Riley's War on Gambling Traced to Mississippi Casinos
February 1st, 2010Alabama Governor’s Anti-Gambling Gambit Continues…
U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson refused on Monday to issue a temporary restraining order blocking a raid by the Governor’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling on the Country Crossing bingo hall in Dothan, ruling that the issues should be dealt with in state court, according to the AP.
Meanwhile, reporters have learned that a group of people associated with marketing Mississippi casino interests met in mid January to discuss ways to fight increased gaming activity in Alabama, according to the Dothan Eagle newspaper, which has a special section on its Website to keep up with all the news on the controversy.
Roger Shuler of the Legal Schnauzer blog asked, are Mississippi casino interests influencing Alabama government?.
“Is it coincidence that Alabama Governor Bob Riley, who reportedly received campaign support from Mississippi casino groups, ordered attempted raids on two Alabama facilities roughly two weeks after the meeting?”
According to news reports in Alabama, a lobbyist named Gloria Williamson organized the meeting in Biloxi, Mississippi. Williamson just happens to lobby on behalf of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, the group that reportedly spent $13 million to help get Riley elected in 2002.
The group met at Mary Mahoney’s restaurant in Biloxi and was organized by a lobbyist for the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians, which runs a casino/resort in Neshoba County, Miss.
The Dothan paper cited an e-mail from the lobbyist, former Mississippi State Sen. Gloria Williamson, inquiring about possible joint advertising by the Mississippi casinos. The newspaper said it was not able to reach Williamson but that Mary Mahoney’s owner confirmed the Mississippi casino interests did meet there.
Meanwhile, a number of Alabama newspapers are excoriating Riley on their editorial pages. The Mobile Press-Register, normally a pro-Riley paper, called the raids “embarrassing” :
THE OMINOUS scene of police headlights as far as the eye could see conveyed the message Gov. Bob Riley wanted to send: A crime was being committed at Country Crossing, a crime so evil it required more than 100 state troopers to halt.
Too bad the troopers didn’t have a search warrant in their pre-dawn raids Friday.
If they had been hunting down bomb-toting terrorists instead of trying to shut down electronic bingo machines, the show of force might have made sense. As it was, the attempted raids of Country Crossing near Dothan and VictoryLand in Shorter looked like an abuse of power more suited to a police state than the state of Alabama.
The Dothan Eagle raised the specter of impeachment for Riley:
Some people applaud Riley’s efforts, citing Article V, Section 120 of the Alabama Constitution of 1901: “The governor shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
Others believe he has no authority to act in such a capacity, particularly since Attorney General Troy King has repeatedly warned him that he’s coloring outside the lines.
That raises the consideration of another constitutional nugget. Article VII, Section 173, enumerates the process of impeachment of the members of the state’s constitutional officers. Whether abuse of power and gross waste of public resources are impeachable offenses isn’t clear.
One thing is: Bob Riley has frittered away hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds in a battle of wills at a time when the state budgets are under severe cuts and workers are facing furloughs or layoffs. Considering that his concerns could be addressed in a civil, understated manner, he should be held accountable for the money he has wasted.
Editor’s Note: Maybe this controversy will wake up the newspapers in the state and get them on-board The Locust Fork News-Journal‘s call for more accountability on the part of Alabama’s governor, starting with a demand for regular press conferences. Riley has not had to answer a single question about his war on gambling in public.
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Tags: Mississippi Casino Influence on Alabama Governor Clear
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:35 am
Now is the time to impeach Riley!!
The people should now realize who and what he has done to them!
He has screwed them over numerous times.
When is he going to stop holding his vendettas against good people in Alabama?
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:30 am
More to the point, police in this country are not supposed to raid private property without warrants sworn on probable cause. And another nagging issue here is that, since the state constitution makes both the governor (chief executive) and attorney general (chief law enforcement officer) elective, there’s no clear “chain of command” on enforcing the law. Theoretically, at least, the AG can refuse an order from the governor, who can’t remove the AG because he (or she) is elected and not appointed.
More frustrating, for an AG, is that the AG’s department cannot “countermand” silly stuff ordered by the governor, either. There’s been at least one indication the current AG is not thrilled by Riley’s decision to go John Wayne with the casinos.
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:56 am
A state trooper, like a member of the military, could defy the crazy order and arrest the governor as unfit for office. The problem in this case is that some of the elected judges are on Riley’s side in this anti-gambling crusade.
The best solution is the one Sparks has proposed, which is to legalize, tax and regulate computerized gaming. The state needs the jobs and the revenue.
It is not clear yet what Riley hopes to gain politically by this gambit, but it is fairly obvious what he and his family and former staffers have to gain financially. Even the pro-corporate Republican newspapers are starting to question this, although they don’t seem to have the personnel to nail the story.
I don’t see it as our major responsibility to investigate Riley. He can’t run for reelection. He’s a lame duck. And I don’t see a single legislator willing to stand up for impeachment, so this distracting controversy will just continue to simmer and zap resources that could go to solving real problems.
February 2nd, 2010 at 6:04 pm
OK folks. Here it is, the petition to impeach Bob Riley.
February 4th, 2010 at 12:54 pm
This is the only definition of Bingo in the Constitution of 1901 and it includes electronic machines. I am only including the definitions part of the amendment if you want to read all of it goto http://www.legislature.state.al.us/CodeOfAlabama/Constitution/1901/CA-1077552.htm
Amendment 743 Bingo Games in Greene County.
For purposes of this amendment, the following words have the following meanings:
1.BINGO. That specific kind of game commonly known as bingo in which prizes are awarded on the basis of designated numbers or symbols on a card or electronic marking machine conforming to numbers or symbols selected at random.
2.EQUIPMENT. The receptacle and numbered objects drawn from it, the master board upon which such objects are placed as drawn, the cards or sheets bearing numbers or other designations to be covered and the objects used to cover them or electronic card marking machines, and the board or signs, however operated, used to announce or display the numbers or designations as they are drawn.
February 4th, 2010 at 1:01 pm
There was no such thing as a computer or the “Internets” in 1901.
Are you advocating that we should remain stuck in 1901? Check your calendar. It is 2010!
February 5th, 2010 at 1:01 am
The amendment referred to, 743, is a relatively new on, as a mater of fact it was adopted on the same day as 744 which authorized bingo in Macon County. My point is that there is only one definition of bingo in the whole document and it includes electronic machines.
February 5th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Well, if that’s true, how did the Karl Rove Exxon Eight get it so wrong?