private attorney and as Bush's personal lawyer in Texas when she headed a large Dallas law firm. After coming to Washington with him she rose through White House legal ranks to the position of chief lawyer for the presidency, the White House Counsel. This work might leave a scanty public record, and much of it might be shielded by attorney-client and executive branch privilege.

But she did work in the public eye as the senior gaming regulator in Texas. She served as chair of the three-person Texas Lottery Commission from May 1995 to March 2000. Transcripts for her final year on the commission are available online. They show that she dealt with a range of gaming industry issues, from the fundamental challenge led by evangelical Christians to details like minority business contracting. A subdivision of the commission regulated charitable bingo, a big operation in its own right.

A number of major gaming companies, such as Gtech Corp. and Scientific Games Corp., had business before her commission. Gtech is still primary contractor for the Texas lottery, and a controversy reaching to Bush has rekindled over the renewal of its contract during Miers' tenure.

The lottery commission had no direct involvement with tribal casinos. But the existence of the Texas lottery became a major issue in the state's drive to shut down the Speaking Rock Casino, owned by the Tigua Tribe of Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo - still a highly controversial episode.

Despite Bush's political debt to a conservative Christian base, much of which regards gambling as sinful, both of his Supreme Court nominees have done work for and with the gaming industry. Newly invested Chief Justice John Roberts represented some Las Vegas interests as a private attorney.

The anti-gaming crusade by religious groups directly affected the Texas Lottery Commission, which considered itself a target. In an early show of political strength, religious lobbyists had persuaded Congress to set up a National Gaming Impact Study Commission to focus on what they saw as the dangers of a surge in legalized gaming. A bill sponsored by Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., launched the NGISC in August 1996, and it issued a 200-page final report in June 1999. On Aug. 11, 1999, with Miers presiding as chairman, the Texas Lottery Commission discussed the NGISC report.

Linda Cloud, Texas Lottery Commission's executive director, told the commissioners that the report was ''really kind of targeting lotteries because the casino industry and the Indian gaming industry hired lobbyists and people to fight their fight, and the lotteries are going to catch the brunt of this for the most part, and that's very concerning.''

Another staff member briefed the commissioners on the response from state lotteries. ''The National Council of Legislators from Gaming States took considerable exception to many of the recommendations issued by the NGISC,'' he said, ''and in particular we're concerned about the composition of the commission itself.

''Of the nine members, none of them came from the public sector. None of them represented state government in any way, shape, or form, and the chief target of criticism from the report was 37 state-operated lotteries.''

Cloud assured the commissioners that a new association of lottery states would fight to ensure that ''state's rights'' would be respected in implementing the NGISC recommendations.

Another commissioner did ask about the NGISC complaint that lottery advertising targeted poor and minorities. He was assured that a recent report showed that the state's lottery players cut across class lines, with no ''inordinate incidence of lottery playing in the impoverished communities.''

Although Miers didn't participate in this discussion, she took the lead on another topic that might put her in good stead in confirmation hearings. She showed a lively interest in a program to encourage minority business participation in lottery contracts. The commission had adopted a policy calling for 35 percent minority participation, and Miers pressed the staff on getting further help from other government agencies on meeting the goal. ''This is a critical mission for us,'' she said.

Another discussion on contracting revealed that her involvement with the gaming industry extended beyond the commission. She recused herself from a dispute over a contract for out-of-state Scientific Games Corp. ''in an abundance of caution,'' she said, ''because it became clear in a presentation that was made to us that a major contractor, or subcontractor, of the vendor here complaining was a client of my firm.''

After Miers resigned from the commission in March 2000, the minutes of the next meeting offered fulsome praise of her work. Her successor, Chair C. Tom Clowe Jr., said, ''She served with distinction and set a benchmark for ethics, legal and correct performance that I hope, as chair, to continue in the time to come.

''I wanted to go on the record as expressing appreciation to her for maintaining, in all of her efforts, the integrity, the honesty and fairness of the games of Texas and say that she performed beautifully during the years of her tenure and she will certainly be sorely missed.''

This praise might grate on the critics of gaming, some of whom, notably Rep. Wolf, have extended their opposition to an assault on tribal casinos, sovereignty and the recognition process. One key evangelical Christian figure, James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, was a member of the NGISC, and has been visibly conflicted in supporting Miers. Her resume in gaming, in fact, might emerge as the main stumbling block for her confirmation.

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