Station Casinos subject of legislative debate

Paul Sloca

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 11:18 a.m.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Legislature's veto session was expected to ease to a ceremonial halt on Thursday. But business hit a bump in the Senate over a state casino investigation.

Senators spent nearly two hours debating whether the Legislature should step into the Missouri Gaming Commission's investigation of a major gambling boat operator, Station Casinos Inc. of Las Vegas.

Despite the talk, senators wound up doing nothing.

Executives of Station recently refused to honor subpoenas issued by the Gaming Commission, which has sought to strip state licenses for the company's Kansas City and St. Charles gambling boats.

The executives said the investigation was slanted against Station and that the company was being denied due process.

The Gaming Commission has been looking into $500,000 in bonuses paid by Station to Michael Lazaroff, a St. Louis lawyer who pleaded guilty to defrauding his law firm.

The commission asks whether any of Lazaoroff's bonus money was used to improperly influence any public officials in the licensing of Station's two casinos. Commission auditors have said no public officials received any of the bonus money. Lazaroff is cooperating with the Gaming Commission.

The veto session, usually a quiet but mandatory legislative meeting to consider overriding gubernatorial vetoes, turned testy when Senate Republican Leader Steve Ehlmann offered a resolution urging legal action to compel Station's executives to cooperate.

Ehlmann is from St. Charles County, home of one of Station's Missouri casinos. He is retiring from the Legislature and running for a state judgeship in the county.

Democrats countered that the Gaming Commission and federal investigators should be allowed to do their work without legislative interference.

But Ehlmann said it was "appropriate" for lawmakers to express an opinion about whether the subpoenas should be pursued sooner than the Gaming Commission's perhaps months-long timetable.

Senate Majority Leader Ronnie DePasco, D-Kansas City, challenged whether Ehlmann's move was proper under chamber rules. He argued that the veto session was for considering limited business -- not controversial resolutions.

Ehlmann responded by citing past resolutions on a variety of subjects that were dealt with during veto sessions -- none of them binding, all merely stating the Senate's position on issues, as his would have.

Democrats complained that Republicans were trying to draw attention to Lazaroff's allegations that he had numerous contacts with the former chairman of the Gaming Commission, an appointee of Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan. Republicans shot back that Missourians deserved to know as soon as possible whether commission decisions were reached appropriately.

The GOP senators also suggested that the Legislature's Joint Committee on Gaming and Wagering conduct its own investigation -- an idea rejected by the panel's co-chairman, Democratic Sen. Ken Jacob of Columbia.

After the long debate, DePasco dropped his challenge of Ehlmann's proposal. Then Ehlmann withdrew his resolution, meaning the Senate took no action. The veto session ended and members headed home, a day after the House quit work for the election season.