Columnist Jeff German: Gambling panel has ‘em rollin’ in aisles

Sunday, June 6, 1999 | 9:44 a.m.

THE GREAT Jerry Seinfeld couldn't have gotten more laughs last week from gaming bigshots than our friends at the National Gambling Impact Study Commission.

While four U.S. senators, including a Republican presidential hopeful, came to town looking for campaign handouts, the nine-member panel was in San Francisco voting to urge states to impose "tight restrictions" on political contributions from the casino industry.

The recommendation put the industry on notice that the commission considers gambling a second-class citizen when it comes to participating in politics.

The message was received here like a joke from a stand-up comic on the Strip.

Though one pro-gambling commissioner, the MGM Grand's Terry Lanni, supported the proposal, no one expects the campaign cash to dry up here while Washington's elite continue to come knocking with their hands out.

The recommendation, which does not apply to federal races, was designed to minimize gaming's impact on the state and local political process, which is said to be most vulnerable to the industry's purse strings.

It's rather unlikely that Nevada's Legislature will succumb to the gambling commission's wishes and cut off the industry. This is, after all, the same Legislature that handed gaming mogul Steve Wynn a multimillion-dollar tax break on his art exhibit this year, while approving a mere 2 percent pay raise for 15,000 state employees that doesn't go into effect until July 2000.

In Nevada, elected officials have grown accustomed to having the casino industry pay for their campaigns. So have the media, which line their pockets every election year with cash from political advertisements.

And now it seems the nation's leaders -- from President Clinton on down -- are finding the Strip habit-forming on the campaign trail. Clinton was here two weeks ago to raise $400,000 for the Democratic National Committee.

Last week alone Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Republican Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Slade Gorton of Washington and John McCain of Arizona, a presidential candidate, were in town looking for gaming money.

And more -- like Democratic Sens. Bob Kerrey of Nebraska and Charles Robb of Virginia -- are said to be on their way in the near future, courtesy of Nevada's own Harry Reid, the influential Democratic whip of the Senate.

Vice President Al Gore, a close Reid friend, also is planning to come to Las Vegas once he formally declares his candidacy for president. Even GOP front-runner George W. Bush, who is on record rapping Las Vegas and its casino industry, hopes to make a visit here, probably with the intention of raising campaign money.

And let's not forget the barrage of Democratic congressional candidates expected here as part of Wynn's efforts to help Democrats regain control of the House. Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., and Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., flew to the City of Glitz last month to accept a $250,000 check from Wynn.

If you see the humor in the federal gambling commission's recommendation, you're not alone.

On the Strip, they can't stop laughing.

Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa put on her happy face last week when she announced her campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2000.

This was done despite getting the word first-hand that the powerful Culinary Union, the largest and most politically active local in the state, will never provide her grassroots support in the race against Republican John Ensign.

The Culinary Union, which despises Del Papa because of some of her anti-labor stances, has been unyielding in its desire to snub the three-term attorney general. Even top national AFL-CIO leaders have been unable to persuade the union to change its mind.

Del Papa still has the support of the Democratic Party hierarchy, including Reid and retiring Sen. Richard Bryan.

But their backing apparently isn't stopping three other wealthy potential Democratic contenders -- Las Vegas Sun Editor Brian Greenspun, high-profile personal injury lawyer Ed Bernstein and Polo Towers President Stephen Cloobeck -- from considering Senate bids.

The three men all were working the room last week with Del Papa during Ted Kennedy's fund-raiser.