Gov. Bob Riley questions legality of Country Crossing, ties to attorney general
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A constitutional amendment allowing charitable bingo in Houston County strictly regulates how the proceeds can be spent, going so far as to ban any type of payment for people and groups running the games.
Yet supporters of Country Crossing, a new $87 million casino and country music venue in the Dothan area, tout the project as an “economic catalyst” that employs some 1,200 in the Wiregrass.
The office of Gov. Bob Riley, an outspoken gambling opponent, last week questioned the legality of the wages paid, as well as an attorney general’s opinion that justifies the practice.
Officials with Country Crossing did not return calls requesting comment.
Riley Press Secretary Todd Stacy also repeated concerns that Attorney General Troy King, whose office issued the opinion, has a conflict of interest with regard to Country Crossing, “a project which … he has political and personal relationships with.”
King said his office has issued opinions faithfully, and he called Stacy’s allegations “just silly.”
“Just because somebody wants to smear and repeat things over and over and over doesn’t make them true,” King said, adding that many people think Riley has a conflict of interest.
In addition to questioning the use of gambling proceeds, Riley’s office contends the electronic machines offered at Country Crossing and similar establishments throughout Alabama are illegal.
The governor’s gambling task force attempted raids on Country Crossing and VictoryLand, the state’s largest gambling venue, on Friday, actions that King criticized.
The machines Riley has targeted look and play much like illegal slots but dole out winnings based on fast, computerized games of bingo, a game allowed in some parts of Alabama.
Riley’s office contends that bingo operators have distorted the definition of the game, as well as restrictions on the use of money gambling generates.
“One hundred percent of the net revenues derived from operating bingo games shall be designated and expended for charitable or educational purposes,” the Houston County bingo amendment reads.
Country Crossing advocates have, nonetheless, compared their project to private industries recruited to the state, such as car manufacturers and steel plants.
“The amendment says all proceeds must go to charity, but somehow, they’re operating a for-profit casino. What gives?” Stacy asked.
The Houston County amendment expressly bars payment of employees and makes no mention of paying for licensing with a percentage of bingo revenue.
In a September 2008 opinion, the attorney general’s office said “bona fide,” paid employees of a club or nonprofit could operate the bingo games, and a percentage of bingo revenue could be paid to “a developer or its affiliates” for trademark and development licensing.
King spokesman Chris Bence said attorney general’s office staff wrote the opinion, not King, and he emphasized that the opinion does not have the force of law.
King himself said the opinion was “an honest interpretation” of the law, adding that without a reinterpretation of the payment rules, the amendment would contradict itself.
“It would be illogical to say a charity can operate a bingo facility, but they can’t pay anyone to do it,” King said.
He added that the opinion approved payment of licensing fees as a percentage of bingo revenue because the amendment did not bar such action, while it did forbid payment of property leases or rentals by a percentage of bingo fees.
“Where the Legislature speaks to one thing and is silent as to another, that means they must not have intended to regulate the other,” King said.
Stacy said the amendment barred paying employees because lawmakers anticipated that unpaid volunteers would run the games, as at some church functions.
King said he didn’t have a conflict of interest. Instead he pointed to a conflict of interest for the former leader of Riley’s gambling task force, David Barber, who resigned after acknowledging winnings at a Mississippi casino.
“I’ve … never won $2,300 at a Choctaw Indian casino,” King said.
Source: Birmingham News 1/31/2010
{Editors Note}: Seems that Bingo Bob is coming the cannibal type and eating his own. The A.G. is the one that enforces the law in this state. The Governor is overstepping bounds of seperation of powers in these stunts.
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