Columnist Jeff German: Tribes gearing for casino execs in San Diego

JEFF GERMAN is a senior investigative reporter. His column also appears in the Las Vegas SUN on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He can be reached at 259-4067 or on the Internet at [email protected]

CASINO executives are bracing for an ambush this week, when the National Gambling Impact Study Commission meets in San Diego.

California Indian tribes which have been on the warpath with Nevada's casino industry the past several months are looking to take no prisoners when the nine-member federal panel hears their plight on Wednesday.

At the heart of the conflict is a multimillion-dollar ballot initiative by the tribes that would allow big time casino-style gaming on reservations. Nevada gamers and their allies are spending millions fighting the initiative that threatens to derail the state's gambling-based economy.

The tribes have been bombarding "Big Nevada Casinos" over California's television airwaves for weeks now, accusing the gamers of trying to stop them from pursuing the American dream.

Tribal leaders pushing the initiative are scheduled to testify in San Diego Wednesday morning. The casino industry has been stockpiling its own ammunition in anticipation of the showdown in San Diego.

The furor, meanwhile, over the resignations of key staffers at the Gambling Impact Study Commission also could surface in San Diego. Though Nevada congressional leaders have called for a public discussion of the staff desertions, Chairwoman Kay James seems reluctant to do it.

"I have accepted explanations for staff departures at face value and do not plan to engage or further any effort to publicly speculate on their reasons beyond those originally stated," James said in a letter last week to Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev.

"Some staff have departed for personal reasons, and a commitment was made to offer no further comments on their departure."

James was contemplating a telephone conference on Monday -- away from the media's ears -- to discuss the resignations with commissioners.

Rumblings of trouble in the publicly funded commission surfaced last month, when Nancy Mohr Kennedy abruptly resigned without explanation. Kennedy, a veteran Washington bureaucrat who has worked for two presidents, was respected for her even-handedness in dealing with the divided commission.

Rumors have been flying that Kennedy quit because of friction with James, an emerging leader in the religious right, which is pursuing an anti-gambling agenda.

There was talk that Kennedy was unwilling to toe the anti-gaming line pushed by Commissioner James Dobson, the industry's harshest critic on the panel. Dobson, a moving force in the Christian right, is said to wield much influence with James.

Last week, there was word of two more staff desertions. Allison Flatt, a researcher, and Amy Ricketts, the panel's spokeswoman, both accepted other jobs. That fueled even more speculation of upheaval within the commission.

Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., was quick to intervene in the controversy: "This is not a good development. This is the bellwether of the agenda of the anti-gaming establishment."

Gibbons said the public deserves an explanation for the untimely departure of more than one-third of the commission's eight-member professional staff.

Late in the week, after James came under fire, Ricketts issued a statement saying she does not believe there's an anti-gambling bias at the commission. "I am leaving because I was offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for my home state senator, whom I have admired and respected for years," Ricketts wrote.

James, meanwhile, told Bryan she was determined to conduct the remainder of the gambling study in a balanced manner.

"As chair of the commission," James said, "I will continue to pursue that course regardless of the lobbying efforts and baseless attacks brought to bear on the commission by various industry or advocacy organizations, members of the press or their surrogates."

The commission, which has a $5 million budget, must deliver its report to Congress and the president next June.

One commissioner, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible, said he was worried whether that deadline could be met because of the loss of the key staffers.

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