State senator criticizes ‘anti-gaming rhetoric’ in study

Tuesday, May 23, 2000 | 9:39 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, said Monday a report that suggested he had conflicts of interest in voting on gaming issues "is full of distortions" and "more of the anti-gaming rhetoric we heard recently from Washington, D.C."

"I don't give much credibility to what he wrote," James said, referring to the study by the Center for Public Integrity authored by Ken Vogel.

The study said there were other ethical questions about the voting records of Sen. Terry Care, D-Las Vegas, Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, and Assemblyman Greg Brower, R-Reno. But it focused on James, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and his supposed help for his clients.

The nonprofit organization said James received $35,000 in campaign donations from the gaming industry in 1994 in seeking re-election. He was one of the largest recipients of gaming contributions in that election, according to the center.

Three years later during the 1997 Legislature, his Judiciary Committee approved a bill to stop the taxing of complimentary tokens given by casinos to players, estimated to be up to a $2.5 million tax savings for casinos.

The $35,000 was only a small part of the campaign donations he received.

"I got a lot more from individuals," he said.

"This was the right thing to do. They (casinos) should not be taxed on what they gave away. This is like taxing income you never received."

It wasn't "any giveaway" as the report implied, James said.

The center also referred to a 1997 bill that banned construction of casinos in neighborhoods but permitted them in master-planned communities that met certain standards. It said the Howard Hughes Corp. that developed Summerlin was a beneficiary, opening the door there for gaming. The Hughes Corp. is a client of James, according to the report.

James said Monday he disclosed that Hughes was his client and that "there are scores of master-planned communities throughout the valley, and they (Hughes) were not treated any differently" than the others.

The whole thrust of that bill, James said, was to bar casinos in neighborhoods.

The center said James did not list the Hughes Corp. as a client on his financial disclosure statement. But James is not required to identify his clients when he submits his disclosure statement to the state Ethics Commission. James also did not report that his firm represents the Alexis Park hotel, Primadonna Resorts Inc., and Santa Fe Gaming Corp.

James noted that Alexis Park does not have gaming.

"This is another group saying gaming is pernicious," James said, referring to the center.

The two-year investigation by the center, based in Washington, D.C., said lobbyists outnumber state lawmakers by nearly 6-1.

Many of the Legislatures examined, like Nevada's, depend on part-time legislators who are only in session for 120 days every two years.

"But unlike the full-time legislators in Congress, part-time state lawmakers are less able to make independent decisions about key economic issues because they often earn a living from the industries," the center said.