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Mark McNaughton, a Republican who left the House after 10 years representing part of Dauphin County, was named by since-ousted House Speaker John Perzel on the last day of the 2005-06 legislative session. On Thursday, House Republican leader Sam Smith of Jefferson County told McNaughton he will not choose him, Smith's spokesman said. While Smith has not decided whom to appoint, he is looking to find someone from outside "the political box," spokesman Steve Miskin said. The new House speaker, Rep. Dennis O'Brien, R-Philadelphia, has not said whether he will choose McNaughton. However, House Democrats, who hold a slim majority, say they expect O'Brien will acknowledge the chamber's unusual power structure by reappointing their selection for the board, former Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Coy of Franklin County. The emergence of a Democratic majority in the House with a speaker from the Republican minority has created a situation unprecedented for at least a century and one that was not envisioned by the 2004 bill that legalized slot-machine gambling. The law divided responsibility for appointing the gambling regulators among the governor and selected leaders of the Legislature. In the House, those are the House speaker and the House minority leader. McNaughton did not immediately return a telephone message left by The Associated Press on Friday, but he told WHTM-TV in Harrisburg that he was disappointed. "I think I would've done a good job on the board," he told the station. By law, the terms of all four legislative appointees on the board expire next week. Without a full complement of legislative appointees, the seven-member gaming board cannot take any votes.

McNaughton's selection had been rocky.

In December, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that McNaughton, who opposed the slots law, won more than $15,000 at casinos in recent years, but had not reported the winnings on his state ethics forms.

Last week, Perzel, R-Philadelphia, was ousted from the speakership, throwing McNaughton's candidacy into doubt. On Monday, the top attorney for the Pennsylvania State Department questioned the constitutionality of McNaughton's appointment, and recommended that he not be sworn in.

The lawyer, Albert H. Masland, sent a letter to Gov. Ed Rendell and legislative leaders saying McNaughton's appointment violates a constitutional prohibition against legislators being appointed to any salaried civil office in Pennsylvania during their terms in office.

McNaughton was named by Perzel on Nov. 30, also McNaughton's final day in office.

Masland also questioned whether the 2004 slots law allowed Perzel to fill a board position that had not yet been vacated.

Perzel had tapped McNaughton to replace his first appointee, Joseph W. "Chip" Marshall III, the chief executive of the Temple University Health System, who resigned from the gaming board Dec. 27.