Columnist Jeff German: Gaming’s adversaries surface in prayer day ceremony

Thursday, May 7, 1998 | 10:56 a.m.

TODAY'S NATIONAL DAY of Prayer on Capitol Hill brings together the core of the gaming industry's opposition.

The annual event, sponsored by the religious right, is chaired by Shirley Dobson, wife of James Dobson, a conservative member of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

James Dobson, a leading gambling foe, is listed as a member of the National Day of Prayer's advisory committee. The event is organized out of Colorado Springs, Colo., the headquarters for Dobson's Focus on the Family organization and his syndicated radio show.

Also on the national advisory committee is Kay James, a rising star in the Christian right, which is pushing an anti-gambling agenda.

James, an administrator at Pat Robertson's Regent University in Virginia, chairs the Gambling Impact Study Commission. The nine-member panel is gearing up to hold its third meeting on the road May 20-21 in Chicago.

Another ardent gambling critic on the Hill, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., also is on the prayer day advisory committee.

Coats has been keeping the gaming lobby busy in Washington with his campaign to abolish the longstanding IRS policy that allows gamblers to deduct losses on their tax returns.

He's the man who recommended Dobson's appointment to the gambling commission.

The presence of Washington's biggest gambling foe, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., also is felt on the organizing committee.

His wife, Carolyn Wolf, is one of three congressional spouses who signed an April 14 letter inviting those on the Hill to the National Day of Prayer.

Wolf is the author of legislation that created the gambling commission.

Lately, Wolf has been pushing to ban soft money contributions, especially those from the casino industry, to the Democratic and Republican parties.

He sees Dobson, an emerging political force in the conservative movement, as a spiritual guru.

Dobson, meanwhile, has been creating a stir in Washington threatening to take his millions of followers and bolt from the Republican Party, which he believes has strayed from its conservative roots.

His threats have earned him national attention.

Last week, Dobson made the cover of U.S. News & World Report and on Sunday, he appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press."

His itinerary this week included meetings with Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and other Republican senators to air his grievances.

He's scheduled to sit down with House leaders today and Friday.

Inside Nevada's Congressional delegation, there's talk Dobson might try to win some anti-gaming concessions from the likes of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was in Las Vegas Sunday on a campaign fund-raising trip.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., is taking no chances.

He wrote letters Wednesday to Gingrich, Majority Leader Richard Armey and Republican Whip Tom DeLay voicing his concerns.

Gibbons reminded the leaders of Dobson's well-publicized attacks on the casino industry as a member of the Gambling Impact Study Commission.

Though the commission has been given a mandate to conduct an unbiased gaming study, Dobson has chosen to become an "outspoken critic" of the industry, Gibbons wrote.

"As you have viewed personally in your travels to the state of Nevada," Gibbons told the leaders, "the gaming industry has an enormous beneficial impact on the economy.

"The industry has long supported those ideals by which the Republican Party has identified itself, including smaller government, lower taxes and greater corporate responsibility to our communities."

All three House leaders, of course, already know that. They know from their first-hand experiences here that the Las Vegas Strip has become a gold mine in Washington's never-ending search for campaign funds.

That makes the leaders valuable allies in the industry's fight to hold the opposition forces at bay.

Reciting a prayer or two today might help gaming's, as well.

Amen.