David Pandori: San Jose mayoral candidates should reject casinos’ support
By: David Pandori
Special to the Mercury News
Gambling and politics have always been a bad mix in San Jose. In the 1980s, officials of Garden City card club skimmed money from the cash heavy business and laundered campaign contributions to city officials through straw contributors. No city officials were found guilty, however a number of card club officials were convicted for these acts. In the following years, contributions from card clubs continued to pour into the campaigns for mayor.
Tracking card club revenue continues to be a daunting task. The California Attorney General recently filed a complaint alleging misconduct by San Jose’s Casino M8trix. The accusation documents a complex web of corporate entities making it difficult to track the true profits and income of the card club.
City government directly controls card club operations — the games offered, operation hours, the number of tables, credit prohibitions, the taxes levied, and the number of licensed businesses. Today, the city’s power to regulate gives elected officials the means to create millions of dollars in profits or losses for the two major clubs — Bay 101 and Casino M8trix.
This mix of money and power creates huge potential for corruption. The stakes are high.
The businesses are cash heavy, making it difficult to track the millions of dollars that flow into the business. The motive to influence city officials is compelling. Why wouldn’t a card club try to throw huge amounts of political contributions toward city officials if it meant multiplying those contributions into profits?
For these reasons, in the 1990s I and other members of the city council enacted a ban on campaign contributions from card club owners, officers, key employees and their spouses.
For businesses so directly and uniquely regulated by the city, any contributions from the owners would undermine the public trust in the city’s regulation of the businesses.
However, in the last few weeks, the card clubs are making a mockery of the city’s ban on campaign contributions. Bay 101 and Casino M8trix recently contributed $50,000 to the political action committee for the South Bay Labor Council. The PAC most likely will spend the money to benefit their endorsed candidate for mayor — Dave Cortese — by attacking one of his rivals. The most likely target will be Sam Liccardo, who has opposed card club expansion and deregulation.
This two-step dance is a well-known maneuver commonly used to evade contribution limits. One dance partner (the card club) will claim there were no strings attached to the contributions while the other partner (the PAC) will claim no promises were made on how the money will be spent. Oh, if only all of us could find such giving, kind and wealthy friends, what a beautiful and comfortable life we would enjoy.
The reality is political money is not received and spent without expectations or pressure. The candidate who benefits from these “independent” expenditures knows that thousands of dollars were spent on their behalf by an influential PAC thanks to two kind card clubs who provided the money. These are important things politicians know and remember.
There is a simple way to put an end to it, at least for a few months. First, candidates for mayor should condemn what the card clubs are up to. Then, each candidate should tell the South Bay Labor PAC to return the card club money.
By taking a stand now, the mayoral candidates have a unique opportunity during this election — to make good campaign law before being elected to office. And isn’t that one of the best ways to decide who to vote for — looking at the actions of candidates rather than simply listening to promises?
But ultimately it’s up to all of us to expect better in San Jose elections. “Pay to play” belongs in card clubs, not our elections.
David Pandori represented District 3 on the San Jose City Council from 1991-98. He wrote this article for this newspaper.
You can read the full article online here.