Brief: GOP urged to reject gambling money

Tuesday, Jan. 12, 1999 | 11:26 a.m.

The RNC meets in Washington next week, when the issue faces an uphill battle.

South Carolina Republican National committeeman Buddy Witherspoon submitted a resolution calling gambling "unconscionable in light of devastation via increased crime, marital strife, child abuse and neglect, personal financial bankruptcies and victimization of our nation's youth and underprivileged classes."

Witherspoon wants the committee to stop accepting money and in-kind contributions from the gaming industry and would prohibit the national party from making contributions to candidates who support gambling.

Nevada Republican Chairman John Mason called the resolution "scurrilous rhetoric."

The Center for Responsive Politics said the Republican party has overtaken the Democratic party in collecting gambling donations. Republicans received about 60 percent of the more than $5 million in political donations from gambling interests in 1997 and 1998.

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