Thursday, March 13, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
A top state lawmaker says the Legislature should investigate how the attorney general's office allowed secret videotapes of convicted slot cheat Ron Harris to wind up in the hands of ABC News.
"It's a pretty difficult pill for anybody to swallow that the sanctity of the office of the chief law enforcement officer in the state has been breached," Assembly Minority Leader Pete Ernaut, R-Reno, said Wednesday.
"There has to be somebody who gets to the bottom of this thing and find out what happened."
Excerpts from the tapes -- in which Harris, a former electronics expert for the State Gaming Control Board, alleges wrongdoing among regulators -- were aired Wednesday night on ABC's "Prime Time Live."
Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, said to be furious that the tapes were made public, was caught by surprise when ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross showed him excerpts during a recent interview.
Among other things, Harris surmises on the tapes that slot machines, including the multimillion-dollar Megabucks system, could be rigged and that Gov. Bob Miller wielded undue influence over the Control Board on behalf of some licensees.
Neither of those allegations, discredited by the attorney general's office, were mentioned in the ABC report.
The report focused on allegations that slot machines are rigged with numerous near-misses to entice casino patrons to keep playing.
Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa and David Thompson, the deputy who conducted the taped interviews, have indicated they could not substantiate Harris' allegations.
Before the broadcast, gaming leaders were concerned that the airing of the tapes still would embarrass the state's casino industry and its regulatory system.
"I don't think it's an overstatement to say it severely compromises the judicial process of the Control Board," Ernaut said Wednesday. "This can't make Chairman Bible comfortable."
Ernaut suggested the Assembly or Senate Judiciary Committees ought to consider looking at the way Del Papa's office handled the tapes.
He said the Legislature also could meet in joint session as a Committee of the Whole to consider the matter.
But Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins, D-Henderson, said he would oppose a move to investigate the attorney general's office.
"There's always concern over anything that's leaked like that, but it would be unprecedented in my mind to have any type of legislative investigation," Perkins said. "This isn't Congress. We don't jump into those things."
Perkins suggested Del Papa consider conducting an internal investigation.
Del Papa, a Democrat eyeing a possible run for governor in 1998, has denied her office leaked the tapes. But she has been reluctant to launch her own probe.
On Wednesday, she said she wouldn't interfere with any legislative investigation, but she accused Ernaut of playing partisan politics.
"I would have thought that a member of the Legislature would be interested in the integrity of gaming regulation, not the status of these videotapes," Del Papa said.
Bible responded today:
"I don't think it's a question of gaming regulations. The attorney general indicated that all of Harris' claims were unsubstantiated, and our own internal reviews came to the same conclusion.
"You have to be concerned, though, when these tapes and internal memorandums wind up in the hands of those who are attempting to discredit Nevada's gaming industry."
Despite Del Papa's insistence that the leak didn't come from her office, questions have been raised about who had access to the tapes.
At least one other copy was given to the Control Board, but Bible said his agency had no motive to embarrass itself by turning over the tapes to ABC.
Thompson indicated he had given a copy to Harris' Reno lawyer, Scott Freeman. But Freeman said he couldn't recall ever seeing the tapes.
Two sets, according to Thompson, were maintained at the attorney general's office: one in Reno where Thompson works and the other in Las Vegas.
Del Papa and Bible have been at odds for months over the way her office has provided legal representation to the Control Board.
In the excerpts aired on "Prime Time Live," Thompson appeared to be prodding Harris into coming forth with alleged wrongdoing at the Control Board.
Questions also have been raised about how ABC obtained a copy of a confidential memo Thompson wrote discussing allegations of wrongdoing outlined by Gordon Hickman, a former Control Board employee.
Hickman, who worked in the board's Electronic Services Division, was interviewed in the "Prime Time Live" segment.
Meanwhile, Senate Judiciary Chairman Mark James, R-Las Vegas, said Wednesday he would consider taking a look at the tape controversy if members of the Legislature want him to do it.
"If we have a proper role to investigate something or look at potential legislation, it would be appropriate," James said.
James, mentioned as a possible candidate for attorney general in 1998, said he shared Ernaut's concerns that the leaking of the tapes has given the state and its chief industry a black eye.
But he added, "I don't want to tar and feather anyone."
Harris pleaded guilty in August to four counts of slot cheating, but he has yet to be sentenced.
He began cooperating with the attorney general's office before he entered his guilty plea.
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