Strange says no to casino raids

Early morning casino raids appear to be a thing of the past.

In one of his first acts as governor, Robert Bentley, abolished former Gov. Bob Riley’s task force on illegal gambling and reassigned gaming cases to the attorney general’s office.

Riley was able to use the task force and the threat of raids to shutdown and keep closed non-Indian electronic bingo operators in the state. He established the task force during the last year of his second term after he disagreed with former Attorney General Troy King about the legality of so-called bingo machines.

But new Attorney General Luther Strange said that he has no plans to raid electronic bingo facilities, even though he has the resources to do so if they begin re-opening their doors.

Strange said his office will take a different approach to the gaming issue and work with local law enforcement agents to make sure that everyone is following the law when it comes to gaming. A familiar face, however, is handling the gaming cases. Sonny Reagan, former legal advisor to Riley, has returned to the attorney general’s office under Strange and is working on the gaming issue.

Strange said he has been in contact with representatives from Greenetrack, Country Crossing and VictoryLand about getting cases before judges so the issue can be resolved once and for all. There is a hearing in the Greenetrack case today.

“We’re offering them an opportunity to make their case in court,” Strange said in a special meeting with the press Wednesday. “Our position is that these machines are illegal and they don’t fit the definition of bingo.”

Strange said he wants the operators of the machines to allow them to be seized so that forfeiture hearings could take place. He said the machines could be seized “in place” so that they don’t have to be removed from the facilities.
Strange said that if the state wins in court, and he believes it would, the machines would be destroyed.

Strange said he doesn’t expect any currently closed bingo operations to re-open, but if they did, his office would follow standard law enforcement procedures to shut them back down.

But one thing Strange said he is not willing to do is allow the issue of determining whether so-called electronic bingo machines are actually illegal slot machines consume his office.

“I’m trying to put bingo in a box like any other legal issue,” he said. “There has been too much focus on it.”

-- posted by Markeshia Ricks

Senator: bingo "issue is over"

A prominent Democrat declared a movement to pass a bill that would tax and regulate gambling in the state "over."
Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, and other Democrats did not muster the 21 votes needed to formally bring up the legislation for debate on Wednesday. They were three votes short.
"I think this issue is over," he said.
Some other supporters of the legislation were more hopeful.
Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, said he planned to draft and introduce legislation that would be a straight up or down vote on whether people want electronic bingo. Fellow Republican Scott Beason of Gardendale has already introduced legislation that he said would allow people to vote on whether they want gambling before deciding how to govern it in Alabama.
Bedford, the sponsor of the legislation they voted on Wednesday, said people lost their right to vote on Wednesday and thousands of people have lost their jobs in recent weeks as casinos in Alabama have closed.
Several Republicans said the legislation before them on Wednesday was corrupt and gave monopolies to casino operators in the state.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Riley, King spar over attempted raids

Two of the state's top elected officials sparred Friday over attempted raids on two casinos by a task force assembled by the governor.

Attorney General Troy King, in a letter hand delivered to the governor's office on Friday morning, wrote that he thought the actions of Gov. Bob Riley's Task Force on Illegal Gambling exposed the state to liability and that the situation could be resolved through the judicial system. The state's top law enforcement official also expressed concerns about the task force disregarding private property rights and due process.
Riley, in his response, wrote that he was "deeply disappointed that you continue to show more concern for the casino bosses in Alabama than for the enforcement of the law by dedicated law enforcement officials."
The governor accused King of "parroting the talking points of the gambling bosses."
King, soon after news of the attempted raids on VictoryLand in Macon County and Country Crossing near Dothan, advised the governor to use "caution in your approach." He said it is his constitutional duty to offer legal advice to the state and its officers.
"Regrettably, today's actions continue to escalate matters after weeks of news stories reporting on the public feud between you and the operators who were targeted this morning, about the discrediting and resigning of your first task force commander, and about the revelations of the large gambling contributions your new task force commander has taken from the competitors of those you raided," King wrote.

"Now, apparently, you have sent hundreds of Alabama state troopers, without a search warrant, onto private property at multiple locations. As I presume you know, (since your past actions have been taken under the cover and protection offered by a search warrant), the lack of a search warrant will shift the burden of proving probable cause to you."
Riley said the caution King urged would allow gambling interests to continue to flout the rule of law. He said the attorney general had no appreciation for the many hours of investigation undertaken before Friday's actions.
King also wrote that, along with the disregard for private property rights and due process, he is concerned that the actions are exposing the state's taxpayers, the commander, the directors of public safety and the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, and Riley himself to liability.
"While your personal exposure is not my professional responsibility, you do remain my friend," King wrote. "However, the protection of the state treasury is my responsibility."

Riley and King have a longstanding disagreement over whether electronic bingo is legal in Alabama. Riley formed the task force in late 2008 to combat illegal gambling in the state and appointed former Jefferson County District Attorney David Barber as the commander.
Barber resigned Jan. 13 after winning $2,300 at a legal Indian casino in Mississippi. Riley appointed Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson, a Democrat, as commander on Monday.
Riley and King are both Republicans and the governor appointed King to his current position in 2004.
The attorney general wrote that he has advised Riley before and again even more strongly advised him now "to take the most civil and orderly way to proceed while respecting the legal process. I again urge you to file and litigate a declaratory judgment action which will develop the facts which can then be placed before the Alabama Supreme Court."
He wrote that the "current course could disadvantage the state if it places these matters in front of judges whose criminal court rulings are unappealable by the state."
King, in his closing, wrote that he thought the best course was for people to vote to resolve the issue over the legality of gambling.
Riley wrote that the people of Alabama have already expressed their will.
"Rather than concern yourself with efforts to change the law, I suggest that your time would be better spent enforcing the law as written," the governor wrote. "That is what the people elected you to do."

Chris Bence, chief of staff for King, said the letter was not sent out in mass to the media, but only to the outlets that requested it.
Riley, on the other hand, responded with a letter sent to state media.
He said he was puzzled why King was not more concerned about the "lawless action of the circuit judge in Macon County who enjoined an ongoing criminal operation notwithstanding that the Alabama Supreme Court ruled just two weeks ago that circuit judges have no jurisdiction to do that."
Riley said opinions by the Alabama Supreme Court on Friday and in November reiterate that bingo must be played by people, not machines, and that people must physically mark their cards. "Without any shadow of a doubt, every machine at Country Crossing, and every machine at VictoryLand, makes those determinations for the player," Riley wrote. "Therefore, those machines are simply not legal under any bingo amendment."
Mentioning an opinion by King, Riley said the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled two times in three months "that you were wrong."
"While you might prefer declaratory judgment actions that will take months to resolve while the gambling bosses continue to rake in illegal profits, there is no stronger declaration than the one made by our supreme court," Riley wrote.
Bence also emphasized that the task force was operating without any communication with King, the top law enforcement officer in the state.
"We are not a part of the task force and we were not invited to be in it," Bence said. "He purposely excluded us. We have no connection with the task force and do not know what its activities are. However, as attorney general, Troy King does have the obligation of informing the governor, which we are doing by letter, of our concerns about the process."

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen

Riley appoints Tyson to head gambling task force

Republican Gov. Bob Riley has appointed a sitting Democratic district attorney to head his highly-publicized Task Force on Illegal Gambling.
Riley appointed Mobile County District Attorney John Tyson Jr., to succeed David Barber, who resigned the position after winning $2,300 at a legal Indian casino in Mississippi.
Tyson said he planned to get to work immediately.
"The Task Force on Illegal Gambling is about the rule of law," Tyson said. " ... The law could not be clearer. Slot machines are illegal and calling it electronic bingo does not change that."
The law, he said, allows traditional bingo in those counties with constitutional amendments.
In 2006, Tyson tried to unseat Attorney General Troy King, who Riley appointed to that position.
When asked about King, Tyson said they work together and said as Riley nodded that "Frankly his loose interpretation of the law is what got this whole thing started."
In an e-mail to the Montgomery Advertiser, King responded "It is not surprising, but it is disappointing, to see rhetoric, politics, and agendas, yet again get in the way of the law.
"If Mr. Tyson, as he claims, is having a hard time understanding my interpretation of the law, before he saddles up with heavily armed state troopers, putting them and the public at risk, he should spend some time reading the 17 different constitutional amendments that legalize bingo in 16 counties in Alabama. That is the law as approved by the voters of this state, and that is not difficult to understand."
Riley said he believes Tyson is ideally suited for the job and has a history of prosecuting people regardless of income, influence or political connections.
He said Tyson has integrity, tenacity and courage, and is committed to enforcing the law.
"I know John Tyson. ... If it's illegal, it's illegal for everyone," Riley said.
The governor said some people described Tyson as a bulldog.
"That's what we need," he said.
When asked if he was concerned about VictoryLand owner Milton McGregor saying he had a private investigator follow Barber, Tyson said McGregor needs to be concerned about whether he is intimidating law enforcement from doing their job.
Tyson said it appears to "border on obstruction and we're going to look into it immediately."
McGregor said that he does not intimidate anybody.
"I don't know about Tyson. ... I know I don’t operate that way," he said. "I can have people monitored and I will have people monitored if I see fit to do so.
"I hope Tyson does a good job. As far as I know, John Tyson is an honorable man and a good DA."
McGregor said the man he had monitored, Barber, "turned out he really needed to be monitored." He said Barber was telling people he opposed gambling while he was gambling in Philadelphia, Miss.
Tyson said he and his wife accumulated about $20 and gambled it away in about 15 minutes in Mississippi about 20 years ago. He said that is their only gambling experience.
Riley said state and federal courts have ruled that the gaming machines are illegal in Alabama, which is why he said some lawmakers are trying to "redefine the law."
"The only way they can make what they're doing legal is by changing the law," he said.
Some lawmakers and casino operators disagree with Riley's interpretation of the law. The Alabama Supreme Court better defined bingo in a recent ruling that Riley considered a major victory.
McGregor said the constitutional amendment passed in Macon County allows electronic bingo.
"You can't get any more legal than that," he said.
McGregor is among those who have alleged ties between Riley and those who operate the Choctaw casinos in Mississippi. Those critics point to information in a report of the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. They accuse Riley of trying to reduce competition in Alabama, a claim Riley and his supporters vehemently deny.
McGregor said that if Tyson has an interest in gambling in Alabama, he should ask some hard questions of Riley and Barber.
Tyson, who is running for reelection as district attorney, said he will serve in both roles and is not receiving any more compensation. He has served as district attorney for 16 years. Tyson, 57, said the task force helped him with a raid in Mobile County.
Tyson said he has had people approach him on a handful of different occasions about opening operations in Mobile County where developers would spend as much as $350 million, but he informed them the activity is illegal. He said it is unfair to tell people they can’t start an establishment in Mobile County while they are opening up elsewhere.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen