The Bingo Bill Dies in Alabama

Despite the fact that the Alabama State Senate approved a bill to permit the citizens of the state to vote about allowing ebingo in casinos in the state, the State House could not rally the required votes to support the bill and so in died Wednesday without even an attempt to count the supporters.

Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, decided not to hold a vote after a morning count showed he did not have the 63 votes the bill needed to pass.

This means that voters will not have the opportunity to chose whether they wish to legalized ebingo in Alabama or not. Now the hundreds of millions for dollars that these casinos could have generated to help pay Medicare, schools and other social programs will not be available because a few men in the legislature made that decision for everyone in the state.

Governor Bob Riley, the primary opponent of the casinos, has already spent over $500,000.00 on legal fees and has asked the state to approve an additional $600,000.00 for his representation in these matters. Interestingly the Mobile Press Register reported that the law firm the governor has chosen to represent him employs his son-in-law. The Governor justified this by saying that his son-in-law is a salaried attorney not a partner and does not participate in profits generated by the firm.

The bingo machines confiscated in Chickasaw during a raid have still not been returned and there is a law suit pending regarding the return of those machines.

The FBI continues to investigate the claim from some state senators that a Pac attempted to buy their pro vote by offering large sums of money. Two senators admit to wearing wires for the purpose of this investigation. The presence of the FBI is probably the reason the House members did not want to vote on the issue.

So, in a state where unemployment figures have risen to over 20% in some areas and cities and towns cannot begin to find the funds they need to provide essential services to their citizens, a few individuals have successfully decided to stop the people of Alabama from being able to voice their opinion on the subject.

Maybe we can start using some old confederate money. People seem to still have a lot of that here.