LOCAL ELECTIONS: PROPOSITIONS : Card Club Backers Raise the Ante in West Hollywood

With the odds seemingly against them, the sponsors of West Hollywood’s card club ballot measure raised the ante Monday in their effort to win voter support for a legalized gambling club in their city.

Beginning this week, 10,000 copies of a videotape extolling the virtues of legalized gambling under Proposition AA will begin arriving in the mailboxes of nearly half the voters in the city.

While the use of videotapes has become commonplace in political campaigns, it is highly unusual for them to be used as campaign mailers on such a near-saturation basis, observers say. Proposition AA sponsors say the video campaign will cost them $30,000, an unusually high amount by city standards.

“It’s the modern-day equivalent of the political potholder,” said Mark Vandervelden, a spokesman for the “Yes on Prop AA” campaign.

The 8 1/2-minute videotape is narrated by former City Councilman Steve Schulte, a gay activist with strong name recognition in the city. He and other supporters of the initiative say a casino would generate revenue that the city needs for social programs, law enforcement and redevelopment.

Sponsors of the ballot measure say the proposed club could bring in up to $100 million in revenues, of which 10% would go to the city.

The videos will be sent to residents identified by the sponsors as most likely to vote, based on their voting records.

But opponents of the measure see the move as an expensive desperation ploy that will only backfire.

“We have been saying all along that this initiative is backed by wealthy East Coast gambling interests willing to spend whatever it takes to buy votes,” said Parke Skelton, a strategist for the anti-Proposition AA campaign. “This (videotape) will only reinforce that point in the minds of the voters.”

Philip Marks, one of the principal backers of the initiative, is a New Yorker who once operated legal gaming clubs aboard two cruise ships. He is chairman of Kettering Industries Inc., a manufacturer of toys and promotional items.

Operating under an umbrella organization known as Residents Against the West Hollywood Poker Casino, opponents have put together an unprecedented alliance to defeat the ballot measure, including groups that have been bitter rivals in the city’s often fractious six-year history.

The Coalition for Economic Survival, the tenant group responsible for the city’s rent control ordinance, has joined forces to defeat the gambling initiative with the West Hollywood Concerned Citizens, the city’s major landlord group. All five City Council members oppose the measure. The city’s Chamber of Commerce also has come out against it, along with other business and neighborhood groups.

The video is seen as a way to counter the strong arguments of the opposition, which thus far has presented a strong case that the card club would increase traffic and attract organized crime, breed prostitution and become a “magnet for street thugs looking for easy prey.”

“There’s a lot of hysteria in this campaign,” said Ron Smith, a political consultant hired by the initiative’s sponsors.

Supporters of the initiative hope that Schulte will lend credibility to their campaign. Schulte is the only person ever elected to the City Council without an endorsement from the Coalition for Economic Survival. Since he retired from the council in April, he has been working for Dianne Feinstein’s gubernatorial campaign.

In the videotape, Schulte said he once voted to oppose the card club but recently changed his mind after learning that city revenues were expected to be down roughly $1.5 million in the 1991-92 fiscal year. “This at a time when the need for services is growing,” he said. “Many of the programs are already in jeopardy and that means tough and painful choices . . . increase taxes or cut services.”

Schulte, who said he was not paid for making the video, urged voters to approve the card club initiative as a more creative solution to the city’s financial woes.

Mayor John Heilman, a longtime rival of Schulte, blasted the former councilman Monday for what he termed a flip-flop.

“We don’t need the influence that this kind of establishment would bring to our city--the crime, the traffic,” Heilman added.

City officials acknowledge that the city faces a shortfall, but they say it will not lead to massive cuts of services. They are discussing ways to close the gap through the implementation of a business license tax and other special fees.

Under Proposition AA, the owners of the Cavendish West Hollywood--a small, private bridge and rummy club--would seek to become the operators of the Westside’s first legal gambling club, which would be modeled after the large card clubs in Commerce and Bell Gardens.

Marks, the general partner for the Cavendish Club, accuses opponents of the measure of engaging in scare tactics. He said the club would address the potential problems caused by traffic and crime by hiring an excellent security staff and building a parking facility that would more than accommodate the club’s customers.

From the beginning, supporters of the measure have vowed to wage a vigorous and expensive campaign. Earlier this month, the Yes on Prop AA campaign reported spending $150,000 leading up to the election. On the other side, the campaign against the measure reported spending just $1,300.

BACKGROUND

Gambling card clubs such as the one proposed for West Hollywood exist in dozens of California cities, and are legal by local option as long as certain guidelines are followed. Patrons may play for money against each other in a variety of games, including poker, rummy and pan. California card clubs differ from Nevada casinos in that players are not permitted to gamble against the house. In California, the club is merely the host, providing tables and a dealer. It makes its money by renting seats to players--the higher the stakes, the higher the rental. The most popular Nevada games--roulette, craps and blackjack--are not allowed, nor are slot machines.