Obama clarifies response on gaming

Does Barack Obama believe that gaming hurts communities? Or did he, a decade ago?

In a candidate survey his campaign filled out in 1996, it sure sounded like it. The survey, in which Obama expressed some positions that are more liberal than positions he now takes, was obtained by the Politico newspaper last week.

In the 12-page questionnaire from an Illinois advocacy group, Obama, then running for the Illinois state Senate, said he opposed riverboat gambling in Cook County, which contains Chicago.

Any attempt to expand land-based or riverboat gambling, he said, should be required to pass a statewide voter referendum, "because of the inevitable impact that expansion of the gaming industry would have throughout the state." Localities, he said, shouldn't be able to decide because of a "potential domino effect."

When the survey came to light last week, his campaign said it had been filled out by a staffer, not Obama. The campaign said he does not propose, as the survey indicates, a ban on handguns or a federal single-payer health care system.

As for the gambling question, his campaign says he was referring to a regulatory issue, not making a value judgment about the industry that happens to power Nevada's economy.

"Senator Obama has said Nevada has been a model for how states should regulate the gaming industry," campaign spokeswoman Shannon Gilson said. "The state has harnessed gaming as an engine of economic growth while cracking down on illegal activities. Gaming is critically important to Nevada's economy, creating more than 200,000 lasting jobs and careers in the state."

HEARTING HUCKABEE

An article about Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee in Sunday's New York Times Magazine has embroiled the candidate in controversy based on his "innocent" question, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

He has apologized for the remark, which many perceived as an attempt to exploit some evangelical Christians' distrust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Also noted in the article by Zev Chafets: "In the first three-quarters of this year, his campaign's largest individual bundler was Stephens Inc., a Little Rock investment-banking firm that anted up about $35,000."

The Review-Journal is owned by Stephens Media LLC, which is owned by members of the Stephens family of Little Rock, Ark. Stephens Inc. is run by Warren Stephens, who purchased control of the company last year from his cousins Witt Stephens Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell. They, in turn, formed a new separate investment company, The Stephens Group, LLC.

Witt Stephens Jr. and Elizabeth Stephens Campbell are descended from the late Witt Stephens, who founded the original company in 1933. Jackson "Jack" Stephens, his brother and eventual partner, also deceased, was Warren's father.

Stephens Inc. spokesman Frank Thomas said Warren Stephens was proud to support a politician from his state, just as he supported then-Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992. Warren, he said, feels that "Governor Huckabee was a very good governor and a very good steward of the state's business for nearly 10 and a half years."

Politically, Thomas said, Warren values relationships and embraces a "very conservative, less-government, pro-business philosophy."

Warren Stephens also has given to a Democrat this year, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, and to a Republican rival of Huckabee, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

The Times article notes, "Oddly, one member of the Stephens family, Jackson T. (Steve) Stephens Jr., has donated more than $1 million to the Club for Growth and is on its board of directors."

The "oddly" is because the Club, an anti-tax group, is perhaps Huckabee's most vehement opponent this side of Mitt Romney.

Steve Stephens, Warren's brother, isn't in the family business. He's not involved in any of the media or banking interests, but rather runs his own Little Rock-based biotechnology company. He has long been a major Club for Growth supporter; he hasn't donated to any 2008 presidential candidate.

ADELSON ON BOARD

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, one of the richest men in the country and a notable Republican Party booster, was given a four-year appointment by President Bush last week to a federal advisory board.

Adelson on Tuesday was named to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, a senior-level panel of CEOs and association executives that weighs in on U.S. trade initiatives through reports to the president and Congress.

"This is the president's premier private-sector advisory panel on international trade," according to journalist Greg Rushford. "Presidents need (the committee) to help them sell their trade agenda."

"Sheldon has been on countless trade show floors and has a unique perspective on how most import and export deals are consummated," said William Weidner, president of Las Vegas Sands Corp., where Adelson is chairman.

The trade advisory board has 32 members. Along with Adelson, Bush appointed Harold McGraw III, chairman of The McGraw-Hill Cos., Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, former U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas and Faryar Shrirzad, a former White House aide and a managing director at Goldman Sachs.

The trade advisory committee met nine times in Washington this year, according to a committee database.

And not that it might make a difference to Adelson, who is worth $26.5 billion, but the appointment does not carry a stipend or per diem.

This is not the first time the Bush administration has given Adelson a nod. The Las Vegan earlier was appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, the governing body of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. He served on the council from 2002 to 2007.

MOVING ON IRAN

You might think of MoveOn.org as a liberal group, and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., as a liberal politician. But last week, MoveOn activists in Las Vegas were marching on Berkley's office rather than those of her Republican colleagues.

The group delivered a petition it said consisted of a whopping 46 signatures, "urging her to support legislation opposing President Bush's march to war with Iran." They want her to support a resolution sponsored by Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, to declare that the president does not have authorization to attack Iran.

Berkley spokesman David Cherry said the congresswoman was inviting the petition signers to meet with her in person to discuss the bill and the issue. A staunch supporter of Israel, Berkley is seen as more hawkish on Iran than some of her Democratic colleagues.

Although a recent intelligence report found that Iran has ended its nuclear weapons program, Berkley still sees the Islamic republic as a threat of great concern, and believes all options need to be kept on the table in dealing with it, Cherry said.

"The congresswoman does not see the 2002 Iraq resolution as granting the authority for a strike on Iran," he said. "But she also has concerns about legislation that would tie the hands of the president when it comes to the commander-in-chief role and the use of carrots and sticks in diplomacy."

Berkley is not a co-sponsor of the Abercrombie bill, a twin of which Barack Obama has introduced in the Senate.

"Should it come to a vote, she would decide at the time what was appropriate," Cherry said.

Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault contributed to this report. Contact political reporter Molly Ball atmball@review journal.com or (702) 387-2919.