One reason for that, of course, is the hamhanded way Riley’s task force has handled raids on state electronic bingo establishments. Not that there’s a nice way to raid an enterprise, but there are certainly less sensational ways than showing up with a hundred or more troopers at 4 in the morning for a stare-down. Riley argues the bingo parlors are illegal; the bingo parlor owners, including gambling tycoon Milton McGregor, say Riley is wrong and just on a personal vendetta. Frankly, it kind of looks like that. But if electronic bingo is illegal in Alabama, as Riley argues the Supreme Court has ruled, shouldn’t it be shut down?

Well, yes, but what’s the rush? Why now? This minute? These things have been operating for years. Why not get the proper warrants, the absolute authority, the without-question permission, and then move in?

The Legislature, of course, isn’t going to make things better with a misguided bill moving through the process. Lawmakers are working a bill that would end a governor’s authority to launch such investigations. That, for sure, doesn’t need to happen, especially when we have an attorney general who has compromised himself so much on this issue he has little credibility to act. Besides, the Legislature should mind its own business. If lawmakers want gambling casinos, they should pass a proposed constitutional amendment and let the voters decide. Yanking Riley’s (or a future governor’s) authority is as hamhanded as those task force raids.

Of course, doing what’s right has never been much of a legislative priority. Doing what the special interests want, now that’s how the Legislature reacts.

What do you think? We want to know through this week’s Birmingham News Views poll. Vote on the Birmingham News website NOW. The results and a selection of comments will be published in Sunday’s Viewpoints section.

By Joey Kennedy — The Birmingham News
February 15, 2010, 5:30AM

Randy Brinson, chairman of the coalition, said his organization is opposed to gambling in any form, but decided to release the poll because the issue “is moving in the wrong direction.”

“We want to make it clear we are adamantly opposed to gambling in the state of Alabama,” he said.

But he added, “The ends don’t seem to justify the means,” referring to the Riley-ordered raids on bingo operations.

Brinson said the coalition favors allowing Alabama voters to decide the issue in a statewide vote that would determine whether bingo would be allowed and in which locations.

The scientific poll of 400 randomly selected registered voters in Alabama was conducted Feb. 1 by the San Diego-based Directions in Research. Brinson said black voters were purposely under-represented in the poll.

“I believe we are losing some public opinion for (anti-gambling) because of what has been perpetrated the last couple of weeks,” said Brinson. “I’m not in favor of gambling and I hope we can come to some accord to on being in the middle of the issues on gambling.”

Brinson said the coalition released the poll in hopes the Legislature would address bingo legislation.

The coalition’s poll had a margin of error of plus or mins 5 points at the 95 percent confidence level.

The poll showed that Riley’s favoribility numbers have declined by 30 points in the past few months to 34 percent.

When respondents were asked whether they supported the pre-dawn raids on Victoryland in Macon County and Country Crossing near Dothan, 63.5 percent said they opposed them.

Also, 80.8 percent said Riley’s new anti-gambling task force leader, John Tyson, should resign because of reports that he has received tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from gambling interests through PAC-to-PAC transfers.

And the poll said Attorney General Troy King, not Riley and Tyson, should handle the issue of electronic bingo.

On another issue, 78.5 percent of respondents said Riley should be focused on creating jobs instead of shutting down electronic bingo.

Brinson said no matter what the Alabama Supreme Court rules on bingo cases, there are 18 separate constitutional amendments that enable some form of gambling in the form of bingo.

Source: The Birmingham News
By Bob Lowry
February 03, 2010, 3:18PM

The people of Alabama should have the choice whether electronic bingo should be regulated and taxed. Electronic bingo already exists in our state. The state attorney general has ruled that it is legal.

Tens of thousands of Alabama citizens have voiced their support for the “Sweet Home Alabama Plan,” a measure that will strictly regulate bingo operations and annually generate hundreds of millions of new tax dollars for our state. These tax dollars would be used to improve our schools, hire additional teachers and provide better health care for our uninsured children and senior citizens. The choice should be ours to make.

However, Gov. Bob Riley and the Mississippi casino bosses know “we the people” are capable of making this decision for ourselves and that the citizens of this state overwhelmingly support the Sweet Home Alabama Plan. Accordingly, the governor, under the casino bosses’ influence, has initiated a perverted campaign to deny the people the right to vote.

While the governor continues to brush off allegations of such influence, a recent editorial in The Birmingham News said, “Riley got at least a half million dollars during his 2002 gubernatorial race that surely looks like it came from a lobbyist for Indian casinos.” It appears the Choctaws in Mississippi were protecting their investments by trying to influence Alabama politics.

Riley claims the Sweet Home Alabama Plan will create a monopoly for gambling operators in Alabama. This is just another lie in his campaign to deny the people the right to vote. Clearly, a monopoly does not exist when 14 points of destination compete in the open market for entertainment dollars against each other. Additionally, the plan provides a method for other counties to adopt electronic bingo in the future if they so choose.

However, should the governor’s tainted efforts to abuse his office, deny the people the right to vote, limit free speech and unlawfully enter and seize property lead to the elimination of charitable electronic bingo, he will be guilty of creating a monopoly for the Poarch Creek Indians and their three Alabama casinos, which are exempt from state and local taxes.

Riley continues his campaign of lies in a newspaper article he authored by suggesting tax rates under the Sweet Home Alabama Plan will be the lowest in the nation. First, Alabama currently has the lowest gambling tax rate in the nation: 0 percent. Second, the 20 percent tax rate in the Sweet Home Alabama Plan is more than double the state gambling tax imposed by the three largest gambling states of Nevada, New Jersey and Mississippi.

The governor also ignores the fact we are surrounded by gambling states that are profiting off the backs of Alabamians. Tennessee and Georgia are paying college tuitions for thousands of students off the proceeds of regulated gambling. How many more out-of-state scholarships are we going to fund before we turn our attention to the needs of our students here in Alabama?

The governor rejects the significant economic development potential of the Sweet Home Alabama plan while using the same economic models to promote the benefits of other tourism enterprises. The plan creates tens of thousands of jobs, 14 tourist destinations across our state and will generate much-needed tax revenues to support our struggling local economies.
My new development in southeast Alabama, Country Crossing, will look like Mayberry USA — nothing like Las Vegas — but it will be an entertainment extravaganza. It will include celebrity-themed venues like George Jones Possum Holler Dinner Theater and Museum; Darryl Worley’s Worleybird Cafe and other venues by Tracy Lawrence, John Anderson and Lorrie Morgan. There will be an amphitheater concert series that will feature artists like Clint Black, Aaron Tippin and Marty Stuart.

Of course, there will be many shops, hotels and restaurants. You might even find yourself eating a steak next to the likes of Randy Owen. Later phases will include a family entertainment center and a water park.

I was born and raised in Alabama. My interest is in the entertainment industry, not bingo. But bingo can be the catalyst to make Alabama an entertainment destination.

A few years ago, Riley had no problem asking the citizens of Alabama to vote on the biggest tax increase in Alabama history, and the Alabama Legislature voted overwhelmingly to “let the people vote” on that measure. So why is the governor working so hard to prevent the people of Alabama from voting on the Sweet Home Alabama Plan? Is it politics or ego?

I believe it’s both. Call your state lawmakers and tell them to “let the people vote.”

Ronnie Gilley is president and CEO of Country Crossing and a member of the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition.

E-mail: ronnie@sweethomealabamacoalition.com; Web site: www.countrycrossingalabama.com

CHICKASAW, Ala. — Chickasaw officials took further steps Tuesday to open an electronic bingo hall at the city’s auditorium, just a day after Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, who has said he would shut down such an operation, was named as the head of Gov. Bob Riley’s anti-gambling task force.

On Tuesday night, the City Council reviewed an amendment to an ordinance passed in July allowing electronic bingo in the city. Mayor Byron Pittman also said city officials have prepared a lease agreement with a Baldwin County company to operate 500 machines in the city.

“We feel the same way we’ve always felt,” Pittman said. “We’re not going to do anything illegal.”

Though the city did not vote on the amendment, Pittman said the company, M.S. Land Inc., was prepared to rent the municipal auditorium and install bingo machines there, along with a restaurant. He added that at least 14 charities had agreed to operate bingo in Chickasaw.

The amended ordinance would help the city comply with a November Alabama Supreme Court six-point test to determine the legality of electronic bingo machines. The ruling said that multiple players must compete against each other and mark their own cards.

“We had to change our ordinance to meet the criteria of the Supreme Court,” Pittman said.
Under the original ordinance, the city would have operated the hall, according to city attorney Jay Minus. With the amendment, charities would run the facility, he said.

Pittman said the amended ordinance states that bingo cards would be printed out. “Each square in a grid must be designated by a number or other symbol contained in a collection of numbers or symbols used for playing the game,” the ordinance states.

Councilman Henry Phillips, who was not present when the ordinance was passed in the summer, has said that he opposes electronic bingo in the city. On Tuesday, he voted against moving forward with the amendment.

The council is slated to vote on the amendment and the lease agreement with M.S. Land at its Feb. 9 meeting.

Source: The Mobile Press-Register
January 27, 2010, 7:30AM
By David Ferrara

But the numbers are still short of what proponents need to win.

An AP survey taken in late December and early January found that 41 percent of both the House and Senate members responding said they would vote for a constitutional amendment to make sure electronic bingo is legal and to place taxes and regulations on it.

That’s up from 36 percent of the House and 37 percent of the Senate that favored the constitutional amendment in an AP survey a year ago.

Senate budget committee Chairman Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, said there are two reasons support has grown and will continue to grow in the legislative session starting Tuesday.

“The level of exposure has gotten higher and higher with more casinos being built, and the state’s tax revenue is down,” he said.

Casino developers have spent more than $500 million in the last year to expand their operations with hotels, restaurants and concert venues. They say taxing them could generate $200 million annually for public schools and other state programs.

But the prospects of jobs and tax revenue may not be enough to sustain them. Passing a constitutional amendment requires three-fifths of the House and Senate, and the survey shows proponents aren’t near that.

In the AP survey, 35 percent of the House members responding and 45 percent of the Senate were opposed to the constitutional amendment. The remaining 24 percent of the House members responding and 14 percent of the Senate were undecided.

Currently Alabama’s courts are considering whether electronic bingo machines are illegal slot machines.

Fear of a state Supreme Court ruling banning bingo is helping propel the legislation.

Ronnie Gilley, developer of the Country Crossing bingo and entertainment complex at Dothan, said he and other members of the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition will be back with the constitutional amendment that died in the 2009 session.

Coalition members say the legislation would close down some fly-by-night operations, permit electronic bingo in Jefferson and Mobile counties, and develop more tourist destinations like Country Crossing.

They also say it would stem the flow of Alabamians to Mississippi casinos, where they compromise 9 percent of the customers, according to the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

If approved by the Legislature, it would still have to be passed by Alabama voters in a statewide referendum.

“Any elected official who is opposed to letting the people decide does not have the best interest of their state at heart,” Gilley said.

Milton McGregor, owner of Victoryland in Shorter, said he believes his business is secure under local gambling laws, but the Legislature needs to settle the issue statewide.

Bill Eadington, a gambling expert at the University of Nevada at Reno, said operators are looking for legislative protection while fighting the governor’s task force against gambling in court.

“This is the poker game part of the strategy,” he said.

In addition to asking about the gambling proponents’ bill, the AP surveyed legislators about whether they would support a constitutional amendment to ban electronic bingo. That was favored by 37 percent of the House and 45 percent of the Senate, which is short of what would be need to pass.

Some opponents of electronic bingo say they hope the Legislature does nothing and awaits a decision by the Alabama Supreme Court. That’s because they anticipate the court will rule Alabama’s bingo laws don’t cover the fast-moving electronic games.

“They can call it bingo if they want, but it’s not bingo. Bingo is played on paper,” Sen. Charles Bishop, D-Jasper, said.

(This report was written by Phillip Rawls of The Associated Press.)

Source: The Associated Press
January 10, 2010, 4:01PM

A source tells Legal Schnauzer that a rift has developed in the Alabama Republican Party between Governor Bob Riley and U.S. Attorney Alice Martin.

Evidence of the rift came from a peculiar column written recently by John Archibald of The Birmingham News. The piece, titled “So how did Collins avoid GOP censure,” ostensibly was about Jefferson County Commission President Bettye Fine Collins, who has been under fire from members of her own Republican Party.

Archibald noted that Birmingham lawyer Matt Lembke defended Collins before the Republican Executive Committee. And the columnist stated that both Collins and Lembke had been known to “carry water” for Gov. Riley and that Lembke had worked with Riley’s son, Rob Riley, on the bitter 2002 election contest that ended with a concession from incumbent Governor Don Siegelman.

Then Archibald dropped this curious piece of information:

“For what it’s worth, the County Commission on Jan. 20 voted to pay Rob Riley’s firm $725,000 to represent the sheriff’s department.

“For what it’s worth.”

Strange, very strange. Here was a decidedly conservative, pro-Riley newspaper taking a thinly veiled shot at the governor on an issue–his children receiving plum contracts under his regime–where he is vulnerable.

Our source says the Archibald column is another example of the extraordinary sway Alice Martin has over The Birmingham News. And it’s an indication that Martin is sending a threat toward the governor and his son.

Why would she do that? Our guess is that it’s because Martin is known to covet a vacant seat on the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals. Despite her claims that she will cling to her U.S. attorney’s spot and force Barack Obama to fire her, Martin knows her days are numbered in the Justice Department.

That means she needs a new appointment–to avoid having to get a real job–and she wants Riley to appoint her to the vacant Criminal Appeals seat.

But our guess is that Riley is reluctant to appoint Martin because of the considerable baggage she has acquired in her eight years in the Bush Justice Department. After all, Martin is under investigation by multiple federal agencies.

Riley probably is concerned that if he appoints Martin, it could turn scrutiny onto him–and his own considerable ethical baggage.

Could Martin be threatening to reveal some of the Rileys’ vast dirty laundry if she does not get her way with the court appointment?

Stay tuned. The snakes are coiled up and hissing at each other. This could get fun.

Source: OpEdNews.com

By Roger Shuler

Source: The Birmingham News
January 27, 2010, 6:17AM

Alabama district attorneys say their budgets are being stretched because of issues regarding the legality of bingo in their counties, the Gadsden Times reports.

While the district attorneys are getting some financial help from Gov. Bob Riley’s office, the district attorneys had rather the issue be decided by the Alabama Legislature and voters, the newspaper reports. A court hearing on bingo is scheduled for Monday in Etowah County.