Columnist Jeff German: Beltway's continuing scrutiny has gamers edgy

IT WAS another week of nerves for the casino industry in Washington.

Just as the industry fended off a push within the Republican Party to ban gaming contributions and limit its role in politics, it was hit with another bombshell.

Word leaked out that Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., has asked the General Accounting Office to conduct a sweeping investigation into gambling.

This is the same Frank Wolf who had authored legislation creating the National Gambling Impact Study Commission, which has been conducting a two-year examination of the industry in Nevada and across America.

Wolf wants the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, to look at issues beyond the social and economic impact of gambling. He wants to see its political impact -- how much the industry contributes to campaigns and whether it corrupts government.

Casino lobbyists caught by surprise by Wolf's latest assault were quick to suspect the conservative congressman was up to no good again.

Why was this man who has been aligned with gaming's enemies in the religious right pushing for yet another probe?

The answer voiced by most within the industry was that Wolf wanted to circumvent the findings of the nine-member Impact Study Commission, which seems to be taking a more moderate approach than Wolf envisioned.

By going to the GAO, Wolf can get a report critical of gambling without input from the industry.

The Impact Study Commission, though it's moving toward a consensus as it writes its report, has been politically charged from its inception, primarily because of differences of opinion among the nine members about the merits of gambling.

The industry also has had a profound impact on the direction the study has taken. But the GAO, like most bureaucratic agencies, is supposed to stay out of the political arena. It's less susceptible to influence by high-powered gaming lobbyists.

That's why some worry that the GAO probe, if given a chance to take off, may be a bigger threat to the casino industry than the Impact Study Commission.

The timing of the new investigation comes while the religious right is mounting an all-out offensive against gambling.

Earlier this month, James Dobson, the leading gambling critic on the Impact Study Commission, sent a letter to 2.5 million of his supporters rapping Nevada and its gambling-dominated lifestyle.

Dobson, as president of the Focus on the Family organization, wields much clout among religious conservatives.

Both Dobson and Wolf backed the failed effort last week to ban casinos from contributing money to the Republican Party.

With all of this as a backdrop, no wonder gaming lobbyists and members of Nevada's congressional delegations have been on pins and needles lately.

Last week, amid the furor, Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., gave many a reason to smile. Gibbons ran into House Speaker Dennis Hastert of Illinois in the hallway and persuaded him to meet with casino lobbyists to hear their concerns about the way some on Capitol Hill are treating the industry.

Hastert and Rep. Tom Davis of Virginia, the new chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, have agreed to sit down early next month with Gibbons, Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., and Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the industry's chief Washington lobby.

"I think this is very significant," Gibbons said at week's end.

"It's a reflection that the speaker of the House is in the mainstream thinking and understands Nevada issues with regard to the gaming industry," he added.

"We've got a great opportunity to not just protect the industry, but to improve it where we can improve it."

Hastert likely won't be willing to rein in Wolf, who has influence of his own on Capitol Hill. But Gibbons is hoping the new speaker will serve as a voice of reason whenever Wolf and other conservatives opposed to gambling on moral grounds go off the deep end in their attacks on the industry.

That's probably the most the industry can expect to get out of the meeting. But when you consider the uncertain path that lies ahead for gaming in Washington, it's not so bad.

It should at least calm some nerves.

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