Columnist Jeff German: Wynn has best of intentions

Jeff German is the Sun's senior investigative reporter. His column appears Tuesdays,Thursdays and Sundays. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4067.

GAMBLING'S CRITICS are fond of talking about the industry's downside.

Casino moguls, they claim, are only interested in sucking money out of a community and don't care about the social costs of their alluring product.

In the past two years, this argument, despite its flaws, has surfaced repeatedly around the country at public hearings conducted by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. It has tended to put gaming leaders on the defensive.

Last week, we saw why the argument lacks merit in Las Vegas.

While Oscar Goodman was being sworn in as the city's new mayor on Monday, Mirage Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn was busy organizing a midweek news conference to announce plans to lure a professional sports team to Las Vegas.

Crucial to the proposal is the construction of a taxpayer-financed sports arena and civic center to house the professional franchise, which likely would come from the National Basketball Association or National Hockey League.

Questions about how to raise money for the project haven't stopped Goodman from expressing his delight with Wynn's latest community effort. This is Goodman's dream for the city, too.

"The man has the Midas touch," says Goodman, who wants to see the arena built downtown. "Everything he touches turns to gold."

So last week, Las Vegans got a glimpse of the excitement that can be generated when a city's government and business leaders embark on a project together.

Some have criticized Wynn for appearing to profit financially from his civic endeavors. His art tax break at the Bellagio comes to mind.

But pro sports teams aren't known as money-makers, so you know right off the bat that Wynn isn't looking to turn a profit here.

He does, however, want to keep business flowing into Las Vegas and his casinos, which this will do. The arena surely will revive a downtown that has been stagnant for more than two decades.

But most of all, it will help the community establish a greater sense of identity and pride and leave little doubt that Las Vegas is the nation's most exciting tourism destination.

This is not the first time Wynn has worked to enrich the city's culture. In the past, he has brought high-tech circus acts, world-class art and even dolphins to the Southern Nevada desert.

And typical of Wynn, his newest brainstorm didn't happen overnight.

Much preparation, probably too much for a guy who's running six casinos, went into last week's announcement. Wynn talked to NBA Commissioner David Stern, paid for a poll to test the public's interest in a sports franchise, rallied his fellow business leaders and won over Goodman and other elected leaders.

It may be an ambitious undertaking, but you'd have to be crazy to bet against the casino mogul on this one.

Gambling's critics will be disappointed to find no downside here. *

The Culinary Union continues to receive pressure from ranking Democrats to rally behind Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa in the race for the U.S. Senate in 2000.

But union leaders, though they have agreed to sit down with Del Papa in the near future, are holding their ground.

Culinary officials came away impressed from a recent meeting with personal injury lawyer Ed Bernstein, who's eyeing a primary race against the attorney general.

That has led to speculation Del Papa could end up in a dogfight before she even gets a chance to take on the money-rich campaign of Republican John Ensign. The chances of a tough Democratic primary will increase if the Culinary Union ends up backing Bernstein.

"We don't view this as a one-horse race," one ranking Culinary official says. "To us, having a dialogue in a primary isn't harmful."

Democrats, including union leaders, also are talking up a storm about new revelations that Del Papa once conducted secret background checks on former Gaming Control Board Chairman Bill Bible and political fund-raiser Frank Schreck, both well-known party figures.

All of this should come as disturbing news to Nevada's two biggest Democrats, Sens. Harry Reid and Richard Bryan, who are backing Del Papa.

Reid knows how the Culinary Union rescued his own re-election bid against Ensign last year.

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