Convention hears renewed call against Frontier owners

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 1997 | 10:48 a.m.

Sen. Harry Reid has repeated his call for state gaming agents to take action against the Frontier hotel-casino for alleged spying and playing dirty tricks on striking workers.

The Nevada Democrat was one of several elected officials urging an end to the six-year-old Frontier strike, the nation's longest, at the state AFL-CIO convention Monday.

"I've said this before, and I'll say it again," Reid told convention delegates. "This is a privileged license. I think there should be hearings by Nevada gaming authorities to find out if these allegations are valid and true."

Nevada's Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible said Monday he would not discuss the status of his investigation, which has been occurring alongside an independent FBI probe.

Two months ago, after Reid first spoke out against the Frontier, Bible indicated his investigation was "nearing conclusion."

Since then, the board reportedly has been considering filing a complaint against the Frontier.

But the probe, the result of a series of SUN stories last December, has been slowed over concerns that federal labor laws bar the state from intervening in the strike. Bible had requested an opinion from Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa.

Bible said Monday he has not spoken to Reid, a former Nevada Gaming Commission chairman, to allay his concerns.

Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., meanwhile, also lashed out against the Frontier.

"Here in Nevada a boil continues to fester along the Las Vegas Strip," Bryan told labor delegates. "It is bad for Las Vegas. It is bad for Nevada. It is bad for the image of our community to see this strike continue for as long as it has."

Bryan said a lot more is at stake now over the strike, which is moving toward its sixth anniversary Sunday.

"When illegal surveillance occurs with respect to employees on strike, that's un-American, as well," he said. "And that kind of practice cannot be tolerated in America."

The Elardi family, which owns the Frontier, has denied wrongdoing, but it has refused to publicly address the allegations.

Talks aimed at selling the embattled Strip resort have been under way the past three months.

Last December, the SUN reported that the Frontier had used a secret surveillance squad to play dirty tricks and keep tabs on strikers 24 hours a day and may have wiretapped its own phone lines.

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

The national AFL-CIO in Washington has pledged to hold hearings on the Frontier, but it has been slow to organize its committee.

A contingent of Frontier strikers, headed by strike coordinator Joe Daugherty of the Culinary Union, has been invited to attend the national AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh next week.

At the state convention Monday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Kenny Guinn pledged to end the strike if elected.

"I sincerely hope this strike is settled quickly," Guinn said. "But if it's not settled by the time of the election and if I'm elected, then as your governor my No. 1 priority for you will be to step in and personally involve myself in settling this strike."

Guinn acknowledged receiving campaign contributions from the Elardi family before the spying scandal broke, but he has indicated he will return the money if the Gaming Control Board takes action against the Frontier.

Del Papa, an unannounced Democratic candidate for governor, told convention delegates she could not discuss the Frontier strike because her office has been providing legal advice to the Control Board during its investigation.

In recent months, the Culinary Union has been unhappy with Del Papa's stance on the Frontier.