Two men from Lake Oswego are making another attempt to get voters to approve a private commercial casino in the Portland area.

It would be the fourth casino within about two hours or less from the mid-valley.

The promoters filed three prospective initiatives last week. One would change the state constitution, which now bans casinos, to allow one commercial casino if authorized by the people through an initiative.

The other two would authorize the casino and dedicate one-fourth of the owners' "adjusted gross revenues" to the state for public education and children's health care.

The sponsors are investment adviser Bruce Studer and attorney Matt Rossman. They want to build their casino on the grounds of the Multnomah Kennel Club, a former greyhound track in Wood Village near Gresham.

They pushed for similar initiatives for the 2006 general election but didn't get on the ballot.

Last Wednesday they filed their new measures with the secretary of state's office in Salem. The text is available for inspection on the state Election Division's website (http://egov.sos.state.or.us/elec/web_irr_search.search_form). The proposals are numbers 140 through 142.

The Elections Division is asking for comments by Dec. 14 on whether the measures meet procedural requirements. If they do, the attorney general will be asked to write ballot titles, which then will be subject to further review and comment before the measures are approved to be circulated for signatures.

Initiative petitions for statutory enactments require 6 percent of the 2006 total vote for governor, or 82,769 signatures by early July 2008.

Petitions for constitutional amendments require 8 percent or 110,358 signatures.

Oregon already has nine casinos, all operated by or for Indian tribes, including Spirit Mountain in Grand Ronde, Three Rivers in Florence and Chinook Winds in Lincoln City.

Studer and Moss told the Democrat-Herald in January 2006 - in a guest column for the Opinion page - their plans called for a "world-class" casino along with a resort.

Their main point was that a casino was going to be built to serve the Portland market, and the only choice was whether it's built in Washington or Oregon. The Cowlitz tribe wants to build a casino in La Center, Wash., but still

hasn't done so.