Lee

CLAYTON — State Sen. Timothy P. Green, D-north St. Louis County, has asked the Missouri Gaming Commission to investigate a casino executive who interrupted the St. Louis County Council meeting Tuesday to protest a council member’s vote.

At the meeting, Daniel R. Lee, chairman and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., responded angrily after Councilman Steve Stenger, D-Affton, voted with the majority in favor of rezoning a site near Columbia Bottoms Conservation Area in north county. The vote would allow the development of a controversial new casino and entertainment complex on the tract.

Pinnacle is building the new River City Casino in Lemay, which is in Stenger’s district. The casino is set to open next spring.

Stenger said that Lee, of Las Vegas, came to his office before the meeting and tried to intimidate him into voting against the rezoning.

Stenger said that after he cast his vote, Lee tried to confront him on the council dais while the meeting was still in session. Then, Stenger said, Lee approached Stenger’s assistant, Linda Henry, and shouted, “He (Stenger) just made the worst move in his political career! I won’t forget this! I never forget things like this!”

Lee later sent an email to the Post-Dispatch in which he apologized for his behavior.

Pinnacle also owns the Lumiere Place casino on Laclede’s Landing, which might stand to lose business to a north county casino. And the company owns and operates the nearby President Casino, which Lee once proposed relocating close to the north county property that was the subject of Tuesday’s council vote.

Altogether, Pinnacle has invested about $1 billion in gambling project in the city and county.

In a letter to gaming commission director Gene McNary, Green stated that Lee’s apology “does not dismiss the seriousness of his threat. I request that the Commission use the resources of the Missouri State Highway Patrol to investigate this threat.”

The north county site that was the subject of Tuesday’s council action is in Green’s district. However, the senator said that was not his motivation for asking the gaming commission to investigate Lee.

“I am totally neutral on the subject of casinos,” he said. “I sent the letter because we can’t allow special interests to threaten elected officials.”