Nebraska legislators staying at Venetian

Kevin O'Hanlon

Friday, March 28, 2003 | 9:45 a.m.

More than one-fourth of Nebraska's lawmakers will attend a conference in Las Vegas this weekend at the Las Vegas Strip's Venetian hotel-casino, which is lobbying to legalize casinos in Nebraska.

Thirteen of the Legislature's 49 members are attending the conference sponsored by the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative think tank funded by big business that is paying for the trips.

While the conference is not related to gambling, the fact that it was being held at The Venetian caused Omaha Sen. Pam Brown to cancel her plans to attend.

"The place sounds beautiful. I'd love to see it," Brown said. "But I don't want anything to influence my decision," on the casino issue.

Sheldon Adelson, owner of The Venetian, and William Weidner, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Inc., the parent company of Venetian, testified last month before the Legislature's General Affairs Committee in support of a plan to allow casino gambling in Nebraska.

Former state Sen. Chris Abboud is a registered lobbyist for Las Vegas Sands Inc. His brother, Andrew, is a registered lobbyist for The Venetian.

Chris Abboud said there was no plan to do any direct lobbying of Nebraska lawmakers during the ALEC conference.

"But they're going to be out there," he said. "We'll show them around if they want. Nothing formal."

On a 25-19 vote, the Legislature gave first-round approval to a casino measure earlier this month.

Brown, who did not vote on the measure, stressed that she had planned to go to the ALEC meeting to attend seminars on telecommunications law.

"Even though this is a business-related thing ... I don't want to have anything that would disrupt my ability to make a decision based on the merits," she said.

Sen. Pat Engel of South Sioux City, who is on the ALEC Board of Directors, said the meeting was scheduled more than a year ago, and holding it in Las Vegas and at The Venetian was a coincidence.

"The reason we're going out there is not to be lobbied by The Venetian -- it just happens that that is where the conference is," he said.

Meetings are scheduled on several issues, including commerce and economic development, education, fiscal policy and taxes. Gambling is not among issues scheduled to be discussed.

Jack Gould, of the political watchdog group Common Cause, said lawmakers should be wary of appearances.

"Even if it was planned a year ago, so was the gambling issue," Gould said. "It isn't a good omen to see people who have been lobbying heavily in our Legislature hosting our senators in Las Vegas. We don't know what goes on."

Gould also said that while ALEC is trying to educate lawmakers of the issues, it also is lobbying organization and is paying the tab for lawmakers.

"This is a big gift," Gould said. "Our concern is we don't like to see corporate interests having that kind of access to lawmakers."