And this morning, less than 24 hours later, they said they are preparing to introduce several “insurmountable hurdles” that will bring the proposal to its knees.

“It isn’t going to happen. I’m going to see to it that it doesn’t,” said state Rep. Katie True, who joined a chorus of elected officials opposed to the project, including U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts and state Sen. Gibson E. Armstrong.

But the two local attorneys working to install as many as 5,000 slot machines in the Bulova Technologies building at North Queen and Orange streets appeared to be resolved even in the face of an intense backlash.

“This is a Lancaster City project. It isn’t up to Congressman Pitts. There are not federal issues here. It is not up to the county commissioners. There are no county issues here,” Jerome C. Finefrock said.

“I’m tired of people speaking for Lancaster who don’t live in Lancaster. Congressman Pitts doesn’t even live in Lancaster County,” Finefrock said. “This is a pure city issue.”

Finefrock and the partner in his Manheim Township law firm, James A. Nettleton Jr., announced Wednesday morning they are applying for one of the 14 gambling licenses approved under Pennsylvania’s July 2004 slot-machine law.

They are working with a local developer to buy the property and with gambling industry veterans from New Jersey and New York to design the casino. The men said they hope to open the casino by this time next year.

Armstrong, a Solanco Republican who led the fight against legalized slot machines in the spring and summer of 2004, met Wednesday with the people who crafted the gambling law.

“I know them. They’re friends of mine. I’ve worked with them. And there are certain ways we can structure it, certain things we can do, to make sure this doesn’t happen,” Armstrong said this morning.

“There are things we can do in Lancaster that, for all intents and purposes, we would not be considered a viable candidate (for a slots license),” Armstrong said. “There are about five different issues that I’m familiar with that could be insurmountable hurdles.”

He declined to be more specific.

“We’re formulating all that now. We’ll probably make an announcement soon. I’m working with Joe Pitts. Joe and I are having a meeting Monday at 1:30 to go over our battle plan and to go over some of the things we can or cannot do,” Armstrong said.

The entire Republican delegation from Lancaster County, including Senate Majority Leader David “Chip” Brightbill, is expected to attend the meeting.

Michael Geer, an Elizabethtown resident who heads the conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute, fought the slot-machine law in 2004 and is very familiar with its intricacies.

“I don’t know of any kind of secret bullet or poison pill,” Geer said. “But there may be something related to zoning. There may be some efforts to create some influence, or have some impact on the Gaming Control Board.

“Ultimately, those would probably be the two arenas where there may be some success,” Geer said.

True, a Republican from East Hempfield Township and gambling opponent, made an impromptu visit to House Speaker John Perzel’s Capitol office at 11 Wednesday morning, less than an hour after the news broke on the New Era’s Web site.

She told Perzel, the powerful Philadelphia Republican who appointed one member of the state’s gaming board, of the casino plans.

“He couldn’t believe it,” True recalled this morning. “He didn’t know about it. He was stunned.”

She was accompanied by state Rep. Scott Boyd, a Republican from West Lampeter Township. The two lawmakers expressed deep concern over the proposal to Perzel.

“I think our thoughts will be very much considered,” True said this morning. “I’m pretty confident. His response was, he understood. He felt we made good points.”

True and Boyd are drafting a letter in opposition to the casino and sending it to the House speaker.

“We’re sending it to Perzel to use his influence to kill any hopes of a license coming to Lancaster,” True said. “He is a man of considerable influence. He was extremely accommodating. He couldn’t guarantee anything, but I’m pretty comfortable.”

True’s argument is that the Lancaster venue would not generate as much money as the three other planned casinos seeking only two remaining slots licenses. Those venues would be near Gettysburg, Bethlehem and King of Prussia.

“The biggest thing I can do, along with the rest of the delegation, is to lobby the gaming board. Their interest is in making money. That’s all they care about,” True said.

The state will take 54 percent of the proceeds from slots revenues.

“My personal belief is that with the wonderful historic area we have in Lancaster County, this is not going to be a huge attraction for those who want to gamble,” True said. “There are only so many licenses, and the licenses are going to go to major corporations like Harrah’s.”

The 2004 law legalizing 64,000 slot machines at 14 venues, called Act 71, also established the seven-member Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board to oversee their operation.

The board consists of seven members, three of whom are appointed by the governor. The remaining four members are appointed by the Senate president pro tempore, Senate minority leader, speaker of the House, and House minority leader.

Five of the seven members are from Philadelphia or Pittsburgh; one is from Scranton; one is from Franklin County.

Perzel picked a low-key but very powerful lawyer from his home town, Joseph W. “Chip” Marshall. Marshall is the chairman and chief executive officer of Temple University’s Health System.

A spokeswoman for Perzel, Beth Williams, said the speaker was unaware of the project details, but would forward the concerns to Marshall.

“He talks with Mr. Marshall, so I’m sure he would pass along those concerns in writing,” Williams said. “But it’s really up to the gaming board appointees. Where the slots go, where all the licenses are awarded across the state, is a decision of the gaming board.”

For the gaming board, Rendell tapped two Philadelphia lawyers, Tad Decker and Mary DiGiacomo Colins, and a labor negotiator and retired NFL official from Pittsburgh, Sanford Rivers.

The Senate president pro tempore, Republican Bob Jubelirer, picked a former FBI agent from Pittsburgh, Kenneth T. McCabe. The Senate minority leader, Democrat Robert Mellow, tapped a lawyer from Scranton, William P. Conaboy.

The House minority leader, Democrat Bill DeWeese, chose a former state lawmaker from Franklin County, Jeffrey W. Coy.

Armstrong, asked whether he has spoken to any member of the board, declined to comment.

State Rep. Mike Sturla, a Democrat who represents Lancaster City, criticized Republicans who said they will lobby the gaming board.

“I think it’s amazing that the people who said the gaming board would be corrupted by outside influences are now trying to influence the gaming board,” said Sturla, who supports legalized gambling.

“I thought the gaming board was supposed to be an outside body who is not susceptible to outside pressures,” he said.

Sturla said he has not lobbied in Harrisburg in support of the project.

“I didn’t think I was supposed to be applying outside pressure to the gaming board. Is that an acceptable practice? I’m curious,” he said.

Sturla said he hopes the Republican legislators are not successful in their attempts to scuttle the proposal. If they are, he said, it calls into question the whole process.

Finefrock, meantime, said he was amused to see himself aligned with Democrats on the gambling issue.

He maintained that he is a conservative Republican who wants to see economic development through the creation of the 1,200-1,500 jobs promised by the project.

“You get them a job and a lot of problems get solved,” he said of unemployed city residents.

The four-story brick building is now occupied by nearly 400 workers with Bulova Technologies and BT Fuze. The owner of the building, Stephen L. Gurba’s 101 North Queen Associates L.P., has agreed to sell the property to Blackford Development Corp.

Gurba would not disclose the sale price and said the deal is contingent on the city allowing slots in the building.

The prospective buyer, Richard Welkowitz of Blackford Development Corp., is among the partners in Finefrock’s and Nettleton’s casino venture.

Bulova would relocate if the sale goes through. Gurba, who is also Bulova’s president and chief executive, has made no secret of his desire to move Bulova to a 7-acre site in the Keystone Opportunity Zone on South Prince Street. He has unsuccessfully courted city and convention center planners to purchase the Bulova building.

BT Fuze, meantime, has a lease with Gurba through December 2006 and plans to maintain about 50 management positions in Lancaster.

Finefrock said the criticism of the proposal is visceral reaction from “anti-progressive forces.” He said they want to retain the status quo without offering the city a way to advance.

“They want it the way it was. They want it the way it used to be. I’m sorry. It’s too late. It can’t be the way it used to be,” he said of Lancaster City.

Mayor-elect Rick Gray, who will have to face the casino proposal when he takes office next month, repeated this morning that he is opposed to the proposed downtown location.

He said a casino in the Bulova building “would change the overall character of downtown.”

Yet, Gray said he is not opposed to a casino elsewhere in the city and is willing to talk to Finefrock about it.

Like Finefrock, Gray this morning had sharp words for the project critics.

“I see everybody outside of Lancaster telling us what we should do with the city. I’d like to hear their alternatives about how we are going to fund services,” said Gray.

He criticized the legislators for failing to provide property-tax reform that would relieve the burden on city taxpayers. Without that, cities are forced to look for speculative ways to increase revenue, said Gray.

“To just be against this because it is immoral ... well, so is not properly funding children’s education and police and fire services,” he said.