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Elections Board Rejects Petitions

"The board found that the drive was tainted by "troubling" and "pervasive" violations of law. Nonetheless, the three-member panel left open the possibility that the initiative would yet qualify for a spot on the Nov. 2 ballot. The board is scheduled to meet tomorrow to resolve the matter.

"John Ray, chief advocate for the initiative, said the board's ruling wiped out well over half of the 56,000 signatures collected during a frenetic five-day petition drive. He said the remaining petitions are unlikely to contain 17,599 valid signatures, the number needed to put slots before District voters this fall.

"...The board reserved the right to levy fines and impose other sanctions against slots supporters but so far has made no decision regarding penalties.

"The ruling capped nine days of occasionally chaotic hearings that opened a window onto the nearly $700,000 campaign to bring gambling to the nation's capital.

"...Throughout the day yesterday, board members digested the testimony of more than three dozen witnesses. At 6 p.m., they convened in a stark hearing room at One Judiciary Square to deliver their verdict.

"...the board concluded that the petition drive was divided into "two distinct signature-gathering operations." One, run out of Ray's downtown law office at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, hired D.C. residents and paid them about $6.50 per signature.

"The other operation was run primarily out of the Red Roof Inn in Chinatown by a California firm called Progressive Campaigns Inc., Lewis said. The firm recruited an army of petition circulators from Florida, Michigan and elsewhere who were paid about $3 per signature..."

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