Published: September 18, 2008 10:46 pm         

Manchin lends his support for gambling at The Greenbrier

CHARLESTON — Gov. Joe Manchin says he applauds a push by unions representing employees at The Greenbrier to bring table games to the resort.

“I’m supporting people working together for the best interest of their community ... their lives and their jobs are dependent upon this,” Manchin said. “So, with that, I applaud them for taking the initiatives they are, which they think are reasonable and rational.

“They’re not reinventing the wheel here.”

Greenbrier County voters will be asked to decide Nov. 4 whether the White Sulphur Springs resort should be allowed to offer guests table games. The issue was rejected by the county’s voters in 2000.

Union officials say table games would help the resort generate the revenue it needs to continue paying part-time workers full-time benefits — something resort officials say they can’t afford anymore.

In 2000, resort officials touted the referendum as a way to shore up revenue shortfalls during the off-season. This time around, union officials say it’s about keeping jobs at the resort, which is the largest employer in the county.

The union and the resort have been at a stalemate over a new contract for months. Workers have been on the job without a contract since March. Manchin helped broker a “no strike, no lockout” deal between the resort and the unions to keep operations going.

Manchin said The Greenbrier is an important landmark for West Virginia. He said it often serves as outsiders’ first look at the state. Presidents have stayed there. Manchin recently hosted the annual conference of the Southern Governors Association there. He chaired the association last year.

“The Greenbrier has basically been our flagship of showing off some of the finer and higher end of West Virginia,” he said Wednesday.

Manchin said if voters approve the table games referendum this time around, he doesn’t expect The Greenbrier to morph from a dignified hotel into a glitzy casino.

He said he understands a casino would be located in the same area as the infamous Cold War bunker under the West Virginia Wing of the hotel.

The bunker was to serve as a living space for Congress in the event of a nuclear attack. The public didn’t know about the bunker until the government was forced by press reports to reveal its existence in 1992.

“People that were coming there would know that’s a venue for them,” Manchin said. “But it would not be out there with the glittery lights and flashing lights trying to bring in (business) off the street. Basically, unless you’re there and know what you’re looking for, you wouldn’t even see it. No different than you never found the bunker for 40 years.”

Manchin said the law that permits table games at The Greenbrier limits play to the hotel’s guests. He said more than 90 percent of the resort’s guests are from out-of-state.

He said the gambling operation at the resort would not be “preying” on West Virginians, a common complaint against neighborhood slot parlors and gambling at the state’s four racetracks. Three of the racetracks offer table games.

Resort officials are not commenting on whether they want table games at the resort. It was the unions that persuaded the Greenbrier County Commission to put the referendum on the ballot.

Manchin said he hasn’t heard anything from resort officials on their position.

“I can’t get an answer on that,” he added.