All eyes focused on Dobson at gaming meeting

Monday, March 16, 1998 | 9:44 a.m.

BOSTON -- James Dobson doesn't believe in gambling away America's future.

Then again, he doesn't believe in gambling at all.

All eyes will be on this leading, religious-right figure this week as the National Gambling Impact Study Commission convenes here.

Dobson, a conservative radio talk show host in Denver, has become the most controversial commissioner on the nine-member federal panel. He is viewed as a lightning rod for the anti-gaming forces.

In January, at the commission's first meeting on the road in Atlantic City, Dobson complained that not enough negative aspects of gambling were brought out. Union and city leaders there were permitted to paint a glowing economic picture of the city's 20-year experience with gaming.

Dobson then went on to provide his fellow commissioners, which include three allies of the casino industry, with copies of his own research critical of gambling. Later he accused casino lobbyists of using their clout to influence the Atlantic City agenda.

This time, he has been accused of having too much influence over the panel's meeting schedule, as it takes a look at the multibillion-dollar lottery industry.

Several of the people Dobson quoted in a media advisory critical of state-run lotteries, including author Robert Goodman, one of the nation's most quoted gambling foes, are scheduled to testify this week.

"He's trying to move the panel in the direction he wants," one casino industry source said. "A lot of people will be watching to see how well he does."

Added a fellow commissioner: "He very clearly has a single-purpose agenda. He's already got his mind made up."

As president of the conservative Focus on the Family group, the panel member said, Dobson appears to be playing a a broader audience in the Christian right, which is against gaming.

The commissioner contended that Dobson's tactics are undermining his credibility and ultimately could harm the commission's work. The panel was created by Congress to conduct a fair and impartial study of gambling's impact on America, the first such examination in two decades.

But another commissioner, Dr. Paul Moore of Mississippi, said he believes Dobson may be taking a correct path.

"I think he's sincere," Moore said. "I don't think he has a vendetta."

Moore, a radiologist appointed to the panel by his good friend, Senate Majority Leader Lott, R-Miss., conceded Dobson has a tendency to overstate his position. But he added many of Dobson's concerns have merit and should be addressed by the commission.

Casino industry officials, though insisting Dobson is isolating himself, aren't willing to write him off.

Dobson, they said, pursued his own agenda with some success while a member of a recent presidential commission on pornography.

"He shouldn't be ignored," one gamer said. "He should be taken very seriously."