Gaming panel chair met with skepticism

Tuesday, May 20, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

Conservative Virginia educator Kay Cole James was named today to chair the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

Her appointment, by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, was being met with skepticism from Nevada and casino industry leaders.

James, dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University in Virginia, is on record opposing legalized gambling. Her appointment to the nine-member federal commission was pushed by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., one of gaming's harshest critics.

"I think it's an inauspicious beginning for the commission," Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., said today. "She has been affiliated with groups who are morally opposed to gaming and one would have hoped we would have had somebody who was more objective as the chairman."

Bryan said her ties to Wolf would make it difficult for her to "give Nevada gaming a fair shake."

Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's Washington lobby, issued a statement, saying he believed James will "do her best" to be fair.

"It is unfortunate, however," Fahrenkopf added, "that Kay has been put in a position where moral opponents of gaming will daily demand that she use the commission process as an inquisition against legalized gaming, rather than as a means to achieve the commission's true purpose of providing accurate facts and figures about the industry."

Fahrenkopf said it would have been better for James and the panel's other eight members had Gingrich and Lott selected someone neutral on gaming rather than morally opposed.

In a news release today, Gingrich and Lott praised James.

"This commission has a broad mandate to study the impact of gambling on our country, and the chair will be a key figure in guiding its work," Gingrich said. "Kay James has a long and distinguished record in government, the private sector and academia, and I know she will bring a fair-minded perspective to this dialogue."

Added Lott: "I am confident Dr. James will provide a balanced and objective view as the commission begins its difficult task."

James said she was honored to be named to head the panel.

"I hope that through open and honest dialogue we can find areas of consensus among our members from which we can begin to address this important issue," she said.

The casino industry had lobbied hard to set up the commission so that the chairman would not have unlimited power as the study proceeded over the next two years.

Most of the decision-making -- what issues to study, what records to subpoena, which witnesses to call -- can't be accomplished without a majority of five members.

Three of the nine panelists, including State Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, have strong ties to the casino industry.

The nine commission members now must meet to select an executive director to run the panel's daily affairs.