Governor asks pastors to wage war on gambling

Thursday, April 6, 2000 | 11 a.m.

BATON ROUGE, La. -- Gov. Mike Foster made a personal appeal to a group of pastors to mount a "jihad," an Islamic term for holy war, against the gambling industry.

Foster asked pastors at a briefing Tuesday in conjunction with Louisiana Family Day to continue a statewide prayer organization aimed at gambling.

State Rep. Tony Perkins, one of the House of Representative's most vocal gambling critics, urged the gathering of more than three dozen pastors to share stories of the problems they've seen caused by gambling.

"Those of you who have had people come to you who have lost their homes, lost their jobs," Perkins said. "Those are very relevant."

Foster told the pastors that Louisiana is "going backward" on the gambling front.

"The gaming industry now owns the Capitol," the governor said.

Prominent gambling lobbyists played down the amount of their strength.

Charles Barham, head of the Casino Association of Louisiana, said the riverboat casino industry cannot make campaign contributions, so it tries to influence lawmakers by outlining the impact of the gambling boats on the economy.

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