Thursday, April 30, 1998 | 10:53 a.m.
WITH A COVER story in this week's U.S. News & World Report, James Dobson has cemented his position as a powerful force in the Christian right.
Lately the 62-year-old psychologist, who reaches millions on his television and radio shows, has been on a mission to move the Republican Party further to the right.
He's gone as far as threatening to bolt from the GOP, an event that would be catastrophic to the party, maybe even cost it control of both houses on Capitol Hill.
Though the Republican Party has become his favorite whipping boy, the casino industry isn't far behind.
Dobson has proved to be a formidable casino adversary as a member of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.
The nine-member panel has been given a mandate by Congress to study the social and economic impact of gambling across America.
Many within the industry believe Dobson was the moving force behind the push by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., to author legislation creating the federal commission, which in recent months has begun to focus the nation's attention on gambling's downside.
This week, Wolf was quoted in U.S News & World Report as crediting Dobson for making him a more rounded father. He talks about life Before Dobson (B.D.) and After Dobson (A.D.)
It seems the good congressman has proven his loyalty to Dobson time and again.
Last week, Wolf informed his Republican colleagues that he intended to renew his campaign to ban "soft money" contributions from the casino industry and other special interests to the national political parties.
Unlike individual contributions citizens can make to candidates, there are no limits to what corporations or unions can give to political parties. It has become the heart of the debate over campaign finance reform.
Wolf was particularly hard last week on the casino industry, saying he has seen firsthand how the gaming lobby has "thrown around" large amounts of money to protect and enhance its interests.
There's little question the industry dramatically has stepped up its soft money contributions to the Democratic and Republican parties.
Much of it has been to defend itself from the onslaught of religious zealots like Dobson, who have the ear of Washington's most influential power brokers.
Many within gaming don't believe Wolf will be able to force a ban on casino contributions alone. It's un-American, after all, to pick on one industry.
There's also not a big appetite in Congress, at least in this election year, to pass campaign reform legislation.
In Washington lately, Las Vegas and its casino industry have become fertile fund-raising territory for both parties.
Last month, Vice President Al Gore helped raise more than $1 million for the Nevada Democratic Party here.
On Sunday, House Speaker Newt Gingrich comes to town with his hand out at separate fund-raisers for the Nevada Republican Party and his own "Monday Morning" political action committee.
Who do you think will be the biggest contributor?
The casino industry.
Gaming leaders believe that even Wolf doesn't expect to rally enough support for a ban on soft money contributions.
They believe he's using the campaign as a means to further his anti-gambling agenda.
That's exactly what he did in a seven-page letter earlier this month to the chairmen of the Democratic and Republican national committees in which he urged both parties to stop taking money from gaming interests.
In the letter, Wolf brought up every conceivable negative aspect of gambling, regardless of whether it was rooted in fact.
He even referred to a recent George magazine article in which local malcontents managed to hoodwink editors there into naming Las Vegas as one of the 10 most corrupt cities in America.
It's this kind of misguided rhetoric that has the industry worried.
How do you fight someone who's willing to be loose with the facts to further his own personal vendetta?
And what do you do to counter this vendetta, when it has the muscle of a religious zealot who has the power to rattle an entire political party?
You spend a lot of money.
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