Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ron Spark publicly challenged Rep. Artur Davis Monday to level with the people of Alabama and to come clean on his position on all gaming issues facing the state.

Referencing a story in this weekend’s Mobile Press-Register in a press release, the Sparks campaign said Davis refused to state a position on several gaming issues, including casino gaming, sports betting, card games, slot machines, roulette and other games.

Sparks favors them all, and has said so from the beginning of his campaign for governor of Alabama.

“Why is Artur Davis afraid to take a stand on gaming issues, one of the most important issues facing this state?” Agricultural Commissioner Ron Sparks said. “He is hiding, cowering in the corner, while I have been perfectly clear in my support on each and every gaming issue. If the people of Alabama want it, they should be allowed to vote on it. I am leading on this issue, not running from it like Artur Davis.

“Alabama needs a governor who takes a stand and who commits the full force of his office to get this done for the people of Alabama. Sitting on a fence or hiding your views from voters like Artur isn’t leadership; it’s political cowardice. If you want gaming in Alabama, there is only one candidate committed to doing it, and that’s me,” Sparks said in the statement.

The Press-Register asked all gubernatorial candidates to answer eight positions on various forms of gaming. Artur only gave positions on three of them, answering “not sure” five times.

“That’s a worse percentage than his Congressional voting record this year,” Sparks said.

“He is refusing to say because his opposition to these forms of gaming stand in direct opposition to the views of a majority of Alabamians. He answered ‘not sure’ because he is OPPOSED and afraid to say it,” said Taylor Bright, Sparks’ communications director.

“It is clear where Sparks stands. He supports gaming if it is taxed at a rate of more than 25 percent and stringently regulated. He supports an education lottery. He supports traditional slot machines. If they are taxed and regulated. He supports Las Vegas-style games. If they are taxed and regulated. He supports card games. If they are taxed and regulated,” Bright said.

“That’s the difference between Artur Davis and me,” Sparks said. “You know where I stand on the issues. Artur runs and hides. That may work in Washington, but it doesn’t work in Alabama. The people of Alabama will always know where I stand on the issues.”

In the Mobile paper, Davis is quoted as saying: “If you think Alabama’s economic future is casinos, go to Mississippi and look at the casinos and the poverty joined at the hip.”

“That doesn’t sound like someone who wants gaming in Alabama,” Bright said. “Does it?

Davis also told the AP: “I will not make the mistake of making a lottery the cure-all for our fiscal needs.”

“It doesn’t sound like Davis is committed to increasing revenue, giving Alabama’s children college scholarships, and giving people back their jobs, does it?,” Bright said. “We wonder why Davis is waffling on this. He was emphatic when he voted to give Big Oil a $25 billion tax break, when he voted to strip consumer protections, when he voted to leave 66,000 people uninsured in his own district.
What’s the difference? He took money from all of those special interests and did their bidding.”

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Tags: Artur Davis, Ron Sparks, Sparks Issues Challenge to Davis on Gambling

This entry was posted on Monday, March 15th, 2010 at 5:44 pm and is filed under Alabama Democratic Party, Alabama Politics, Elections 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.