So David Barber, former Jefferson County, Alabama District Attorney, is now also former head of the Governor's Gambling Task Force. The letter from Barber has him saying he's resigning because he won $2,300 at a legal game in a Mississippi casino and:
And up till that, it had been a good day for the Governor's battle against gambling...with the Alabama Supreme Court issuing a restraining order preventing the task force from raiding the Country Crossing entertainment complex.
"I am convinced that the forces that operate illegal casinos in Alabama will focus on my actions as part of their continuing effort to smear you and your Task Force."Ya think?
And up till that, it had been a good day for the Governor's battle against gambling...with the Alabama Supreme Court issuing a restraining order preventing the task force from raiding the Country Crossing entertainment complex.
God I love it! Their hypocrisy knows no bounds.
ReplyDeleteThe hills are alive with the sound of chortling and guffawing.
ReplyDeleteSlylock Fox...
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's not as much a hypocritical statement as much as it may be a recognition that Riley doesn't have a leg to stand upon, particularly since his chief law enforcement officer (AG Troy King) and he don't see eye-to-eye on this issue.
Riley's opinion, while genuinely his own, neither constitutes statute or legal precedent.
Thus, it's very much a moot point. What has Riley's "Task Force" accomplished?
They've made a splash or two, but that's about it.
And "For the Record" (gotta' love it, gotta' love it!) I think Alabama's anti-gambling laws should be enforced. That's one half of the entire point of law, is it not?
Historically, I've purchased lottery tickets in GA & TN, and I've played a slot machine or two in NV. And furthermore, I am not opposed to legal gambling here (we already have some forms of it, with parimutuel gambling at Greenetrack in Eutaw, and Victoryland in Shorter). What I'd really like to know is how state law is already regulating existing legal gambling.
But what galls me is that, if the guvnuh's serious (and I don't think he is - I think he's disingenuous), he'd order every law enforcement officer to arrest every lottery now occurring in Alabama, under the guise of "raffle," wherein consideration is required before playing (the crux of a "lottery").
I've even seen "raffle" tickets advertised in, and sold at one of Alabama's courthouses in the clerk's window!
Although for a "worthy" cause - someone's house burned down, someone's family suffered tragedy, or some aid society is promoting it - by statute, it's still illegal.
When Riley orders LEOs to bust those operations, I'll believe he's serious. Until such time, he's a bluffer, bloater and bag of hot Washington-cum-Montgomery wind.