Gambling efforts "are dead" but they certainly took their toll on the 2008 legislative session.
"Powerful gambling forces came out in full effort to push Senate Bill 191 (a constitutional amendment forever protecting Macon County gambling machines) this session," said Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo.
"This was probably the most powerful attempt since the lottery in 1999."
Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said he did not know how powerful bingo was until it "consumed" the Alabama Senate this session. "In my 25 years in the Alabama Senate, no bill has been debated this long," Sanders said in an April 23 press release.
SB 191 caught the attention of legislators immediately, Erwin said.
When it was introduced in February, he thought it had "all the earmarks that it was going to pass."
But legislators on both sides of the gambling issue held the Senate hostage with filibusters over the bill until April 29. With only six legislative days left, Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom finally moved the bill aside to deal with other business.
While senators have managed to catch up with the House by passing scores of bills in a matter of hours, they — along with the representatives in the House — have yet (as of press time) to pass the state budgets.
It was House Bill 577 — calling for a monopoly of high-speed electronic gambling machines at Milton McGregor’s Birmingham Race Course and at the Mobile Greyhound Park — that consumed much time and energy in the House. But that bill is also dead.
"It’s a tremendous, significant victory for the Christian faith and the family," Erwin said.
"It was the power of prayer and the support of the people that caused some of the senators to rethink their votes and decide not to vote for it," he explained.
"I was just pleased to be able to stand up for the people of Alabama," Erwin said. "We fought it, the Lord honored it, the people prayed and we won."
Erwin said a round of applause should go to Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP) for its work at the Statehouse. Dan Ireland is the retiring executive director of ALCAP, and Joe Godfrey will be the new executive director June 1.
"Because of Dan Ireland’s relentless efforts of persuading and talking to the legislators, he was the most powerful influence in the hallways of the Statehouse," Erwin said.
"Dan Ireland is the guy that stood in the gap for Alabama and led the effort to defeat gambling in the House and in the Senate. Praise the Lord." (TAB)
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