Joe Barton and Online Gambling
Texas Representative Joe Barton Faces Calls To Drop Support Of Online Poker Legislation
While he campaigns for re-election to the next Congress, Texas Representative Joe Barton is facing calls from his constituents to drop his proposed legislation that would help to bring a regulated online poker market to the United States.
According to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s Anna Tinsley, the anti-gambling group Stop Predatory Gambling’s representative in the state of Texas, Jack Ballou, is pushing for the Republican to give up on HR 2366 (The Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011) that he has advocated for much of the current Congressional session. Ballou and the organization believe that, if online poker regulation is passed on the federal level, it will increase gambling nationwide and particularly in Texas.
“We see this bill as the ‘camel’s nose’ under the tent – a beginning point for gambling online,” Ballou said to Tinsley in her story. “As a constituent (Ballou lives in Arlington, a part of Representative Barton’s Sixth District representation), I’m calling on Congressman Barton to withdraw support of that bill and discontinue pushing it in Congress.”
Another organization has picked up Ballou’s call, especially as it pertains to the state of Texas. “We oppose expansion of gambling in (the state),” Steven Reeves, a lobbyist for the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission, states to Tinsley. Reeves’ organization is vehemently opposed to the expansion of gaming to the internet, with Reeves saying to Tinsley, “We don’t want gambling through the internet going into every home, office and smart phone through the country.”
For his part, Representative Barton is refusing to back down to his opponents. “People are playing poker on the internet for money in the United States now,” Tinsley quotes Representative Barton as saying. “They are playing on overseas sites that are outside the reach of U. S. law, leaving the consumer unprotected and denying the government the ability to tax winnings.”
Representative Barton’s HR 2366 has been able to draw bipartisan support for his legislation. Republican representatives Peter King of New York and John Campbell of California have joined Democratic representatives Shelley Berkley of Nevada, John Conyers of Michigan and a retiring Barney Frank of Massachusetts as just of the few powerful figures in the House of Representatives that have signed on as co-sponsors. Even with this bipartisan support, however, HR 2366 has been languishing in the halls of Congress.
http://www.pokernewsdaily.com/texas-representative-joe-barton-faces-calls-to-drop-support-of-online-poker-legislation-22637/
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That's the real question. Smokey Joe is not going against his constituents wishes for nothing. He's willing to take the heat from the winger fundies because he's got skin in the game. He is not doing it just because he wants the government to tax the winnings and protect American gamblers. I call bullshit on that lie. He or some family member is somehow poised to rake in the millions if the bill passes.
You know it's probably true with Smokey Joe's ethics - or shall I say lack of ethics.
