Reid: Regulators ignoring Frontier

Thursday, June 26, 1997 | 11:48 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., says state gaming regulators should take action against the Frontier hotel-casino, which has been stung by allegations of illegal spying.

"What has been going on at the Frontier has not been helpful to the image of Nevada," Reid said. "Something's wrong here, and I think it's time somebody get to the bottom of it."

Reid said the State Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission should be digging deeper into the alleged wrongdoing at the Strip resort.

State law, he said, gives regulators broad authority to investigate gaming licensees to ensure that the industry is "free from criminal and corruptive elements."

The Elardi family, which owns the Frontier, has denied wrongdoing, but it has refused to respond to the specific spying allegations.

Reid said he was concerned about accusations from whistleblowers that the Frontier used a secret surveillance squad to play dirty tricks and keep tabs on striking Culinary Union workers and may have wiretapped the resort's own phone lines.

The workers have been on strike since Sept, 21, 1991, in the longest-running labor dispute in the country.

A secret second-floor command center, dubbed the "900 Room," coordinated hidden microphones and video cameras planted inside and outside the hotel, former security officers said. Some of the surveillance equipment picked up tourists walking along the Strip.

The dirty tricks allegedly included spraying strikers with a large water gun, placing manure near where they ate and stealing their hand-held radio signals.

"Do we want the public to think that every Nevada gaming operator does this kind of stuff?" Reid said.

His comments come amid word the FBI is stepping up its investigation into the alleged illegal wiretapping and surveillance.

New leads are said to have surfaced in the FBI's probe.

The Control Board opened an investigation of the Frontier six months ago after a series of SUN stories on the allegations.

Control Board Chairman Bill Bible said today the "investigation is nearing conclusion."

Bible, however, again expressed concerns that he may be pre-empted by federal labor laws from taking action against the Frontier because a number of the allegations involve strike-related activity.

He said he's waiting for a legal opinion on the pre-emption issue from the attorney general's office.

Earlier this month, Richard Trumka, the No. 2 man in the national AFL-CIO, criticized Nevada gaming authorities for failing to move against the Frontier.

Trumka called gaming regulation in Nevada "woefully inadequate."

The AFL-CIO, which has 13 million members across the country, including 120,000 in Nevada, is planning unprecedented public hearings on the Frontier.

Findings from the hearings will be presented to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which conducted its first meeting in Washington last week. Bible is a member of that panel.

Reid said the Frontier has a reputation as a rogue in gaming circles.

Last month, the National Labor Relations Board declared the protracted contract dispute an unfair labor practice strike.

It found that the resort had conducted illegal surveillance, terminated workers for union activity and bargained in bad faith with the Culinary Union.