GAO: Gaming panel broke meeting law

A General Accounting Office report released today concludes that the National Gambling Impact Study Commission failed to abide by the federal open meetings law and has not properly documented the work hours of some of its top employees.

The 40-page report, made public by Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., a fierce critic of the nine-member panel, also questions the process by which commission Chairwoman Kay James selected a Washington law firm to provide legal advice for up to $35,000 a month.

"It's my view that our request for the GAO to look into this has had some positive impact," Bryan told the Sun from Washington today. "The process has been opened, and I believe the commission now is doing a better job in its internal management."

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, conducted its inquiry from October through November.

It found that the commission, despite its contention otherwise, falls under the Federal Advisory Commission Act (FACA), which sets the guidelines for federal agencies to conduct open meetings.

The GAO said the commission, created by Congress in 1996 to study the spread of gambling across the country, did not give proper public notice under FACA prior to an October teleconference in Washington and a February retreat the panel held at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

There also wasn't proper documentation to shed light on how James chose the Washington law firm of McGuire, Woods, Battle & Boothe to provide legal services to the commission, the GAO said.

"We have no reason to question the selection process that the chair said she followed," the report said. "However, the lack of documentation showing the individuals and firms contacted and the information the chair relied on to make the selection left no written record that could be used to verify that this process was followed .... "

Bryan described the commission's compensation agreement -- up to $35,000 a month -- with the law firm as "unusual."

The GAO report raises questions about the work arrangement current Executive Director Timothy Kelly had with the panel when he served as research director from October 1997 to February 1998.

Kelly was allowed to work at his home in Richmond, Va., on Fridays and would charge the commission for several hours of work time each day he commuted to Washington on the train.

Kelly's former supervisor, ex-Executive Director Nancy Kennedy, told the GAO that she was not aware that Kelly was charging the commission for work time while traveling on the train.

The GAO report said it found no evidence that Kelly did not do the work he claimed he was doing outside the office. But it added there "appears to be a misunderstanding" over whether he had approval to work while commuting.

"Imagine if everyone in the federal government could charge the American taxpayer for the time it took for them to get from home to the office," Bryan said. "That would be an extraordinary arrangement."

Kelly could not be reached for comment today.

But the GAO report said the Impact Study Commission has since tightened up its supervision of its employees.

"Without such controls, the entity is vulnerable to misunderstandings and other potential problems that could arise with employees who work at alternate work locations," the report said.

Bryan said there appears to have been a lack of proper record keeping at the commission that he described as "sloppy at best."

"I think had we not requested the GAO report, the abrupt change of course from openness to secrecy would have continued," he added.

"It's my view that our request for the GAO to look into this has had some positive impact."Sen. Richard Bryan.

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