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Alabama NewsAlabama Politics
Alabama Democrats Gambling on Voters' Intelligence
By Gary Palmer
Posted on: February 12, 2006
By giving the people of Alabama an opportunity to vote on whether to allow a massive expansion of gambling, Governor Bob Riley and Attorney General Troy King are putting the gambling issue exactly where it needs to be - in the hands of the people.
The Governor and Attorney General have proposed two bills that should have a significant impact on the gambling debate. One bill is a constitutional amendment that would require the approval of the people of Alabama to ban all electronic gambling, eliminate the loopholes in the sweepstakes laws, and put all future efforts to expand gambling before the voters. The other bill is a statutory bill that establishes significant fines against illegal gambling and includes a provision that would allow the fines to be split between the law enforcement agencies that make the arrests and the prosecutors that try the cases.
The immediate response from Democrat leaders in the state legislature was to infer that these bills were motivated by gambling money from outside the state. Senate President Lowell Barron along with Alabama gambling kingpin Milton McGregor raised concerns that the people who support banning electronic gambling in Alabama might be getting funding from Mississippi gambling interests or may possibly be linked to Jack Abramoff.
There are two points that need to be made about the rank hypocrisy of McGregor, Barron and the rest of the pro gambling cartel in the state legislature. First, these bills should be viewed on their own merits, especially the bill to allow the people of Alabama to vote on the bill. Barron and a majority of other legislators thought the people should have the right to vote on a lottery and he and a majority of other legislators thought the people should have the right to vote on raising taxes. When it fits their agenda, Barron and the other Democrat leaders in the House and Senate are willing to "let the people vote." But they don't trust the people when it threatens to derail a gravy train.
The second point is the hypocrisy of Barron, McGregor and other members of the "gambling party" in the state legislature trying to paint everyone that opposes gambling as being paid off by outside gambling interests. Alabama politicians in both parties are taking gambling contributions themselves, but most of it is covered up.
According to a report by The Institute on Money in State Politics, gambling interests contributed $346,100 during the 2002 election. Of that, $317,700 came from Milton McGregor directly and another $27,500 came from the two dog tracks that he owns. So out of $346,100 contributed, McGregor or his operations gave $345,200.
Who got the $346,100?
The Alabama Democratic Party received $209,500, and Charles Bishop, who was running in the Democrat primary for governor, received $5,000. The only Republican that showed up on the report is former Secretary of State Jim Bennett who was considering running for Lt. Governor. All Bennett got was $1,000. The balance of the gambling contributions of $130,600 went to black legislative candidates.
It is very conspicuous that according to the report no white legislative candidate in either party received money that can be directly traced to gambling interests. Do Barron and the white politicians taking gambling money think the people of Alabama are so stupid that they will believe that only black Democrat legislative candidates are taking it?
Maybe the white candidates in both parties think they can keep getting away with taking gambling money as long as it is sent to them through PACs or lobbying firms that hide the identity of the contributor.
Because Alabama campaign finance laws do little to protect the voters from such deception, there is no telling how much gambling money is going into the campaigns of white Democrat and Republican candidates who know that openly taking gambling money could end their political careers. But the truth is that too many politicians in both parties in Alabama are rolling in gambling money that is being transferred through PACs and lobbyists.
Consequently, for Lowell Barron and others in the state legislature to raise concerns about the influence of gambling money on people that oppose the expansion of gambling is as stated earlier - "rank hypocrisy." It is rank hypocrisy for the politicians that voted for the lottery amendment and the tax increase amendment to justify those votes by saying that the people should have a right to vote on those issues, but not give the people the opportunity to vote on an amendment that would restrict gambling. And it is rank hypocrisy, when in an election year, the "gambling party" legislators fall all over themselves supporting legislation to display the Ten Commandments in our schools or putting "Under God" on license plates.
Hopefully, Alabama voters have figured out that for members of the "gambling party," hypocrisy is just another word for business as usual.
Taking Alabama Politics to an Even Lower Level, March 26, 2005.
Bingo for Bed Pans?, March 13, 2005.
A Body Without Vision, February 4, 2005.
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