Editorial: ‘Hammer’ intent on meddling

Thursday, July 22, 1999 | 9:35 a.m.

Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, is a passionate advocate of the belief that the federal government should not intervene in local affairs. In fact, getting Washington out of our lives was one of the underlying principles of the "Contract with America," a list of campaign promises that helped the Republicans win control of the House in 1994. So imagine the surprise of Las Vegans when the Sun reported July 9 that DeLay introduced legislation that would stop the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's planned sale of $150 million of tax-exempt municipal bonds to fund the 1.3 million-square-foot expansion of its convention center.

The question, then, is why would this congressman from Texas -- who also is a member of the House GOP leadership and known as the "Hammer" for his hardball politics -- be so interested in this local matter? DeLay contends he opposes this because an expanded convention center would deny Houston an opportunity to compete with Las Vegas for trade shows. But the real answer, it appears, resides elsewhere: This is all about pleasing Venetian owner Sheldon Adelson, who is one of the Republican Party's biggest contributors and an opponent of the LVCVA's expansion plans. Adelson, whose Sands Expo Center is in competition with the Las Vegas Convention Center for business, has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to halt the convention center's expansion.

To get an idea of the kind of influence Adelson has in Republican circles, it's important to know how much money he has donated recently. Common Cause, the Washington-based public interest group, reported in March that the Interface Group Inc., which is run by Adelson, headed the list of gambling companies making soft money contributions to the Republican Party. Adelson's group donated a total of $326,550 between 1997 and 1998.

Las Vegas is reaching a critical stage in its development since new resorts recently opened and others are on the way. The key is to fill all those new rooms with visitors to keep this tourist-based economy humming. The LVCVA estimates the convention center expansion would increase convention attendance by 1.4 million visitors each year, with an annual economic boost of $1.7 billion. So it is indeed worrisome that the actions taken by DeLay and Adelson have resulted in the postponement of the convention center's issuance of bonds to finance the project.

Despite these concerns about the lawsuit, we want the Venetian to prosper. But the bottom line is that Las Vegas' continued success hinges in part on bringing more conventioneers here. The convention center's expansion and the Venetian's financial success do not have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, an expansion should help bring more conventioneers to the LVCVA's facility and to the Sands Expo. Contrary to DeLay's wishes, this is a local matter that should be decided here. Since Adelson has filed a lawsuit, if anyone is to render a judgment about the expansion it should be the courts, not members of Congress who know little about this region's genuine needs.