofit educational riverboat program.
He has lived in Pittsburgh since 1979.
McCrory & McDowell’s Managing Principal Mike McDowell said the company is eager to implement Roddey’s expertise in its Dewey & Kaye nonprofit division, as well as the firm’s business consulting practice.
The company’s other divisions include accounting, tax, Diversified Medical Management (healthcare industry consultants) and the Three Rivers Institute (leadership development & facilitation consultants).
The firm has served the Pittsburgh market since 1951.
===PG coverage from 2006===
: Source: Friday, July 21, 2006, By Tom Barnes, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
HARRISBURG -- Since arriving in Pittsburgh in the late 1970s,
businessman James C. Roddey has held many titles: Pittsburgh [[Water and
Sewer Authority]] chairman, Port Authority (PAT) chairman and Allegheny
County chief executive, among others.
Now he's got a new one: slot machine mogul.
New Century Entertainment, a firm Mr. Roddey formed with several
other prominent Pittsburghers to buy slot machines from manufacturers
and resell them to casinos, was approved to get a state distributor
license yesterday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
Others involved in the so-called middleman company include WQED
Multimedia President George Miles; African American Chamber of
Commerce President Doris Carson Williams; Mike Fetchko, a sports
marketing company president; and Harrisburg lobbyist Neely Frye.
The Gaming Control Board also approved licenses yesterday for three
other slot machine suppliers/distributors: CGR Gaming Associates, KGM
Gaming and Liberty Gaming Distributors, all from Philadelphia.
One of CGR's principals is Pennsylvania Turnpike Commissioner
Mitchell Rubin; one of KGM's principals is Robert N. Nix, son of a
former state Supreme Court justice; and Liberty Gaming has
connections to a prominent Harrisburg lobbyist, Stephen Wojdak.
The board's action yesterday brings to 15 the number of
distributors/suppliers that have been approved for operation in
Pennsylvania. Each must pay the board a $25,000 licensing fee.
None of the New Century principals could be reached for comment
yesterday.
The board didn't give reasons why it had approved any of the
distributor applicants, but New Century didn't hurt its chances by
having serious participation by minorities and by saying it would use
much of its profits to benefit minorities.
More than 25 percent of New Century consists of minority owners; they
plan to give 20 percent of revenue to a half dozen groups, such as
the African-American Cultural Center, and another 30 percent to
groups favored by individual partners.
Many legislators, especially House Democrats, have said they want to
make sure that minority- and women-owned firms benefit from casino
business, not just firms owned by white men.
The gaming board still has not acted on distributor license
applications from two other firms that include prominent politicians,
one with former Pittsburgh Councilman Sala Udin and the other with
former Lt. Gov. Mark Singel.
Each distributor licensed by the state must now establish a business
relationship with companies that manufacture gaming machines, and
also a relationship with the casinos that will be created in
Pennsylvania.
Mr. Roddey, who couldn't be reached yesterday, has said he's had
talks with International Game Technology, the largest slot machine
manufacturer in the world, with about 70 percent of the market.
Each distributor must also find warehouse space sufficient to house
the slot machines until they are shipped to casinos.
Seven of the new casinos will eventually be located at racetracks;
five will be in stand-alone, or non-track, locations, including one
somewhere in Pittsburgh; and two will be at resort hotels, likely to
be Nemacolin Woodlands in Fayette County and Seven Springs Mountain
Resort in Somerset County.
When the Legislature, in July 2004, approved the law creating 14
casinos in the state, it included a requirement that they buy
equipment from these middleman firms called distributors.
Pennsylvania is the only state that requires its casinos to buy their
gambling machines from these intermediaries rather than directly from
manufacturers.
Critics see the middlemen firms as just a way for politically
connected people to get a piece of the casino profits.
State Sen. Jane Orie, R-McCandless, is trying to get rid of the
requirement for distributors. In June, she persuaded the Senate to
eliminate them, but the House didn't go along.
Advocates of suppliers said they will create new companies and
several hundred new jobs in Pennsylvania. Suppliers will not only
sell the slots to casinos but also service machines that malfunction
and update casinos when newer machines come out.
(Harrisburg Bureau Chief Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.com or 1-717-787-4254. )
===New Century is committed to public service, not personal gain ===
I am writing in response to the July 23 "Asides"
editorial regarding my involvement in obtaining a
license to distribute gaming machines.
First, let me state that I am not an advocate for
gaming in Pennsylvania nor do I believe that having
distributors (often referred to as "middlemen") is a
necessary part of the system. I have never lobbied for
either gaming or distributorships and, in fact, have
never spoken to anyone on the gaming control board or
its staff or to any person in the governor's office
regarding this matter.
After learning that Pennsylvania was to have gaming
distributors and that the stated purpose was to create
jobs and opportunities for minority involvement, I
joined with several others to form a company to obtain
a distributorship license to serve those stated
purposes. More than 25 percent of the ownership of our
company, New Century Entertainment, is held by
minorities. The company's chair and vice chair are
both minorities. I hold approximately 15 percent of
the ownership.
New Century has committed to a goal of 40 percent
minority hiring and has further committed to donate 20
percent of the net proceeds of the company to
minority-oriented, nonprofit organizations. In
addition, individual owners of New Century have
pledged to select nonprofit organizations to receive
all, or a substantial portion, of their proceeds. I
have pledged 100 percent of my share to charity.
The shareholders of New Century have a remarkable
record of service to the community. Collectively they
sit on more than 40 nonprofit boards. They also serve
on numerous private sector boards.
New Century does not oppose the elimination of
distributorships nor will we take any active role in
trying to preserve that portion of the Pennsylvania
gaming law. If, however, the state government keeps
the distributorships we do feel that our plan to
employ minorities and give a majority of our net
proceeds to charity is a better plan than that of
those who seek to reap personal gain from gaming.
If one reads the articles and the editorial by the
Post-Gazette one would conclude that I am the sole
organizer and principal owner of New Century and that
I stand to personally profit from the venture. None of
those are correct.
For most of the past 28 years that I have been in
Pittsburgh I have been dedicated to improving
Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and southwestern
Pennsylvania. To now be portrayed by the Post-Gazette
as trying to profit personally from gaming is
disappointing.
JAMES C. RODDEY, Oakmont