PDC dismisses complaint against anti-gambling group
Friday, April 25, 2003 9:39 AM PDT
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E-mail this articleOLYMPIA (AP) -- The Public Disclosure Commission has dismissed a complaint filed against a prominent antigambling group by a coalition of businesses that wants to vastly expand the number of slot machines in Washington.
But the campaign finance watchdog agency clarified the antigambling group's ties to Indian gambling interests.
Jim Springer, the head of the Entertainment Industry Coalition -- a group pushing for more non-Indian gambling in Washington -- had accused Citizens Against Gambling Expansion of failing to register with the commission soon enough after it began its campaign. CAGE's leaders include King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng and former Govs. Booth Gardner and Mike Lowry.
But an investigation by the commission's staff turned up only a minor violation. The group registered as a political committee on Feb. 10, slightly more than the required 30 days after its first formal activity on Jan. 8, according to the dismissal letter written by Phil Stutzman, the commission's director of compliance.
"Filing the initial activity report three days late does not merit formal enforcement action," Stutzman wrote in a letter to Springer dated Thursday.
Stutzman also dismissed Springer's allegation that CAGE hasn't accounted for $45,653.94 it has spent so far through public relations firm Cocker Fennessey, noting that CAGE has already begun a fund-raising drive to pay the firm.
However, Stutzman found the public relations firm had been working on a similar antigambling campaign before January, but on behalf of the Washington Indian Gaming Association. Indian tribes want to block the expansion of non-tribal gambling to protect their advantage in the market.
Under current law, non-tribal casinos can only offer pull-tabs, poker and variations on blackjack. Indian casinos, meanwhile, offer a range of casino games such as craps, roulette and a tribal lottery system very similar to slot machines.
The Entertainment Industry Coalition has been trying to persuade lawmakers to allow such machines in bars, taverns, bowling alleys and bingo halls. Thus far, the plan has made little progress, although its backers hope it could emerge as an eleventh-hour budget solution because the coalition is offering hundreds of millions of new tax dollars.
The coalition had questioned CAGE's relationship with the tribes.
Randy Scott, a lobbyist for the tribes, has said CAGE and the coalition share a goal in opposing the current non-tribal gambling plan, but no formal ties.
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