Bill would let casino workers run for office

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Jan 31, 2002 | by Jeremy Meyer

A state law that forbids gaming employees from running for local government is unconstitutional, says House Majority Leader Lola Spradley, R-Beulah.

Spradley is co-sponsoring a bill to get that law knocked off the books.

"This is a freedom issue," she said Wednesday. "Now we have a statute that says because of where a person works they can't serve on local government."

Colorado's Bill of Rights restricts some people from working at casinos, including law enforcement officers and judges and elected municipal or county officials from Teller or Gilpin counties.

The law was established to avoid the appearance of corruption in local government. The statute's wording says avoiding corruption outweighs a person's constitutional right to appear on a local ballot.

Potential for conflicts of interest exist because the largest percentage of funding in Colorado's gambling towns - Cripple Creek, Central City and Black Hawk - comes from the gaming industry, said Cripple Creek City Manager Kip Petersen.

The town of Cripple Creek, for example, gets $1,125 annually for every gambling machine within the town limits. The 4,200 machines provide the town with more than $4 million in revenue every year.

"It's our main source of income," Petersen said, adding that the council hasn't taken a stand on the issue yet.

"This is the major industry in the community, and they're not allowed to have any representation in local government. But you could have five license holders on council. How do you avoid that conflict of interest?"

Sen. Andy McElhany, R-Colorado Springs, who introduced the bill, said the current statute excludes too many good people from running for local office.

"The situation now is that everyone in a casino owns a license, even the working stiffs, the dealers and cooks and whoever is in the establishment," he said. "They can run for state office, but they can't hold any type of planning commission, City Council position or county commission seat. It removes a significant amount of population base from being able to hold those offices and it is creating a problem."

McElhany calls it the Working Stiffs Constitutional Rights Bill, adding that the revised statute would still prohibit people with ownership interests in gaming facilities from sitting on local government boards.