Gaming panel haggles over language as deadline nears

Tuesday, April 27, 1999 | 10:48 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Less than two months before its final report is due, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission is struggling to meet its deadline.

"I'm not happy with the overall draft," Commissioner Richard Leone of New Jersey said this morning as the nine-member panel met to discuss the report's progress. "At this stage we're a long way from having a finished product."

Commissioner Bill Bible of Nevada agreed during a break.

"We have a report to submit by June 19, and it appears to me that we've got a lot of work to get done by then," Bible said. "Hopefully we won't sacrifice quality."

One casino industry source described the commission's predicament as "chaos at best."

Chairwoman Kay James of Virginia expressed confidence during the break that the panel would complete the report on time, saying it was going through the same 11th-hour process as most federally appointed commissions.

But during the meeting, even James let it be known that the commission was facing a lot of deadline pressure.

"I'm trying to get a sense of urgency here," James told her colleagues.

Wayne Mehl, a Washington lobbyist for the Nevada Resort Association, said commissioners should be finished with the report by now after two years of public hearings around the country.

"I think they're going to be rushed," Mehl said. "I don't think they can make the June 19 deadline and have a reasonable document."

The commission has cut the report in half from its original 23 chapters and has radically altered the format to make it easier for the public to read.

The report, the first comprehensive study of gambling in America in more than 20 years, must be submitted to Congress, President Clinton and the nation's governors.

Commissioner John Wilhelm of Washington said it was "inconceivable" to him that the panel could make a self-imposed deadline to submit a consensus draft to its just-hired editors by Friday.

"It's not close to its final form," Wilhelm said. "There are a good many things that need thrashing out by the commissioners."

For most of the morning, commissioners haggled over the use of words in a draft of an overview chapter written by Leone.

The biggest debate occurred over whether to use language that seeks a national moratorium on the expansion of legalized gambling across the country and allow communities to re-examine the social and economic effects of current gambling operations.

Leone said communities need to pause and reflect on how they came to legalize gambling and where it has taken them.

His language was supported by Commissioners Leo McCarthy of California and James Dobson of Colorado, but opposed by Bible, Wilhelm and Commissioner Terry Lanni of Nevada, all of whom have ties to the casino industry. Bible was the Nevada Gaming Control Board chairman, Wilhelm heads the AFL-CIO that represents thousands of casino workers and Lanni is with MGM Grand.

Bible said it makes no sense to call for a moratorium when the commission itself has been unable to determine gambling's ill effects on people.

"I have a problem telling people they need a moratorium based on what we don't know," Bible said.

A vote was put off until later in the day so commissioners could have time to seek a consensus on the language.

Mirage Resorts Vice President Alan Feldman, who was in the audience, reacted unfavorably to the moratorium talk.

"It's stupid," Feldman said. "It's poorly thought-out politics, not intellectual policy."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., agreed, saying such talk was exactly why she felt it was wrong to create the commission.

"I think it sends the wrong message," Berkley said. "It condemns an entire industry based on no rational or factual information. These are issues that are best left to the states."

The commission was to resume its discussions this afternoon and Wednesday. It is scheduled to meet in Washington at the end of next month before the final report is submitted.