D.C. Slots: Against

Supporters of a plan to bring slot machines to the nation's capital claim that they have collected more than 50,000 signatures and that they have met the legal requirements to get the issue on the November ballot.

Full Coverage:D.C. Slots Goal Met, Backers Say

Opponents of the slots allege that many signatures were obtained illegally. Anti-slot activists said they plan to argue before the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics that many petition circulators were not D.C. residents, as required by law, and that campaign workers made false statements about the initiative to get people to sign the forms. (See D.C. Panel Adds Weight To Slots Foes' Concerns.)

Donna Brizill, executive director of DCWatch, a nonprofit citizens group that covers and monitors local city politics and public affairs in Washington, D.C., was online Thursday, July 8, at 1 p.m. ET to discuss her position against bringing slot machines to the nation's capital.

Programming Note: washingtonpost.com has invited a representative to discuss the other side of the issue. That information is forthcoming.

A transcript follows.

Editor's Note: Washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Live Online discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions.

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Anacostia, D.C.: You and your crowd are really annoying. Let the voters decide whether or not there should be slots. It's un-American to deny an issue the opportunity to be on the ballot. If the signature gatherers did something wrong, the voters are smart enough to know that and vote accordingly. Your patronizing behavior is unneeded and way out of line. Go back to Northwest.

Dorothy Brizill: I agree, the initiative process should be open to all, and the voters should decide. But everybody should follow the law and the rules in submitting an initiative, and from day one the proponents of this initiative have broken the rules. They published fake and illegal issues of the D.C. Register, our city's official legal bulletin; they imported petition circulators from out of town, knowing that DC law requires circulators to be residents; and the petition circulators knowingly misled many people into signing the petition with false claims and statement -- some even claiming it was a petition against slots.

Bottom line -- they don't deserve a place on the District of Columbia ballot.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I don't hear much about the fact that this is all a farce. Why doesn't the media point out that there is about, um, ZERO percent chance that Congress would allow slots in D.C? Of course, I lived in D.C. when I had a chance to vote against a pro-slots governor in Maryland! I'll have to get used to having a vote in Congress.

-Signed "Still waiting for the stolen/stripped blue Town Car to be picked up near Rhode Island Ave. Metro station. EOM tracking number 420095"

Dorothy Brizill: It's most likely that the city council would reject the initiative and overturn it, before it even got to Congress for approval. If the initiative passed, it would be like any other law, subject to modification and complete rejection by the city council -- and even if the council were for gambling parlors in DC, which it isn't, it would reject this proposal as a bad deal for the city.

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washingtonpost.com: Dorothy Brizill, welcome to washingtonpost.com. Glad to have you with us.

Fifty thousand signatures have been collected and submitted to the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics supporting slots for the District. There have been reports that petition "circulators" from out of town have done the collecting and that some of the signers are bogus names. What is your reaction to these reports and why are you against slots in D.C?

Dorothy Brizill: Teams of initiative opponents have seen out-of-town circulators throughout the city -- and the slots proponents admit that they used them. We have video and audio tape of circulators admitting that they were imported from out of the district. These out-of-town circulators didn't sign their petitions as circulators, however. Many of their petitions were signed by D.C. residents, who were paid just to falsely claim that they had gathered the signatures themselves.

Although they may claim to have 50,000 signatures, even the proponents now admit that their examination showed only about 20 percent of the signers were registered D.C. voters. We think we will be able to prove they have fewer than the required 17,599 signers they need.

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Downtown D.C.: How can citizens who oppose the slots initiative get involved? If it makes it to the ballot, will your organization be coordinating the effort to defeat the measure?

Dorothy Brizill: We'll be forming a broad-based coalition and registering it with the Office of Campaign Finance tomorrow. We'll be seeking donors, volunteers, and everything else needed for a full-scale campaign, should the Board of Elections and Ethics approve this measure for the November ballot.

To get on our list for more information, send an e-mail to slots@dcwatch.com.

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SW D.C.: Can you please explain why there is a law requiring that D.C. residents collect names on petitions? I, of course, understand that signers must be D.C. voters -- but why require the collectors be D.C. residents? Would you say that a candidate's political consultants must be D.C. residents?

Dorothy Brizill: The purpose of required circulators be D.C. residents is quite simple. The Board of Elections and Ethics has to be able to verify the circulators' affidavits and be able to get in touch with them. It used to require that circulators be registered voters, but broadened that requirement recently to allow any resident over 18 years old to circulate initiative petitions. But we still have to have a way to prevent widespread fraud -- and being able to locate circulators and affirm their affidavits is a good way to do so.

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Washington, D.C.: Why can't a single major issue facing the District ever include the citizenry at the front-end of the process? We're facing two major issues that cry out for input from the public before any thought of implementation -- D.C. slots and hundreds of millions of public dollars for a baseball stadium, yet neither issue has made provision for a public process or hearings before the D.C. Council that are not 11th hour rush jobs at the back-end of the process?

Dorothy Brizill: You're right. The slots initiative is special interest legislation to benefit the businessmen from the Virgin Islands who are funding the proposal. It gives them a 10-year monopoly at a specific site on N.Y. Avenue, severely limits any regulation and oversight of their operations, and it even sets the tax rate that they will pay. They're trying to do this through the initiative because they could never get this kind of deal through the city council, or through any process that required town hall meetings, public information, or public testimony.

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Capitol Heights, Md.: Hello Dorothy, thanks for taking my question.
Okay, so we put slots in D.C. Will that increase the players chances of winning since it seems that D.C. never seems to win in the Lotto, and I know for a fact that it has the most people playing the lottery in D.C. than anywhere else. Thank you!

Dorothy Brizill: Even though "video lottery terminals" is the euphemism used by gambling proponents, these machines are not like lottery tickets. They are very similar to traditional slots machines, with the only major difference for the player being that they are all hooked up to a central computer. The house will set the odds.

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Washington, D.C.: How does the religious community feel about bringing what amounts to legalized gambling to the District? Is there a moral question here?

Dorothy Brizill: Part of the coalition against slots is the religious community. One of the three plaintiffs in our lawsuit was David Argo, the district superintendent for the United Methodist Church, which opposed gambling as a moral issue. Others in our coalition are opposed to the lawless way in which the promoters of this initiative have acted, and yet others would support gambling, but see this special interest deal as a lousy bargain for the city, shortchanging the city in comparison to the deals that other states have received from gambling promoters.

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Tenleytown, Washington, D.C.: Dear Ms. Brizill: First, I want to thank you for spearheading this task. Forgive the lawyerly question. Once the petitions are submitted and appear to be facially valid, who has the burden of proof? Do you have to prove that the people who signed each challenged petition was either not the circulator or not a D.C. resident? Or if you are able to show that a certain number are suspect, then will that be sufficient to bar the rest? If you have the burden, then that seems to be a large task for an individual citizen to shoulder.

Dorothy Brizill: It is a big burden. We, the challengers, bear the burden of proving that circulators weren't residents, or that the individual signers were not registered DC voters. On the other hand, the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics found in the Tony Williams petition case two years ago that when the volume of fraud became so great, their usual presumption in favor of admitting every petition sheet and signature as valid could no longer hold -- and they had to presume that the fraud was throughout the petition submission. We think we will be able to prove that in this case, too.

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College Park, Md.: Dear Ms. Brizill, I've supported you forever and think you do a great job. In this case, however, I respectfully disagree. Unless we're going to ban all gambling, which isn't going to happen, why not permit slots, which pay back over 90 percent of the proceeds to the gamblers? Every day I see obviously destitute people scraping up money to buy lottery tickets and other games of change where the return is 50 percent, at best. The odds of coming away with a decent payoff is so much higher with slots, why not give those who are going to gamble anyway a shot at these better odds? Thanks very much for your time.

Dorothy Brizill: Again, the house will set the odds, and the people who are funding this initiative, and who have broken all the rules in trying to get it to the ballot, are not likely to give bettors great odds. In Las Vegas, where there is lots of competition, some casinos give up to 90 percent odds on some of their games in order to compete with the many other casinos in town; but this would be a monopoly, with no pressure to give good odds.

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Arlington, Va.: So do you think the slots initiative will make it onto the November ballot in D.C?

Dorothy Brizill: We have a tremendously large job to do to challenge the petition; but the proponents have to have gathered 17,599 good signatures and have to overcome our complaint about fraud and deception in gathering their petitions. If the Board of Elections does certify them for the November ballot, in the face of how they have operated, I believe there will be a huge public outcry -- and we will also appeal that decision to the Court of Appeals.

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Washington, D.C.: If I remember correctly, Congress overturned the medical marijuana initiative, and the D.C. Council overturned the term limits initiative.

Even if this slots initiative passes, won't the Council or Congress vote it down?

Dorothy Brizill: As I wrote above, either the city council or Congress could overturn this measure, even in it passed in the November election. Congress, in the past when riverboat gambling was proposed for DC, showed that it was ready and willing to ban gambling in DC -- I think that it continues to hold that position, and would opposed a casino with 3500 slots at the gateway to the Nation's Capitol.

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Capitol Heights, Md.: I'm one who is against slots. I also believe it will leave the broke, broker. You may have people selling their food stamps for money just to play the slots. This is serious business.

Dorothy Brizill: We are truly concerned about this issue. These machines are among the most addictive form of gambling; they offer an opportunity to bet continuously and to lose continuously. NY Avenue, and that part of Ward 5, needs economic development and jobs, but a gambling casino does not attract other economic investment or other businesses, and won't develop that part of the city. Look at the impact of gambling casinos in Atlantic City and Biloxi, where surrounding areas deteriorate, rather than develop.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I am against slots in Maryland as well as D.C. I think there are better ways to raise money for education. Besides, aren't our huddled masses playing the various Lottos, Pick 5's enough as it is? To my point, what do you make of Marylanders crossing the D.C. line to advocate slots/gaming in the nation's capital? Is it a case of NIMBY (not in my backyard) or a case of "I'd rather slots be in D.C. since it's pretty desolate in NE anyway?" If Marylanders want slots so bad, we'll vote on it, it will lose (again) and folks can drive to Delaware to drink and gamble away little Johnny's college fund.

Dorothy Brizill: I'm with you on that. At heart, nobody wants casinos in his own back yard, because everybody knows that they're not good for the neighborhoods or cities in which they are located.

Actually, many people believe that this casino was proposed in DC in April in part to put pressure on Maryland to approve gambling casinos.

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Washington, D.C.: Do the feds have to weigh in on the slots? Can D.C. not have them unless Uncle Sam says okay?

Dorothy Brizill: Under the Constitution, D.C. is a federal district, and all its laws must be approved by Congress. The current Congress is giving DC a great deal of latitude in the laws it passes, but it still wouldn't allow this one.

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Washington, D.C.: Dorothy --

I have to say I am a huge fan. I loved the bit Gary Imhoff (your husband) wrote during the Williams petition scandal comparing you to Cassandra, who was doomed to see the future but never be believed until it was too late.

Any thoughts on the departure of Kelvin Robinson? I know you were among the first to realize that Mayor Williams is the emperor with no clothes.

Dorothy Brizill: Thank you; I'm flattered. Kelvin Robinson, the current Chief of Staff to Mayor Williams, has long been rumored to be on the verge of departure. He was widely disliked within the Mayor's own inner circle, and has no support from any Council members. His departure comes just prior to the conclusion of a federal investigation into his violation of the Hatch Act with regard to Mayor Williams's fund raising activities.

The departure of Robinson and his replacement by Afreda Davis signals the rising influence of City Administrator Robert Bobb within the Executive Office of the Mayor as well as throughout the government.

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Washington, D.C.: Why are you against slots coming to D.C?

Dorothy Brizill: Personally, I'm opposed to casino style gambling in DC. But, as I wrote, even those who like gambling and who would like to see casinos come to DC should oppose this deal -- the initiative is a sweetheart contract for its funders that shortchanges the city in taxes (only 25 percent of the revenue would go to the District, compared with 60-75 percent in other localities) and in regulatory powers (the investors wouldn't even have to identity the sources of most of their funds, and the District wouldn't be allowed to certify for themselves their suitability to run a gambling operation). Moreover, the 3,500-slots casino would impede true economic revitalization of the N.Y. Avenue corridor, and would require huge public investment in redesigning and expanding N.Y. Avenue to accommodate traffic. The targeting area is already grappling with a huge crime and prostitution problem, which this casino would just exacerbate.

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Washington, D.C.: Basic question:

Just exactly what is a slot machine?

I grew up in Southwest Virginia and have honestly never seen one.

How do they work?

Dorothy Brizill: These slot machines would be like video games, in which the bettor places a set bet, and the machine randomly decides whether the bet wins or loses. It would look like a video arcade game, with lots of lights, bells, and whistles to keep the action exciting. Please don't ask me to explain the attraction.

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Dorothy Brizill: Thanks for the opportunity to talk with all of you today, and of answering your questions. Again, if you want to get in touch with me about the slots initiative and this issue, please write to me at slots@dcwatch.com.

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