Saturday, March 22, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The vote was 35-34 in favor of the bill that would legalize the already operating Indian casinos as well as proposed off-reservation slot machines.
With 21 hours left in the legislative session, the measure headed to the Senate. That chamber has consistently backed gambling expansion, and lobbyists were hopeful the bill would be approved.
"This is a big accomplishment," said Joe Garcia, governor of San Juan Pueblo, which operates one of 11 Indian casinos around the state.
"I feel ecstatic," said Ed Thomas, lobbyist for veterans' and fraternal clubs, which would get 15 slot machines each if the bill became law.
The bill had been rejected in the House the previous day on a tie vote, but one lawmaker changed her mind overnight.
That prompted blistering criticism from gambling opponents, who said legislators were put under enormous pressure to switch their votes.
Guy Clark, head of the New Mexico Coalition Against Gambling, said House members he refused to name told him they were pressured by House leaders to switch votes.
That was denied by House Speaker Raymond Sanchez, D-Albuquerque, and Majority Whip Ben Lujan, D-Santa Fe.
"I put no pressure on anybody to vote one way or the other," said Sanchez, who voted against the gambling bill both times. Sanchez said he was "not pleased" by the House's reversal.
But gambling opponent Victor Marshall accused Sanchez of delaying the reconsideration vote until Friday "so members could be strong-armed."
The tie vote Thursday had been 35-35. One lawmaker who had voted for the gambling bill went home because of illness, and Rep. Debbie Rodella changed her no vote to yes, making Friday's retally 35-34.
Marshall said Ms. Rodella had "cast an incredibly courageous vote" Thursday, then "was thrown to the wolves and the lobbyists and everyone else."
Rodella, a Democrat from the Espanola area, left the House floor quickly after Friday's vote. A colleague said she was in tears as she voted for the bill.
The lawmaker issued a written statement later saying she changed her vote because Santa Clara Pueblo, in her district, was interested in establishing a casino and because there is high unemployment in the district.
"This decision was very difficult," she said in the statement. She also said it is her personal opinion "that gaming is unfavorable for the state."
In contrast to the more than six hours of speeches on the gambling bill the previous day, the House debated just briefly before it passed the bill Friday.
It also adopted several changes, fixing the number of slot machines at race tracks at 300 - eliminating an option to go to 500 - and reducing the term of state-tribal compacts from 10 years to nine years.
The House also voted to prohibit slot machines from being operated after 10 p.m. at the state fairgrounds race track in Albuquerque, a concession to neighbors who have been fighting slots at the track.
During the debate, Rep. Jose Abeyta, D-Wagon Mound, acknowledged there had been a lot of pressure on him to change his no vote to yes, but he said he was sticking with his opposition in the belief that communities in his district were not going to benefit from expanded gambling.
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