Report: Wynn flexed muscle— McCain said to be upset by call about NCAA bill

Thursday, March 15, 2001 | 11:21 a.m.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chief sponsor of an NCAA bill to ban betting on college sports, decided to push the legislation after receiving a heated telephone call from casino executive Steve Wynn, a congressional watchdog group claims in a new report.

Public Citizen, in a 16-page report condemning the casino industry's political influence on Capitol Hill, said this morning that the conversation took place in March 2000, while McCain was campaigning for president in South Carolina on his "Straight Talk Express" bus.

"Wynn, a contributor to McCain's presidential campaign, screamed at the senator, demanding to know why he had become a co-sponsor of the college-gambling ban bill," the report said.

"McCain had to hold the phone away from his ear because Wynn was cussing so much, one aide said. McCain took offense at Wynn's suggestion he could be bought and decided to push hard for the college-gambling bill."

McCain, who is spearheading campaign-finance reform in Congress, was the lead Senate sponsor of the NCAA bill last year and is expected to assume the same role this session.

NCAA supporters in both the Senate and House are gearing up to introduce a new version of the measure beginning next week. McCain is looking to guide the bill through the Senate Commerce Committee that he chairs.

Wynn this morning acknowledged making the call to complain about the Arizona senator's involvement in the betting-ban legislation, but described his words as polite.

"We had a quiet conversation, and I said what in the world are you doing?" Wynn told the Sun this morning. "I accused him of grandstanding, which is exactly what he was doing. There was no cussing."

Wynn said he explained that there was no connection between illegal gambling on college campuses and legal betting in Nevada sports books.

"I told him he was being a hypocrite, and I still believe that," Wynn added.

He said McCain only latched onto the NCAA bill to attract publicity.

"John McCain has been bitten by the limelight bug, and in his case the illness is chronic," Wynn said.

McCain could not be reached for comment this morning.

But Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the casino industry's Washington lobby, said he doubted that Wynn's call was the reason McCain took an active interest in the betting-ban legislation.

Fahrenkopf issued a statement this morning blasting the Public Citizen report, which concluded that the use of the casino industry's political muscle in killing the NCAA bill last year was a textbook case for why Congress needs to adopt campaign-finance reform."

"Public Citizen, never having been known for its scholarship or balance, has in its latest so-called ... report really gone off the deep end," Fahrenkopf said.

"The report is filled with innuendo, half-truths and whole lies in order to support Public Citizen's anti-gaming and pro-campaign reform agenda."

The report charged that the industry exploited the soft money loophole in the campaign-finance law to pour $3.9 million into both the Republican and Democratic parties during the crucial 2000 election cycle to derail the betting-ban measure. At the time, both parties were vying for control of Congress.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the chief Republican fund-raiser in the Senate, told colleagues, the report said, that Fahrenkopf, had offered a $1 million "kitty" to encourage the two parties to work against the bill.

House leaders were under a similar impression that the industry was willing to contribute big bucks if the NCAA legislation was put to rest, the report said.

"As this anti-gambling legislation became the casino industry's top concern in Congress," the report said, "industry leaders encouraged the congressional party leaders to compete for soft money by killing the bill."

Desperate to win control of Congress, the report added, leaders in both houses shuttled back and forth to Nevada in 1999 and 2000 to solicit soft money contributions, but refused to meet with NCAA officials who didn't make any contributions to campaigns.

"They lined up to pay tribute to casino magnate Steve Wynn, although Wynn had publicly called members of Congress idiots," the report said.

Wynn's former Mirage Resorts Inc., the report said, made $1.2 million in soft money contributions in 1999 and 2000, by far the largest of any gaming company.

"We, like most groups, are politically active," Wynn said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

Fahrenkopf said it was "absolutely false" that he had put up a $1 million kitty.

"There was no kitty, and no one was told there was a kitty, he said.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., himself a supporter of campaign finance reform, said gaming was being unfairly targeted in the report.

"Take Park Place -- 60,000 employees. Why are they criticized and not General Motors or some of these other large corporations?" Reid said. "What's the difference? These (gaming) people should be included in the political process."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said it was "absurd" to assert that the gaming industry had purchased the defeat of the NCAA bill.

"Compared to the nuclear industry, the oil industry, the HMOs, the insurance industry, gaming influence is a spit in the ocean," Berkley said.

Fahrenkopf said the gaming industry "makes no apology for participating in the political process.

"Ninety percent of our members are publicly held companies strictly regulated by state governments and the Securities and Exchange Commission," he said. "Our thousands of employees and millions of shareholders have a right to have their views and concerns about issues affecting our industry heard and fairly considered by members of Congress."

Steve Weissman, Public Citizen's legislative representative, defended the report, saying it was put together through the help of "reliable" Capitol Hill sources.

"There's no question that both parties thought the money was in play, and a lot of it came in towards the end of the year," he said.

Sun Washington, D.C.,

reporter Benjamin Grove contributed to this report.