As I have stated repeatedly, I am not at this point endorsing any Alabama gubernatorial candidate. However, it is becoming increasingly clear which candidate I am opposing: Bill Johnson.

I’m not crazy about Johnson for a number of reasons, one of which is the way he is running his campaign as a husband-wife team. It’s almost like we’re supposed to be getting a two-fer. The problem is, I don’t like either one’s ideas.

Here’s the latest from the Mrs. Gubernatorial Candidate (in relevant part):

GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE’S WIFE SPEAKS OUT ON GAMING

Montgomery, AL, Feb 4, 2010 - Kathy Johnson, former director of Governor Riley’s statewide Alabama Broadband Initiative and the wife of GOP gubernatorial candidate Bill Johnson, released the following comments related to the latest breaking news on gaming in Alabama.

[snip]

“Our cable provider’s digital recorder just paused and saved a press conference on electronic bingo in Alabama. As controversial as it is, technology has even changed the way people play games. The same technology that has advanced the way we teach our children through fancy web-based bells and whistles has changed dominoes, solitaire and bingo. Only those in counties being left technologically and economically behind are still daubing B-12 on paper cards.

“Bill and I don’t gamble, but I’m thankful that we live in a country in which our freedoms are second to none. One of those most priceless freedoms, freedoms that came at the expensive price of precious blood shed by our troops, is the right for our voices to be heard through a simple process called voting. There was a time, not all that long ago, that my voice was silenced simply because it was in God’s divine design for me to be born a woman. Thank God for America and the right for each of us, no matter our race, gender or socio-economic status to be able to walk into a voting precinct and check a box on a ballot.

“I urge all interested parties to come together with one voice and allow the Alabama Legislature to consider a bill that will allow your voice and mine to be heard. Yes, technology has changed, and thankfully so. In addition to watching the recorded press conference, I watched the recorded news and saw the concerned individuals who may be losing their jobs. I’m thankful that the thousands of people who had their livelihood put on hold today can rapidly apply for unemployment benefits–all over the Internet–all through the use of advanced technology with bells and whistles.

“While technology has changed, democracy has not. Let the People Vote.”

What don’t I like? Let me count the ways:

1. In the first paragraph, she implies that keeping video bingo illegal will leave counties technologically and economically behind. In other words, you’ll be out of touch and out of money.

2. In the second paragraph (4 sentences) she invokes God, women’s suffrage, freedom, and our troops. As you should know by now, I can’t stand emotional campaigning. It does not address the issues, it simply appeals to concepts that we all agree on — though we don’t all agree on how to apply those concepts to, say, voting.

3. In the third paragraph, she again appeals to emotion, citing all those individuals who may be losing their jobs. Well hell, let’s stop enforcing the laws against drug dealing and prostitution, as I know a lot of people who make their living doing one or the other or both. And they are, as they say, “victimless crimes.”

Those people who are breaking the law by running illegal gambling establishments can, indeed, stand in line in the unemployment office, right behind the drug dealers and whores. They prey upon the public in a similar fashion.

Here’s the deal: Communities make laws to regulate the moral, social and economic welfare of the entire community. We can and do vote on those laws. In the case of gambling, Alabama has made that determination, and Alabama citizens need to follow the law, even it if means they can’t work at a gambling casino.

Fact: the democratically elected Alabama legislature enacted laws that forbid gambling.
Fact: the democratically elected governor of Alabama is enforcing those laws.
Fact: the democratically elected (not appointed) justices of the Alabama Supreme Court have ruled upon those statutes, and have further judged that gambling, particularly electronic bingo in the form it is currently played in places like VictoryLand, is illegal.
Fact: in 1999 the people of Alabama voted on a state lottery, which was in actual fact a referendum on all types of gambling in Alabama. They shot it down by a margin of 2-1.

The Alabama counties that currently have gambling establishments (i.e. Lowndes County, Macon County, Tallapoosa County, and Walker County) are some of the poorest counties in the state. These are counties that have had various types of gambling for years, and it has not only brought them no prosperity, it has resulted in socio-economic disaster for these areas.

I’d be very, very interested to know how much of Johnson’s campaign is being underwritten by the gambling interests. It may be hard to discover, because the Alabama legislature still has not enacted legislation banning PAC-to-PAC transfers, but I still wish somebody would do the research.

Breaking news from the Montgomery Advertiser:

David Barber, commander of Alabama Gov. Bob Riley’s task force on illegal gambling, resigned his position in a letter sent to the governor’s office Wednesday.

Barber cited a recent visit to a casino in Mississippi, where he won $2,300, as a possible “political distraction” from the governor’s anti-gambling crusade.

In Riley’s acceptance letter, dated Jan. 14, he asks Barber to remain in the position until he can appoint a successor.

Look, I haven’t agreed with Barber on several issues in the past, but from all accounts he’s a pretty darn smart guy. And, I happen to support his efforts on the gambling task force. But it doesn’t take a genius to realize that going to Mississippi to gamble while you’re head of an anti-gambling task force is a pretty . . . uh . . . well, dumb move. The article doesn’t say when the Mississippi trip took place, except that it was “recent,” so maybe it was before Barber was on the task force. Also — and let’s be clear here — just because Barber legally gambled in Mississippi doesn’t mean that he should look the other way at illegal gambling in Alabama. Still, though, that was pretty boneheaded, and it does indeed take a lot of the moral authority from the task force. It is good of David to recognize that.

It will be interesting to see what Riley does from here, especially in light of some major Alabama Supreme Court decisions on gambling pending.

Lightning round: gambling. Johnson and Bentley want a statewide vote. The rest came out strongly against it.

My battery is almost gone, so I may be “off the air” soon. I’ll pick up the slack tomorrow
morning from notes.

Bill Johnson is a Republican candidate for governor in Alabama. He also has a short memory.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from his campaign containing the following promise from Mr. Johnson:

“As governor, I would fully support a vote by the people of Alabama to resolve the long-standing dispute on legalized gambling. If the people of Alabama want to end gambling in the state, it should end. If they vote to allow gambling, it should be taxed and regulated.”

Those Alabama residents over the age of 10 may remember that in 2006 the people of Alabama did, in fact, vote on whether to legalize gambling in the state of Alabama. The voters rejected gambling by a margin of 2-1. What Johnson means is that he would support another vote. And then another. And then another. Until, eventually, such a proposal would pass.

There is a principle in martial arts fighting that if you keep striking enough times, eventually a strike is going to get through. This principle applies here: if you keep bringing the same issue up for a vote enough times, eventually it will get passed.

Johnson is basing his support for gambling with the same old tired arguments: additional revenue for the state (bogus); the existence of Indian casinos inside the state (true, but limited); the existence of gambling in surrounding states Georgia, Mississippi and Florida (true); the accessibility of internet gambling (true); and, of course, the children (bogus). For time and space issues, I won’t address these arguments here. If you are interested, I strongly suggest you visit the Alabama Policy Institute web site, which has a great deal of useful and accurate information on the impact of gambling on Alabama. Instead, I’ll simply ask Mr. Johnson this: if the people have already voted, why are you asking them to vote again? Is it because you didn’t like the outcome? Is it because your supporters, the people who are bankrolling your candidacy, didn’t like the outcome? And what ties do you have to Milton McGregor (owner of Victoryland dog track)?

The closing paragraph of Johnson’s e-mail:

While I fully support allowing citizens of Alabama the opportunity to vote on legalized, taxed and regulated gambling, my main economic focus as governor will be on increasing the exports of our existing businesses; continuing the low-tax, pro-business climate of the state; recruiting new national and international companies to Alabama and improving Alabama’s image to the world.

Legalizing gambling will not improve Alabama’s image to the world. Hopefully, Johnson’s e-mail will not improve his image to Alabama voters.

Gary Palmer at the Alabama Policy Institute (a former employer of mine) has written a very concise article regarding the latest push in Alabama to legalize gambling. The following is the text of that editorial in its entirety.

By now, just about everyone in Alabama has seen or heard the ads from the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition. And just about everyone who has seen or heard the ads is confused by their message. The message is that we can stop illegal gambling by making illegal gambling legal.

Gambling interests, under the innocent name the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition, have launched this massive TV, radio and direct mail ad campaign to confuse and mislead Alabamians into believing that legalizing casinos will not only end illegal gambling, it will be the answer to every financial problem in this state. Based on this logic, the Mexican drug cartels should launch a multi-million dollar ad campaign to eliminate illegal drugs by getting the Alabama State Legislature to legalize crack houses.

Obviously, eradicating an illegal activity by making it legal is not upholding the law, it is rewarding lawlessness. And the gambling that the ads are promoting is not bingo as the ads claim, it is video gambling which is the absolute worst form of gambling. In fact, even gambling experts call it the “crack cocaine” of gambling. In that regard, maybe comparing the legalization of illegal gambling to the legalization of crack houses is not that far off the mark.

The big gambling cartel that is pushing casino gambling in Alabama really believes that the people of Alabama are so dumb and so easily manipulated that they will believe anything if you run a slick enough ad campaign and run it constantly, week after week. And no doubt, some in the Alabama State Legislature are counting on their constituents being duped into believing that the legislation being pushed in these ads will end illegal gambling. They probably get a big belly laugh every time a concerned Alabama citizen calls them and asks them to vote to end illegal gambling.

In addition to misleading Alabamians about stopping illegal gambling, the ads also promise to create jobs, boost our economy and save the education system. If gambling could do all that, it would be evident in the states that have legalized gambling, particularly in Mississippi. On the contrary, gambling has not transformed Mississippi.

After more than 15 years of casinos, Mississippi still ranks dead last on the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) math and reading scores. With all that gambling money coming in you would think Mississippi schools would be rolling in cash, but the truth is per-pupil funding in Mississippi ranks 49th in the nation and teacher pay ranks 48th. Given the Indian casinos in Mississippi, one would at least expect substantial improvement in the education outcomes of Native American children in Mississippi. However, according to the Alliance for Excellent Education, the “graduation” rate for Mississippi’s Native American students is a shocking 34 percent.

If gambling is the key to economic growth, Mississippi should be miles ahead of Alabama. But the truth is that Mississippi’s unemployment rate is higher than Alabama’s. Even the Indian casinos in Mississippi have had to lay off employees and some have cut back on their operating hours. That seems in conflict with the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition ads claiming that legalizing casino gambling will keep thousands of Alabama jobs from going to Mississippi.

If gambling is the key to making a state more prosperous, Mississippi should have shown significant progress. But the truth is that Mississippi still ranks dead last in per-capita income. Since the casinos began operating there, Mississippi has had only one year – 2005 – in which the state was not dead last in per-capita income and that was the year they rose to 49th.

With all that gambling money, the bottom line is that Mississippi continues to rank at or near the bottom in just about every measure … except in public corruption. From 1993 to 2002, they ranked first in the nation with a public corruption conviction rate over twice as high as Alabama. Sadly, with all the convictions involving Jefferson County officials, the two-year colleges, double-dipping and other problems, Alabama now ranks fourth in the nation in public corruption and is making a big push to catch up with Mississippi. If we legalize casinos, we may actually attain that number one ranking in public corruption ourselves.

Alabamians need to know that despite all the promises made to the people of Mississippi, the state of Mississippi has made little progress. And the promises being made by the Sweet Home Alabama Coalition are as empty as the promises made by the gambling interests that brought casinos to Mississippi.

As the people of Mississippi have found out the hard way, gambling will not improve anything but the gambling cartel’s financial condition and the financial interests of corrupt politicians.

The truth about the bingo gambling operations in Alabama is that they are a rogue operation that desperately wants the state legislature to legitimize them so they can ravage this state. The campaign orchestrated by the organized gambling cartel is not about bringing better jobs to Alabama, it is not about improving education and it definitely is not about ending illegal gambling … it is about confusing and misleading the people of Alabama and trying to fool them into legalizing video gambling casinos in Alabama. In that regard, the so-called Sweet Home Alabama Coalition ad promises should really be called Sweet Hoax Alabama.

Some of you may remember about 8 or 10 years ago the gambling coalition made a concerted push under former governor Don Seigleman’s administration to legalize gambling in this state (Seigleman is currently a convicted felon for his actions in office, by the way). That issue was put to a statewide vote, and defeated by a 2-1 margin. One would think that the issue wa decisively determined, and that it would go away. One would be wrong. The gambling folks are going to keep pushing this issue over and over and over again until they find a time/way to get their agenda imposed on the good people of Alabama.

Now the gambling coalition has recruited country music stars to promote the gambling cause, including Randy Owen (the lead singer of the group Alabama), George Jones, Lorrie Morgan, Tracy Lawrence, Marty Stuart, Darryl Worley and John Anderson. Pretty slick approach — country music, much more than what passes for contemporary pop or rock, tends to be equated with pro-America, pro-religion, if not pro-family (lots of cheatin’ songs out there, right Lorrie?). These artists’ endorsement is certain to send just exactly the message that the gambling interests want — that gambling is fine as long as it’s legal.

Note: it has repeatedly struck me how similar the gambling campaign is sounding to the pro-abortion campaign: legal, regulated and rare. Don’t believe me? Check out the commercials for yourself.

The arguments against legalized gambling are extensive — much too extensive to cover here. The arguments Gary makes are not even the tip of the iceberg. For more information, I would encourage you to contact API directly.

I truly fear for the future of this issue, and the future of this state. Gambling is an albatross of the worst kind around the neck of any state — a rotting, stinking corpse that will suck the life out of the most economically needy. Don’t believe me? Ask South Carolina what gambling did to that state, and what ti took to get it out.

On a personal note, I have lived in South Dakota, which as most people know allows gambling of almost every type. Ever seen or heard of Deadwood? I have played in a band that performed in the casinos in Deadwood (even played country music — I love country music!). I have seen up close and personal what gambling does to the people who sit in front of those video machines for hours on end, glassy-eyed, mind-numbed, heedless of how much money they are throwing away and what their family may need to live on. I’ve seen the video parlors and lottery machines and corners of convenience stores piled up with video gambling machines that never quit. It is depressing, and it is harmful to the fabric of society.

Don’t allow that to happen to Alabama.