THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 5, 1995 TAG: 9502050074
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY WARREN FISKE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
This year's effort to bring riverboat gambling to Virginia ended Saturday when Del. Jerrauld C. Jones of Norfolk abruptly withdrew his bill in the face of certain legislative defeat.
Jones said threats by anti-gambling interests to seek revenge against supporters in this fall's elections doomed his effort and made rational debate impossible.
``This is not a retreat, we are not quitting,'' said Jones, whose bill would have allowed voters to decide in a statewide referendum whether to legalize riverboat gambling.
``I want to see this bill pass,'' he said in an impassioned speech before the House General Laws Committee. ``But at what price? So I can watch my closest friends and associates club each other in a political campaign because of the misinformation spread about this bill? So I can watch narrow-minded special interest groups wail and gnash their teeth in front of the media even though they know little about the bill itself?
``. . . The political tea leaves tell me for now, on this day, in this session, too much harm would be done to try to push this through at this point.''
This year's demise of riverboat gambling was all but assured last Wednesday when a Senate committee voted to defeat a measure similar to Jones'. The resistance of that panel rendered any action by the House of Delegates moot.
William W. Kincaid, a lobbyist for a coalition of evangelical groups opposing riverboat gambling, said the bill was destined for defeat in the House committee as well.
``I don't think this had anything to do with courage,'' he said of Jones' decision to withdraw the legislation. ``I think it was about ducking a pasting.''
Kincaid said his organization is determined to make riverboat gambling a major issue this fall when all 140 seats in the General Assembly are up for election. ``We're hoping to make this issue so high-profile that, by the time elections roll around, 80 to 90 percent of the candidates will have taken an oath against riverboat gambling,'' he said.
The stakes were particularly high on Republicans from Virginia Beach, the home of evangelical broadcaster M.G. ``Pat'' Robertson. Sean R. Gerety, chairman of the Virginia Beach Republican Committee, recently warned four GOP delegates who had supported riverboat gambling in the past that a vote for the bill this year would be ``at their own peril.''
About 200 opponents of the bill - many arguing that gambling is a sin - protested near the Capitol last week.
Opponents also argued that riverboat casinos would breed organized crime in Virginia.
Those who favored the measure said the casinos would create about 24,000 new jobs in Virginia and produce $123 million annually in new state revenues - money that could be spent on schools, roads and senior citizens.
``This is not about gambling, not for a second,'' Jones said. ``This is an idea that offers tourism dollars, tax revenues and jobs, jobs, jobs.''
Jones said the Maryland legislature is expected to consider riverboat casinos this year, and he predicted that if it is approved large numbers of Virginians will cross state lines to gamble.
He criticized opposition groups for denying Virginians an opportunity to vote on gambling.
``Voters should have the final say,'' he said, ``not uninformed fearmongers who ignore the facts, who resort to scare tactics and untruths, and who pull kids out of school to stand in front of TV cameras and hold signs about an issue they know nothing about.''
Jones, who has been defeated three straight years in his effort, vowed to try anew next year. ``It's going to happen,'' he said. ``It's just a question of when.''
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY RIVERBOAT GAMBLING by CNB