Congress to audit gambling panel

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 3:38 a.m.

The General Accounting Office has launched an investigation into the operations of the National Gambling Impact Study Commission as the panel prepares for its Las Vegas meeting next month.

The probe, requested by Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., a fierce critic of the commission, requires the panel to turn over a large portion of its records to the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress.

Timothy Kelly, the executive director of the nine-member commission, today said the panel "has nothing to hide." But he questioned the timing of the inquiry, which comes as the commission is gearing up to write a report of its two-year study.

The panel expects to work full-time on the report, which is due in June, after it's Nov. 10-11 Las Vegas meeting.

"We're committed to turning in this report to Congress and the president on time," Kelly said from Washington. "I'm concerned that this audit could divert some of our precious time away from that primary task."

"I think that's nonsense," Bryan said. "What is requested is routine audit information. If they are in fact complying with the law, they should be able to produce those records without any difficulty at all."

Bryan asked for the investigation earlier this month after accusing the commission of violating the federal open meeting law. He previously has voiced concerns about a large turnover among the commission's staff.

From its very first meeting in the nation's capital 16 months ago, the commission's work has been marred by bitter infighting among the nine panel members who have differences of opinion about the merits of gambling.

The panel's chairwoman, Kay James, is an emerging leader in the Christian right, which is promoting an anti-gambling agenda. Yet three panel members, including MGM Grand Inc. Chairman Terry Lanni, are aligned with the industry.

Bryan suggested the panel's decision to conduct a recent subcommittee meeting in secret, as well as the staff turnover, has "undermined" its credibility.

"What is the agenda here?" he asked.

Earlier this year, concerns were raised when the commission's then-executive director, Nancy Kennedy, abruptly resigned. Kennedy is a veteran Washington bureaucrat who was respected by pro and anti-gaming panel members.

Bryan has publicly rapped James in the past for not being fair to the casino industry, a charge James has denied.

Word, meanwhile, has gotten back to Bryan that Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., one of the architects of the law that created the gambling commission, may be trying to undercut the senator with the GAO.

"He's furious," Bryan said, adding he has been told that Wolf scheduled a meeting with the GAO to express his anger.

The GAO informed the commission of its investigation in a letter to Kelly last Friday.

"We plan to begin work immediately," wrote Bernard Ungar, the GAO's director of government business operations issues.

Ungar told Kelly the GAO has been asked to look into the commission's policies for conducting meetings, its contracts for legal and research services and a wide variety of issues relating to its staff.

The GAO, he said, wants to know whether staffers actually work hours as scheduled and how great a role Regent University employees play in the commission's activities.

James is an administrator at Regent University, which was founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.

In a memo to commission members last Friday, Kelly said James directed him to be as "open and cooperative as possible with the GAO requests."

He said the commission remains committed to running its daily operations in smooth fashion during the investigation.