Raise the Roof and Put an End to Unethical Petition Drives

Beginning of article

Byline: Adrienne T. Washington, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Don't know what the D.C. slots supporters were serving up under the Red Roof Inn, but it seems mighty unsavory.

Is anyone really surprised that the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics threw out most of the slots petition signatures gathered by the Florida-based signature-gathering firm Stars and Stripes, who, according to testimony, hosted "signing parties" at the Red Roof Inn?

With only 14,587 valid signatures out of 56,044 collected by slots supporters, something is surely amiss. "Fatally flawed," as D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics Chairman Wilma A. Lewis characterized this fiasco, won't even buy you a legitimate D.C. lottery ticket.

To begin with, the "Citizens Committee for the Video Lottery Terminal," the front for the out-of-town investors who wanted to establish a $500 million gambling hall in Northeast, is a misnomer …