The below-linked article from the New York Times (April 18) is a nice summation to the whole gambling debacle that has taken place in Alabama over the last year or so. The end result: no laws have passed, almost nothing has changed for the average Alabamian, and now a slew of legislators are under criminal investigation by the US Justice Department. Remember what I wrote several months ago, that national news sources only ever cover sports, political corruption and freaks when it comes to Alabama . . . ? Well, they finally left the Amy Bishop story alone. Now this. Though I will grant that when the feds reveal an investigation that may lead to indicting state lawmakers on criminal charges, it is kind of newsworthy.
The New York Times does a good job of reporting this story. The writer's explanation of the events gets remarkably close to the truth of the matter. We even get a mention of Bud's, a bar near my house where I once hung out a little bit in my younger days, but which is now apparently the regular haunt of some legislators after-hours. They also do a good job of relaying that, now that the investigation is going on, a lot of legislators are scared shitless to vote Yes on the gambling bill, because they don't want to be seen as someone who might be guilty of corruption.
It's hard to tell which part of all this is political chicanery. It is a little fishy that when Roger Bedford came back after the last failure with a bingo bill that could actually pass, the feds showed up and started laying out possible charges. Keeping in mind that Gov. Bob Riley is a Republican who is die-hard against gambling and that most of the suspects in the investigation are Democrats who are die-hard for gambling, that might also be fishy . . . if the President wasn't a Democrat, too. What seems likely is that someone somewhere has gotten too big for his britches, and now federal law enforcement is stepping in to stop something. But do ordinary Alabamians have any clue what is going on? No.
What this means for all of us is simple: the big boys keep on in-fighting while the rest of us try to move on. The gambling operations, which are in the some of the poorest counties in Alabama, like Lowndes, Macon, and Greene, continue to be closed. Their employees continue to do without their pay checks. The people who never did gamble still don't. The people who really want to still do, just outside of state lines. I just hope the kids in other states appreciate the good education they are getting from all of the money Alabamians leave for them . . . it's good manners to say thank you.
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