State Senate gambling by filibustering bingo bill

By: Editorial | Opelika Auburn News
Published: April 25, 2008

If the State Senate cannot conclude deliberation on the Macon County gambling bill, it’s past time it put this issue on the back burner and find other matters to solve.

We’re talking about a Senate that experienced a near shutdown and fisticuffs during the 2007 session, and it’s a crying shame to see this same group of men and women stop work because it’s hung up on gambling.

This gambling issue would amend the state constitution on how electronic bingo is regulated at VictoryLand in Macon County, raise the dog track’s payment amount to local governments and give electronic bingo there immunity from court rulings elsewhere. Democrats have filibustered this bill, trying to buy time while they attempt to garner enough votes to secure passage. We say take the vote now, quit wasting time and let the people ready to vote decide for themselves.

We have major issues in this state, and our State Senate is wasting their time and taxpayer dollars with a filibuster on bingo. That tells us something about politics in Alabama. We have immigration, education, health care, the grocery tax bill, and, oh yeah, a major budget dilemma, among more important matters, and the Senate can’t agree on bingo.

What kind of whacked-out priorities do we have?

While the Senate is stalled over gambling, it, too, is gambling on whether or not it will have time to legislate the best interests of the citizens of Alabama. Time is running out. Less than a week remains in this legislative session. It would be a shame if nothing else is resolved over a bingo issue.

Gov. Bob Riley urged Senate members to get the ball rolling and get on with other state business, but that does not mean those at the statehouse will heed his figurative crack of the whip. We applaud him for trying, even though it was probably nothing more than lip service.

It’s time to get to work on more pressing matters and come back to bingo once other legislation is voted upon. We didn’t send lawmakers to Montgomery to filibuster and do nothing. It would be a monumental failure for the Alabama Senate to again achieve nothing over stalling tactics. If this Senate cannot legislate in a timely manner, perhaps it’s time to find people who will.