Tensions are flaring in the final days before Election Day in Irving’s City Council race on May 3.
One of the most heated exchanges on the campaign trail has centered around the election’s biggest flashpoint: casinos.
Candidate Priscilla Vigliante recently released a video accusing her District 7 opponent, Adam Muller, of lies and misinformation regarding the effort to rezone part of Irving for gaming and a possible Las Vegas Sands destination resort and casino.
“I want to address recent misinformation,” Vigliante says in the video’s opening. “On April 23rd, a mass text message falsely linked me to a mega casino. The information in this text message is not true– to be honest, this lie is quite comical. Despite what Adam Muller claims, I have a consistent vote record of opposing gambling in Irving while on the Planning and Zoning Commission.”
The Dallas Express reached out to Muller for a response to the accusation that he lied. Muller said he was “disappointed” that his opponent “would stoop to making personal attacks,” adding, “She could simply answer two questions and put it all to rest.”
According to Muller, the two questions center around “if she personally would vote yes or no on the casino” and “why is the Lone Star Conservative Action Fund, an organization with links to the Las Vegas Sands casino operator, putting up signs for her?”
Muller went on to deny that voting on card houses is the same as casinos and implied that there was something off about an organization supporting his opponent’s candidacy: “If Lone Star were truly conservative, as their name suggests, they would endorse me, the conservative candidate.”
The Lone Star Conservative Action Fund is a somewhat new political advocacy group with numerous ties to the Las Vegas Sands that has poured almost $100k into the council race in recent days, The Dallas Express previously reported. This money has gone to advertise the candidacy of Vigliante and other candidates such as Tony Grimes and David Pfaff.
The Dallas Express previously asked Vigliante about the numerous signs and other promotional material that have suddenly flooded Irving. Vigliante responded, “I was not aware of this group’s existence until I saw signs start appearing around town.” She directed DX to the Gaming section of her campaign website, which states her opposition to gambling and recalls her votes on card houses.
Muller said that may be her position now, but it has not always been.
“She has indeed changed her opinion on the casino since the beginning of the campaign. When she was called out for her Facebook post saying it was an Austin-only issue, she revised her stance to say Irving residents should make their voices heard by voting. It seems that she’s trying to walk a fine line between pretending to be anti-casino while perhaps simultaneously taking a different position in private,” he explained.
Muller stressed that this issue is important because “this election determines the future identity of our city. I personally can’t think of another city where a casino has improved the quality of life for its residents.”
The topic of casinos charged a three-week public battle beginning in late February, when the public first became aware of a vote in the city council on the rezoning, until March 20, when Sands representatives withdrew the measure.
Although rezoning for gaming in Irving would not immediately bring casinos to the area, it would be the first step in a multi-step process that could legalize casino gambling in Texas. Later steps would include changing state gambling laws. Gambling is outlawed under Texas Penal Code Chapter 47. Altering this code can only be done by amending Texas’s constitution, which requires two-thirds approval in the Texas House and Senate and the approval of a majority of voters on a statewide ballot.