By Sondra Washington
Alabama political candidates are no strangers to heated debates over issues they plan to support or oppose if and when they are elected. Often voters are told the matters at stake will change the state as they know it.
Experts say this year is no different even though many legislative candidates seem to be avoiding discussions on legalizing or prohibiting gambling, an issue some say could alter the landscape of the state and do away with many of the longstanding values held by Alabama residents. (See pages 4–6 for the gubernatorial candidates’ stances on gambling.)
Birmingham attorney Eric Johnston believes much of the hush among legislative candidates surrounding the gambling issue is caused by the recent FBI indictments of 11 legislators, gambling bosses and lobbyists connected to this year’s Alabama Senate vote to legalize and expand gambling.
“If it hadn’t been for the indictments, it (gambling) would have been a bigger deal than it is because things would have been status quo,” said Johnston, who heads the Southeast Law Institute. “You would have seen gamblers putting money into elections to get their (gambling) bills passed (in the upcoming legislative session). They don’t want to talk about it. … It’s almost like gambling is not on the radar right now.”
Although the gambling debate significantly cooled down after word spread about the FBI’s investigations, Johnston believes the issue is not yet put to bed.
“It will be back again,” he said. “It’s like some kind of cancer. You can treat it, get it in remission and think it’s going to go away; but there it is all of a sudden back again. [Gambling] has been so big in past legislative sessions that you know it’s just not going to go away because a few people got indicted. There’s too much money and too much opportunity. … Even if the bigger people go to jail, somebody will step in and take their place. That’s why we have to put the nail in the coffin and get people elected who won’t entertain the gambling bills.”
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, believes gambling bosses and machine manufacturers are still putting money into the political campaigns of candidates who “are sensitive to allowing gambling to expand in this state.”
“They feel that they are going to weather this storm, and they tend to feel that they are above the law a lot of times,” Godfrey noted. “The pro-gambling people want to get the courts to be made up of people that will rule in their favor when these issues come up. They want legislators that will pass laws that will favor gambling, and if they can get legislators elected that support gambling they will get laws passed that will legalize all forms of gambling they want in this state because they will make more money from more people and line their own pockets.”
Even if the candidates continue avoiding the gambling issue while the FBI moves forward with its investigations, both Godfrey and Johnston urge Alabama citizens to find out how their local, county and state candidates will deal with gambling.
“Check out who is running in your district and find out where they stand on the gambling issue,” Johnston said. “If they are against it, you need to share that information with your friends and relatives. … Elect people you can trust to keep it from coming back.”
Godfrey said all eligible Alabamians should vote no matter what they believe about gambling.
“The election for any office will go to the person who has the most people voting for him or her,” he said. “Therefore we need to go to the polls and exercise our rights and fulfill our responsibility as citizens of this country and state and as followers of Christ. If you don’t go to the polls, you’re voting for the other guy.”
Although Godfrey said most people he talks to across the state do not want to let gambling “get a foothold” in the state, some may be letting the economy guide their voting plans.
Godfrey acknowledged the importance of having a good economy but said, “Morals are important, too, and we don’t need to lower our moral expectations concerning candidates and platforms of candidates just for the economy.”
He added, “If our economy is strong and we don’t have any moral underpinnings, the amount of money you have won’t matter. … As Christians we are our brothers’ keepers, and we ought to be concerned about our brothers and sisters being taken advantage of by the gambling bosses.”
In the end, Johnston believes Alabama will continue the conservative momentum he sees occurring in voting habits across the country.
“I think you’ve seen where there are viable candidates running against the incumbents, and they are able to get some money and support (because) … some people want to see change,” he said. “In Alabama, I hope they (voters) have seen the dominance of the gamblers and those kinds of people in the Statehouse, and this is an opportunity to get rid of them and do the good business of the people of the state and not do businesses for the special interests of the state who dominant totally what’s going on down there.”
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