Greenbrier to move ahead with casino campaign

Thursday, Nov. 9, 2000 | 9:35 a.m.

Ted Kleisner said Wednesday he will ask that the issue be put on the ballot again in 2002 as permitted in the authorizing state legislation.

A county referendum that would have authorized the casino was defeated by a margin of 58 percent to 42 percent on Tuesday.

"To all our friends and supporters everywhere, let me be blunt," Kleisner said. "Today is the first day of the next campaign. One hundred and four weeks from now we will be back celebrating a victory for jobs and economic viability."

Mike Queen, a political organizer for the anti-casino coalition, called the casino campaign "unfortunate."

"Ted Kleisner can't let it go," Queen said. "It speaks to his disconnection with the community. This was a referendum on Ted Kleisner's perception of the community and his arrogance in refusing to debate the facts."

The Rev. Alvie Edwards, president of West Virginia Families Against Casino Gambling, the lead opposition group, said he doesn't think the casino campaign will stick.

"He can't accept the fact that he spent over $1 million and we stopped him," Edwards said. "I feel sorry for him."

The anti-casino group spent just over $20,000 to defeat the proposal, Edwards said.

"They did extensive polling so they should have known early on their cause was lost," he said.

Kleisner spent eight years lobbying the Legislature to put the casino plan to voters. His chief selling point was that a casino would keep current jobs and create 75.

The 222-year-old national-landmark resort, a four-hour drive from Washington, is Greenbrier County's biggest employer, with 1,700 workers.

A West Virginia University economic study commissioned by the resort showed the casino would generate $37 million for the economy.

Opponents, however, argued the proposal would only expand gambling in West Virginia and wouldn't generate the economic benefits promised.

Hotel officials wanted to put the casino in an area of the hotel that long has been used as an exhibit hall and that for decades secretly doubled as part of a congressional fallout shelter.

State law said the casino could be open to overnight hotel guests only. The law also would limit the casino to nighttime play, and bans the hotel from transferring a gambling license to any future owner.