ELECTIONS / CARD CASINO : Backers Deal Final Hand in Push for Club : West Hollywood: Investors have spent nearly $275,000 on mailers, calls and a videotape supporting the Westside’s first gambling club. But the initiative still is seen as likely to lose.

On one side there is money. On the other is an extraordinary alliance of politicians, community groups and civic organizations.

The final push is on in West Hollywood in the campaign leading up to Tuesday’s vote on a ballot measure on the Westside’s first legalized gambling club.

The investors behind the proposed card casino have shown a willingness to spend big in their effort to gain voter approval for the measure, Proposition AA. As of midweek, they had spent nearly $275,000 to appeal directly to voters and bypass the almost unanimous opposition among city officials and just about every identifiable civic group in town.

The pitch--by phone, mail and even videotape--is a simple one. “If this initiative is approved, it would mean tremendous financial benefits for the city,” said Bruce Decker, a spokesman for Yes on Prop AA. Backers say they expect the club, if approved, to gross $100 million a year, of which 10%, or $10 million, would go to the city.

Opponents of the measure have been outspent about 20 to 1, but the widespread consensus in the city is that the initiative still is likely to lose.

One reason is that an unprecedented alliance has lined up against it. The opposition coalition, operating under the name Residents Against the West Hollywood Poker Casino, includes all five City Council members, the city’s main tenant and landlord groups, the Chamber of Commerce, and business and neighborhood organizations. Joining the chorus have been prominent senior citizens and leaders in the gay and lesbian community.

“There has been a groundswell of opposition to this measure on the grass-roots level,” said City Councilwoman Abbe Land. “People don’t want the crime, they don’t want the traffic. It’s not so much a moral issue (against gambling) as it is concern about what a club like this would do to the city.”

Under Proposition AA’s provisions, the investment partnership that owns the Cavendish West Hollywood--a small, private bridge-and-rummy club--would be given permission to build and operate a gambling club, the only one on the Westside. It would be modeled after the large card clubs that operate in the cities of Commerce and Bell Gardens.

Supporters of the club say the $10 million a year they predict the city would receive from the club is equal to one-third of the current city budget. They also note that city officials project a revenue gap of $1.5 million next year that must be closed by raising revenues or cutting services. The card club, backers say, would solve the city’s budget problems and make possible a significant expansion of city services.

Under the terms of the initiative, three-fourths of the city’s share would be earmarked for law enforcement, AIDS-related programs and services for the elderly and the gay and lesbian communities. Other funds would be set aside for the revitalization of the city’s rundown east end, where the club is to be located.

Even if Proposition AA passes, the card club would face some obstacles. The city attorney has issued an opinion that the initiative’s requirement that the club set aside 10% of its gross for the city amounts to a tax increase, and that the measure therefore needs a two-thirds majority to take effect.

Proposition AA backers promise a lawsuit if the city tries to enforce the two-thirds rule. If the club clears that hurdle, it still would have to go through the city planning process, where it would presumably encounter additional community resistance.

Virtually all of the financial support for the Yes on AA campaign comes from the 20 partners who own the Cavendish club. Heading the group is general partner Philip Marks, a New York businessman who formerly ran gambling operations on cruise ships. He now is chairman of Kettering Industries Inc., a manufacturer of toys and promotional items.

Last week, the card club campaign mailed 10,000 copies of a videotape, praising the merits of the initiative, to nearly half the voters in the city.

The 8 1/2-minute video was narrated by former City Councilman Steve Schulte, one of the city’s best-known political figures. Schulte, who voted against the measure when it came before the council last year, said he changed his mind after learning of the city’s dire financial predicament.

“I’m hearing rather disturbing things about the financial health of the city,” Schulte said recently. “I think the city will be looking for additional revenues, and this is a better source than increasing taxes.”

As an alternative to the casino revenues, city leaders have proposed a business-license tax to close the gap. The tax got tentative approval from the City Council this week. Yes on AA spokesman Decker said in an interview that the video has been very effective in persuading undecided voters that the club would not contribute to crime and cause traffic problems.

However, opponents of the measure said the video is backfiring.

“It will take more than just a slick video to win votes,” said Barbara Grover, a spokeswoman for the opposition. “An effective message is one that is conveyed in seconds, not eight minutes.”

Grover and other opponents said the video is just another example of how much money the “East Coast gambling interests” are willing to spend to win the election.

Residents Against the West Hollywood Poker Casino held its first fund-raiser Sunday, a brunch at Spago attended by more than 60 people. The restaurant’s owners, Wolfgang Puck and his wife, Barbara Lazaroff, are vigorous opponents of the card club.

The Spago event raised $4,000, bringing the Proposition AA opponents’ total funds raised to about $15,000.

At the gathering, psychologist Jerome H. Tepperman, a member of the board of the California Council on Compulsive Gamblers, said that gambling is a form of addiction that “corrupts the moral fiber of a community.”

Community activist Jeanne Dobrin, who also attended the fund-raiser, accused the backers of the measure of “preying on the hopes of vulnerable people with AIDS” by promising that the card club would bring more money for social programs.

Despite the widespread community opposition, a few voices have been raised in support of the card club.

“If it passes, we won’t have to worry about crime,” said Ed Riney, an east side activist who supports the measure because of the money it promises to raise for the city. “But we will see more senior citizens in polyester suits, because those are the people who gamble in these places.”