Friday, June 13, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

TAX BATTLE: Station targets pro-chamber vendors

Gaming giant considers halting trade with 'anti-casino' companies

The first move for Station Casinos bosses angered by elements of the business community fighting the gaming industry's preferred tax plan was quitting the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce, a step the locals gaming giant took last week.

Move two for the company is identifying which Station vendors are also chamber members, a step Station President Lorenzo Fertitta said Thursday could result in the locals gaming giant transferring its business to companies that aren't fighting the casino business.

Station executives have already been asked to compile a list of all vendors that are chamber members.

"I don't know what we're going to do with (the list)," Fertitta said Thursday. "But if there are companies that are specifically targeting (the casino business), trying to avoid paying taxes, then I imagine we'd look for another vendor."

No other casino companies have joined locals gaming giant Station Casinos and quit their memberships in the chamber, executives said.

Boyd Gaming, Mandalay Resort Group, MGM Mirage and other casino operators have decided to maintain their memberships, executives said.

Park Place Entertainment doesn't belong to the chamber.

Fertitta said he was personally extremely frustrated by the chamber's lobbying campaign, and that he and brother Frank Fertitta III, Station chairman and CEO, discussed it and decided to yank Station's membership and the $33,000 it pays in annual dues.

"It's still the same strategy and game that they've been playing all along: Delay, delay, delay," he said. "This is the four corners offense."

Lorenzo Fertitta's already told his controller to make sure the company doesn't send more money to the chamber, and said company lawyers would make sure the chamber removes Station from its membership roll.

Chamber President and CEO Kara Kelley wasn't available for comment, but former chamber Chairman Robert Forbuss, still a chamber lobbyist, said Station's exit is more significant than the $33,000 annually the pro-business group stands to lose.

"It's not a big monetary hit, but we've always had a good relationship with (Station)," Forbuss said.

Forbuss said he talked with Lorenzo Fertitta and respects the Station boss's decision.

"We're dealing with 7,000 members," he said. "It's tough to get everyone on the same page."

When Fertitta was in Carson City recently in his role as Nevada Resort Association president, lobbying lawmakers on behalf of a casino industry-backed tax hike that would include a broad-based business tax, he was dismayed to find lobbyists for the chamber and for some of Station's biggest vendors working to defeat it.

At least a couple of his company's biggest vendors are likely to lose their Station business because they were lobbying directly against the industry's position in support of a broad-based business tax, Fertitta said, but he declined to name the offending companies.

Fertitta said he made no effort to lobby other companies to join Station in quitting the chamber.

"I can only make decisions for our company," he said.

Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stillwell said his company, which operates Sam's Town, the Stardust, three downtown and two Henderson casinos, intends to maintain its membership.

"While we don't agree with (the chamber) on this issue, there are many other things the chamber does for the benefit of the Las Vegas Valley," Stillwell said.

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman said his company has been focused on "providing for the future needs of the state," and doesn't intend to leave the chamber.

"In our minds that means working with the chamber, not against them," Feldman said.

Mandalay Resort Group spokesman John Marz said his company has no plans to quit.

"At this point in time the chamber is doing what they do (in Carson City)," Marz said. "We don't agree with it, but we haven't looked at it in terms of our chamber membership."