Say no to Initiative 1 and casino gambling

The first thing Tacomans should know about Initiative 1, the pro-casino measure on their September ballot, is that it is illegal. Flat against the law, like running red lights or dumping your garbage in your neighbor's yard.

Citizen initiatives in Tacoma (and the state) are not generally kept from the ballot over legal issues, which means that almost anything with enough signatures winds up before the voters. Sometimes the courts will strike down a ballot measure afterwards over a seemingly technical issue.

But the flaw in Initiative 1 is glaring and stated right in its title: It proposes to allow "four existing state-licensed mini casinos in Tacoma to continue to operate" while preserving the city's "prohibition on new casinos."

Can't be done. Just won't happen.

Under Washington law, a municipality can either prohibit casinos or allow them. Wishful local moratoriums notwithstanding, cities cannot do both; they cannot permit a few favored establishments to keep their doors open while excluding any potential competitors.

If the City of Tacoma chooses to allow any casinos, it must allow all the ones the state Gambling Commission may license within its boundaries. For that matter, it must allow any future expansions and gambling machines ultimately approved by the state.

The gaming magnates behind Initiative 1 could have had the measure written in a way that reflects legal reality; they could have offered voters a clean, up-or-down vote on whether casinos should operate in Tacoma. Why didn't they? The best guess is that the industry knew full well that Tacomans don't want to open their city to gambling but might be persuaded to "save the jobs" of existing casino employees.

That's exactly how Initiative 1 is now being sold -- as a way to keep people off welfare. But remember: The City Council in 1999 gave Tacoma's casinos six years to operate before requiring them to close on Jan. 1, 2006. This may be the longest layoff notice in state history. Six years is plenty of time to find another line of work.

In any case, Initiative 1 presents a false choice to voters: Allow four casinos or allow none. The real choice is allow all or allow none -- nothing in between.

If Initiative 1 passes, it will be thrown out in court. In that event, the industry will try to use its approval by the public as political leverage to force a repeal of the 1999 ordinance. Bet on it. A vote for this measure is a vote for all, not for four.

Tacoma's casinos should have closed last New Year's Day. For reasons that remain baffling, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Gary Steiner overrode a lawful ordinance in December and gave them yet another nine months, until Initiative 1 could be decided this month.