A constitutional amendment allowing a privately run casino, if approved by Rhode Island voters, could pave the way for one in West Warwick.

09:41 AM EST on Friday, January 13, 2006

BY KATHERINE GREGG
Journal State House Bureau

PROVIDENCE -- With a phalanx of construction workers standing behind them with signs reading -- "Let the people decide," promoters of the proposed Harrah's-Narragansett Indian casino yesterday launched their drive to change the state Constitution to allow a "privately operated" casino.

And not just any casino.

In response to repeated questions yesterday about how the unseen ballot question might read, Harrah's newest consultant -- author, lawyer, real-estate investor and former Providence College history professor Patrick T. Conley -- told a news conference he would recommend wording along these lines:

"That there would be a Lottery that was privately operated by the Narragansett Indian tribe and its chosen partner and regulated by the state. That's what it should say. That's what I would recommend."

"Harrah's would not be [mentioned] in anything I would draft," Conley said.

In response to repeated questions about the rationale for obscuring Harrah's involvement, Rep. Timothy Williamson, the lead House champion of the proposed West Warwick casino, said: "Everyone is hung up on the issue -- who's supplying the money? Who's going to own it?"

"What information do people need? In my opinion, it's very simple," he said. "Do you want a casino in Rhode Island? Question mark. Yes or no."

And so it went yesterday in response to the battery of unanswered questions that TV, radio and newspaper reporters thrust at Harrah's executives Jan Jones and David Satz, Narragansett Chief Sachem Matthew Thomas and Williamson, D-West Warwick, at the midafternoon news conference they called at the State House to launch their renewed casino campaign.

Williamson said he intended to introduce as many as five casino bills, in the House, next Tuesday or Wednesday.

He provided few details but said they would mirror previous proposals. The last reflected Harrah's offer to pay the state a tiered gambling tax ranging, depending on how much money the casino takes in, from 25 percent to 40 percent of net gambling revenue.

(By way of comparison, the state's two slot parlors -- Lincoln Park and Newport Grand -- pay the state close to 60 percent.)

Asked who under this latest proposal would actually own the casino, Jones parried with a reporter.

"At the end of the day, the Narragansett Indians will own the casino," she said. Asked who would own it on Day One, she said: "Do you own your house, or does the bank own the house?" Asked again -- and again -- who would own the casino, she said: "Who owns the house? Who owns the house?"

And so it went, round and round, until Williamson said: "Ladies. Ladies. Ladies . . . Next question."

Chief Thomas' answer: "Eventually, the tribe's goal is to own the facility."

In response to further questions, Williamson said "everyone . . . wants to put the cart before the horse. There is no ownership issue if the people don't vote, all right?"

"The objectors . . . have done an outstanding job over the past seven years of constantly throwing hurdles at us. How big is it going to be? What is the square feet . . . How close to the school? How about the highways? Really, all of that does not matter unless it's going to be passed by the people," he said.

"If the people vote it up, then let's cut a deal," Williamson said.

"I implore the governor of the state of Rhode Island as a businessman, let's work together on this. Let's cut a deal that is going to benefit the Narragansett Indian tribe, the state of Rhode Island and the town of West Warwick. Let's cut a deal so we can now compete with the destination-style resort casinos in Connecticut."

Asked later what he meant by vote-first, cut-the-deal-later, Williamson said he was "being a little facetious."

"I think the fact of the matter is all of the terms and conditions of any deal have already been cut by virtue of our legislation two years ago," he said.

But this was the response from Governor Carcieri, who presided last year over a massive expansion in video slots: "This is just a sweetheart deal for Harrah's. Why we would want to change the Constitution to do that, I am confounded."

"The reason we have the best deal in the country off VLTs is because the state operates them. The state controls them. It is beyond me," he said, "why anybody would want to change our Constitution to let somebody else determine that."

Said Thomas: "I don't know why the governor would be opposed to the [Narragansetts] being a part of the state Constitution. We've been here forever."

While many questions remained unanswered, Jones confirmed that the Las Vegas-based Harrah's, now the largest gambling company in the world, has hired Conley -- and paid him a $50,000 retainer -- to help craft the proposed ballot question and shape opinion about it.

And that Conley tried to do yesterday by declaring again, in his opinion, the Rhode Island Supreme Court has, over the last two-and-a-half decades, "erred," "misconstrued" and repeatedly "misinterpreted" a key gambling provision in the state Constitution.

Conley, who served as chief of staff to former Providence Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. in 1979 and describes himself as the preeminent constitutional scholar in Rhode Island, has been a familiar name and face at the State House on other issues in recent years.

Two years ago, he advised House Speaker William J. Murphy that a section of the Constitution governing the conduct of lawyer-legislators was obsolete, and therefore had no bearing on an ethics case against House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox.

The section said: "No member of the General Assembly shall take any fee, or be of counsel in any case pending before either house of the General Assembly under penalty of forfeiture of seat." Based on Conley's advise, Murphy said, he would not look further into the provision's potential applicability to Fox, who paid a $10,000 fine to settle the case involving undisclosed work he did for lottery giant GTECH.

Conley has also figured -- and is likely to figure again this year -- in State House efforts to rewrite the state's ever-controversial tax-sale laws.

One of the busiest players in this field, Conley recently estimated having bought titles to 8,000 pieces of tax-delinquent property in Providence since 1979. About 5,700 were redeemed by their owners.

By his own estimates, he took ownership of the remaining 2,300 when the owners didn't pay their debt.

kgregg@projo.com / (401) 277-7078