Left, right agree: Gambling is bad

Tuesday, Aug. 3, 1999 | 11:05 a.m.

Two national figures, one aligned with the political left and the other with the right, joined forces Monday to focus attention on the Democratic Party's efforts to embrace the casino industry.

Ralph Nader, a liberal consumer advocate, and James Dobson, a leader in the religious right, sent a joint letter to Joe Andrew, chairman of the National Democratic Party in Washington asking him to explain where Democrats stand on gambling.

In the letter, Nader and Dobson said they were inquiring about a June 3 Sun story in which it was reported that Andrew had suggested Democrats in Washington wanted to be the party of the gaming industry.

The story paraphrased Andrew's statements in a May 18 Sun interview in which the Democratic boss made it clear his party was going all out to obtain political support from Las Vegas gaming interests as the 2000 election approaches.

"We have two questions for you," Nader and Dobson wrote.

"Do the Democrats in Washington or the Democratic Party want to be the party of the gaming industry? If so, what policies will the Democratic Party advance in support of the gambling industry?"

The two added: "The gambling industry is the bane of millions of Americans and a proximate cause in countless divorces, cases of domestic violence, bankruptcies, suicides and homelessness, as well as despondency, ruination, impoverishment, despair and many other social ills and familial pain.

"We want to know where you, and the Democratic Party stand on gambling."

A DNC spokesman in Washington could not be reached for comment.

But the Rev. Tom Grey, another leading national gambling critic, said Monday the letter shows those who oppose the casino industry are "equal opportunity hitters.

"It's amazing that two people who are believed to be on opposite ends of the political spectrum could find common ground," Grey said. "Only the casino industry could pull that off."

Grey, executive director of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, is credited with bringing Nader and Dobson together.

He arranged a meeting in Washington between the two men on June 17, one day before the National Gambling Impact Study Commission released a report of its two-year study of the industry.

On the day the commission's report was made public, Dobson, president of the conservative Focus on the Family and a member of the panel, blasted gaming's stepped-up political influence around the country.

That same week, Public Citizen, a Washington government watchdog group founded by Nader, released a 30-page report attacking Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., over his ties to gaming. Lott, whose state has casino-style gambling, was described as the industry's most powerful congressional friend."

In the May 18 Sun story, Andrew said: "Let's face it, Republicans do not like Las Vegas. It's that simple."

He said his party wanted to "stand shoulder to shoulder" with the city and its casino industry.

"I just don't understand why anybody who cares about this city and this state and the chief industry of this state would be contributing to advance the causes of Republicans who don't want them."

Earlier this year, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, the leading GOP presidential candidate, criticized Las Vegas-style gambling in a report attacking the industry in his state.

Bush -- whose presidential bid is being supported by such prominent Las Vegans as Gov. Kenny Guinn, political strategist Sig Rogich and Mirage Resort Chairman Steve Wynn -- is planning a campaign stop in Nevada on Sept. 21. But he reportedly isn't coming to Las Vegas.

He has scheduled a fund-raising event at Lake Tahoe.