Callister, Brown duel over stance on casinos

Geoff Schumacher

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

As the municipal election campaign winds down, Las Vegas City Councilman Matthew Callister and challenger Larry Brown are taking final swipes at each other over the contentious issue of neighborhood casinos.

Callister met with reporters Thursday morning in front of the Castaways Casino on North Decatur Boulevard to reiterate his opposition to the expansion of neighborhood gaming and to question whether Brown has the same position.

Brown's campaign has received financial backing from the neighborhood bars, including the Castaways, which want to dramatically expand their slot machine inventory. Before the primary election in May, the Castaways' marquee on Decatur urged people to vote for Brown.

Brown has said he is "absolutely against neighborhood casinos," but Callister questioned that sentiment in light of a fund-raising event last week co-hosted by Tom Wiesner, who owns several neighborhood bars he wants to turn into casinos, and attorney John O'Reilly, who represents the bar owners.

Brown countered that Callister is a liar and a hypocrite. Brown pointed out that he said this week in a televised debate that he opposes neighborhood casinos. He also said Callister has represented neighborhood casinos as an attorney and accepted campaign donations from them.

Brown also noted that Callister voted to approve two casinos in the Summerlin West planned community.

Callister defends his Summerlin West vote on grounds that they are not neighborhood casinos. He said they are "clearly for nonlocals, high-end golf vacationers." He said the casino sites do not bump up against residential areas in the conceptual plan the council approved.

"If they don't come to us with that plan, they won't be built," Callister said.

Callister also notes that the Howard Hughes Corp. wanted three casino sites in the development but was approved for only two.

Thirty bars in Las Vegas -- nine in Callister's Ward 4 -- argue that they have the legal right to expand to 200 or more slot machines from the 15 they are allowed to have now.

Callister and other city officials have fought in court to prevent that expansion. They lost a preliminary battle in District Court to prevent the Big Game Club at Charleston and Decatur boulevards from expanding, but the judge's ruling does not apply to the other tavern sites. Another trial is pending.

Cathy Hanson, spokeswoman for Mayor Jan Laverty Jones, said the city expects to win the second trial and wants the ruling to apply to the other tavern sites as well.

A bill endorsed by city leaders is pending in the state Senate to prevent the expansion of neighborhood casinos.

Polls in Tuesday's general election are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.