Nebraska measure won’t appear on ballot

Doug Alden

Monday, Sept. 23, 2002 | 9:17 a.m.

OMAHA, Neb. -- About the only thing clear about the effort to expand gambling in Nebraska is that it's not headed for the November ballot.

Whether it's dead is another matter.

The Nebraska Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that it would hear an appeal on a constitutional amendment to legalize video slot machines but not in time to get it on the ballot for the Nov. 5 election.

The court also denied a request for a bond that would allow the amendment to be put on the ballot while the appeal is considered.

At the least, the decision postpones gambling proponents' efforts to move Nebraska beyond the lottery and keno, but did not discourage them altogether.

Lincoln Sen. DiAnna Schimek, who has tried unsuccessfully for three years to put an amendment on the ballot legalizing casinos, said she will try again next year.

"The momentum is there. The people of Nebraska have been telling us they want to put something on the ballot," Schimek said.

The appeal to the high court by the amendment's backers followed a ruling by Lancaster County District Judge Paul Merritt Jr. that the gambling measure violates a 1998 constitutional amendment limiting initiatives to one subject.

"The drafters of the petition rolled the dice and they lost," Gov. Mike Johanns said. The drafters could have written a more concise amendment, but they chose not to, Johanns said.

Chief Justice John Hendry issued the ruling in a four-page order.

"It is not possible to thoroughly brief and consider the issues likely to be presented within the time frame of impending election deadlines imposed on the Secretary of State and county officials," Hendry wrote.

Steve Grasz, an attorney for the anti-gambling group Gambling with the Good Life, said the soonest any gambling amendment could be considered by voters, whether it's this one or one passed by the Legislature, would be 2004.

"It's over. It will not be on the ballot this time," Grasz said. "The drafters of this petition have no one to blame but themselves in their overreaching language."

The decision came about an hour before a scheduled debate in Omaha between Greg Robinson, the chairman of the group that filed the petition, and Pat Loontjer, director of Gambling With the Good Life. The debate went on as scheduled after Grasz gave the audience of about 15 people a brief summary of the decision.

"It certainly didn't help. That's sort of like a blow to the midsection in the middle of a fight," Robinson said.

Loontjer's group had argued there was no legal precedent for granting the appeal bond, which are usually used in civil cases in which damages have been awarded and the losing party wants to appeal.

"They're all like piranhas. They all want to fight over the corpses of the people of Nebraska," Loontjer said of the gambling industry during the debate.

Robinson wasn't sure what the next step would be. He said during the debate that the committee would continue to push the effort until there was nobody left to shoot it down again.

"We still feel it's very constitutional," he said.

The proposed amendment would change the state's constitution to allow video slot machines in bars, restaurants, race tracks and keno parlors, and in designated video slot parlors located within 20 miles of any community in a neighboring state that already has video gambling.

Secretary of State John Gale certified the official election ballot last week without the petition initiative on it.

The court's order was welcome news to Gale.

"It is a big relief for our office and the county clerks and election commissioners to know we won't have to deal with some extraordinary remedy for trying to deal with an extra ballot," Gale said.

The deadline for county clerks to print their absentee ballots is Sept. 30.