Sunday, March 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
TIDAL waves are sweeping through the casino industry following the leak of the Harris tapes to ABC News.
The uproar is not necessarily over what was alleged in the videotapes, which for the most part has been discredited, but how the tapes wound up in the hands of a national television correspondent.
The potential repercussions are enormous. Some say it has catapulted state government into an unprecedented crisis.
On the minds of state lawmakers and casino industry leaders is the unthinkable possibility that the leak is the result of a breakdown in the state's well-respected regulatory process at a time when the industry faces scrutiny in Washington.
Feeling the brunt of the heat is Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa, whose office made the tapes.
"If you can't trust the chief law enforcement officer in the state, who can you trust?" asked one casino executive.
The man doing most of the talking on the tapes is Ron Harris, a former electronics expert for the State Gaming Control Board. Harris pleaded guilty to four counts of slot cheating in August. But, because he claimed to have dirt on others at the Control Board, his sentencing was put off while the AG sorted through his allegations.
Today, long after the attorney general concluded she couldn't substantiate his allegations, Harris waits to be sentenced. The Control Board considers Harris one of the biggest threats ever to Nevada gaming.
Del Papa, a Democrat eyeing a bid for governor in 1998, has denied her office was the leak to ABC. But her denial is being met with skepticism among lawmakers and casino bosses.
For starters, the attorney general has been reluctant to conduct her own internal investigation into the release of the tapes. She either has reason not to investigate, or she doesn't understand the magnitude of the governmental crisis the leak has created.
Four copies were made. Two were kept at the attorney general's office (one in Reno and another in Las Vegas), one was supposed to be given to Harris' Reno lawyer, Scott Freeman, and the other was handed over to the Control Board.
Freeman says he can't recall ever getting his copy, and there's no motive at the Control Board to hand them over to ABC to embarrass itself.
Del Papa, on the other hand, has long been at odds with Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, who's being considered for a presidential appointment to a federal commission that will study the casino industry over the next two years.
In the past, Bible has complained to Del Papa and lawmakers about the quality of representation he's gotten out of her office. The relationship between Bible and Del Papa has been icy at best.
There has been speculation that whoever leaked the tapes was trying to embarrass Bible, even derail his pending appointment.
Late in the week, the appointment still seemed on solid footing, but casino industry leaders worried the longer the president takes to name him to the federal panel, the less likely he will get the nod.
Not unexpectedly, after last Wednesday's "Prime Time Live" broadcast, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., one of the casino industry's leading foes, wrote a letter to President Clinton urging him to reconsider appointing Bible.
Wolf also asked the FBI to second guess Nevada regulators after "Prime Time Live" came to the conclusion that the state's slot machines are rigged to encourage gamblers to keep playing. Isn't that why they call it gambling, congressman?
The tapes, it turns out, are providing gaming's detractors with badly needed ammunition, giving casino leaders reason to direct their anger at Del Papa.
"This is horrible," said one casino insider, "This is just the beginning of the embarrassment that lies ahead."
What concerns gaming insiders who heard about bits and pieces of the tapes is what they describe as the unprofessional manner in which Del Papa's deputy, David Thompson, conducted his interviews with Harris.
Throughout the interviews, Thompson is said to have lead Harris into areas of alleged wrongdoing that even Harris didn't know about. Thompson also appeared to give credibility to Harris' claims of wrongdoing, some of which reached the highest levels of state government, without offering evidence to back up the claims.
Casino insiders are worried that their critics could have a field day at the industry's and Bible's expense if they ever get a hold of the tapes.
They can envision zealots like Wolf exploiting the tapes without giving the industry a chance to put them in proper context.
"You have to be concerned when these tapes and internal memorandums wind up in the hands of those who are attempting to discredit Nevada's gaming industry." Bible said last week.
It's that very premise that has caused Assembly Minority Leader Pete Ernaut, R-Reno, to seek a legislative investigation into Del Papa's handling of the case.
Ernaut has the ear of state Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, which likely would be the panel to launch a probe.
James, a possible candidate for attorney general in 1998, shares Ernaut's concerns over the fallout from the tapes.
"The issue here is why these tapes were made and how they got into the hands of ABC News," Ernaut said. "Our regulatory agency has to remain beyond reproach. By no fault of the Control Board, there has been dispersions cast upon it by mishandling of very important investigatory pieces of information."
Ernaut said his main goal is to preserve the integrity of the regulatory process and make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen again.
He believes someone deliberately turned over the tapes and internal AG memos to the ABC.
"There was absolute malice here," Ernaut said. "Somebody didn't just leave these things on a park bench when they were eating lunch."
Del Papa said last week she wouldn't fight a legislative probe, but she suggested it was beginning to shape up as a partisan battle.
So far, most of Del Papa's heat is coming from Republicans backing their own candidate for governor, Las Vegas businessman Kenny Guinn.
Democrats, even the governor, have been reluctant to enter the fray.
But Ernaut, an ambitious, but level-headed Republican, is an unlikely ally of Bible, who has worked in the Democratic administrations of the last three governors.
"Bill Bible and I don't exactly attend the same functions," Ernaut said.
Still, observers believe Democrats will jump on the bandwagon as more information surfaces about the mishandling of the Harris tapes.
Democrats, they say, are bound to be caught up in the tidal waves sweeping through the casino industry.
It all threatens to snuff out Del Papa's political career.
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