THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602110102
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DAVID M. POOLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Proponents needed some behind-the-scenes maneuvering Saturday morning to advance riverboat casinos to the full House of Delegates, where the issue faces an uncertain future.
The House General Laws Committee initially voted 11-10 to kill the measure, much to the delight of several dozen Baptists bused in from Hampton Roads.
``Praise God,'' one woman shouted, as the jubilant crowd left the meeting room.
But anti-casino lobbyists knew the issue was far from dead; proponents could revive the measure by persuading a single member of the committee to switch sides.
``If you listen closely,'' said William Kincaid, lobbyist for an anti-gambling group, ``you might hear the sounds of bones breaking.''
The bill's sponsor, Norfolk Del. William P. Robinson Jr., huddled with a half-dozen casino company lobbyists.
Their strategy focused on Arlington Del. James F. Almand, who had unexpectedly voted against the bill after it was amended to include an ``initiative and referendum'' clause.
The original bill called for a statewide referendum on riverboat casinos in November. Riverboat supporters amended the bill to a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot.
The idea was to attract the support of conservative lawmakers who oppose casino gambling, but who have voiced support for petition-generated ballot initiatives.
But the initiative clause backfired with Almand, who in the past had sided with proponents.
Almand slipped out of the meeting after the vote to confer with House Speaker Thomas W. Moss Jr., a strong casino advocate.
When he returned, Almand switched his vote in support of casinos after the initiative clause was dropped from the bill.
The sequence of events led casino opponents to speculate that Almand had traded his vote for some future consideration from Moss.
``Obviously, it's backroom politics,'' Kincaid said.
Almand denied there had been any deal, or that he had even switched his stand on the issue.
``I've been talking with the Speaker, but the Speaker didn't put any pressure on me,'' he said. ``I didn't change my mind. The bill changed.''
The final vote was 11-8 to send the bill to the House floor for consideration by a Tuesday deadline. The House killed a similar measure two years ago.
Two lawmakers who opposed casinos missed the second committee vote. House Republican Leader S. Vance Wilkins left to hold a news conference on an unrelated matter. And Del. Clarence ``Bud'' Phillips, D-Castlewood, departed after riverboat proponents urged him to leave the room while the committee voted.
Phillips later explained that he needed to attend to more pressing matters, such as putting the final touches on his weekly constituent newsletter and rounding up opposition to a sewer sludge bill that is controversial in his Southwest Virginia district. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Del. William P. Robinson Jr., D-Norfolk, sponsor of the riverboat
gambling bill, speaks Saturday in Richmond with an opponent of the
measure, the Rev. Geoffrey Guns of Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB