2007 Kentucky Governor’s Race – Awesome opportunity for us!!!

[TheEngineer]

The election is next Tuesday. In preparation, I sent the following email to all KY PPA members yesterday (this is the text version...the formatted version is at http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1 ):


To view this mail in a browser, copy http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1 into your browser.

Dear Kentucky PPA Member:

Many of you in our great state took a stand for your rights as a poker players by writing to Governor Fletcher and your state representatives last month, and I thank you for that! With your actions, you sent a strong message in favor of your right to play poker in Kentucky! The election is next week, so let's all keep up the fight.

Governor Fletcher's campaign against poker rooms and casino gaming has energized Kentuckians who believe in their liberties and freedoms. While the PPA is neutral on the issue of casinos, we're certainly not neutral on the issue of poker! We should have card rooms just as Indiana and other states do.

I urge everyone who cares about their rights as poker players to let their politicians know this. Please visit http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1 to automatically send pro-poker letters to Gov. Fletcher and your local elected officials. If you sent it last month, let's send it again. If you didn't, then please sent it now. It's not too late. Please note that you will be asked to send two letters, one to the governor and another to your elected officials. With only a few minutes effort, you can tell all of them all how much you value your freedom and liberty. You will also tell them you are not willing to give your freedoms away to politicians looking to scapegoat you and our honorable game for political gain.

There are more fights to be fought, so I'd like to ask you join your fellow PPA members in the following activities:

Please visit http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1 to automatically send pro-Internet poker rights letters to Senator McConnell, Senator Bunning, and your Congressman. In fewer than three minutes, you can tell them all how much you value your freedom and liberty. You will tell them you are not willing to allow your freedoms to be taken away by politicians looking to scapegoat you and our honorable game for political gain. The PPA has just returned from a successful visit to Capitol Hill... your letter will build on the momentum from this trip.

Comment on the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) regulations. Federal regulators recently issued proposed regulations to enforce the UIGEA. As a citizen, you have the right to make public comments on these onerous regulations. Your comments can have an impact on their final outcome. Please visit http://pokerplayersalliance.org/pres...le.php?DID=293 to learn more about the regulations and how you can post your comments.

Enlist your poker playing friends. Do you know other Kentucky poker players who wish to fight for their rights? Please forward our Kentucky action alert to them. Do you have any poker playing friends who may be interested in the PPA and our newsletter? We have over 800,000 members; however, there are tens of millions of poker players out there. We need your help to reach other poker supporters. Visit http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1 to view the latest PPA newsletter and share with a friend.

Write to your newspaper. Kentucky newspapers have been publishing many gaming-related letters to the editor, as it has become the focus of the KY gubernatorial election. Please consider writing a letter in support of our game. I did, and so can you.

Vote on Election Day. A victory for poker in Kentucky will really set the tone for the 2008 national elections, so your vote this year means a lot.

If you'd like to discuss this with your fellow poker players, please visit our PPA forums at http://webringamerica.com/4/pokerplayers...6d32553168bef19

Thanks you for your support. Let's keep poker legal!

Sincerely,
Rich Muny, PPA Kentucky State Director
KY@pokerplayersalliance.org

To opt out of future mailings like this, please click here: http://links.emessages.pokerplayersallia...1OTUS1&mt= 1

[TheEngineer]

Here's the press release:

For Immediate Release
October 31, 2007

Contacts: Rich Muny, PPA KY State Director -- KY@pokerplayersalliance.org
John Pappas, PPA National Executive Director –- (202) xxx-xxxx


PPA Fighting for Legal Poker Rooms in Kentucky

(October 31, 2007 – Union, KY) Governor Ernie Fletcher’s election-year decision to oppose a statewide referendum on the issue of casino gaming in the commonwealth has drawn the ire of the state’s poker players, as Fletcher’s position includes poker rooms.

In September, the Kentucky State Chapter of the Poker Players Alliance (PPA) announced it was mounting a statewide grassroots advocacy campaign in support of poker in Kentucky. Since then, over one thousand pro-poker letters and phone calls from concerned poker players have flooded the offices of Fletcher and state representatives.

When asked for a comment on the success of the PPA effort, PPA Kentucky State Director Rich Muny today stated that PPA’s efforts in the state exceeded all expectations, and he warned that Kentucky PPA members will take their pro-poker sentiments to the polls next Tuesday. Muny stated, “Governor Fletcher is running not on his achievements of the past four years, but on a campaign of distraction. In the process, Fletcher has demonized the good folks who enjoy the game of poker. Indiana has card rooms built right on Kentucky’s borders, as do other states. Kentucky deserves to keep this revenue in our own state for the benefit of our own citizens. Additionally, our citizens deserve the freedom to choose to play a hand of poker.”

Muny urges all Kentucky poker enthusiasts to contact Governor Fletcher at (502) 607-8683, or via email at contact@erniefletcher.com . He says, “tell him you’ll vote for your freedom and for Kentucky.”

###

The Poker Players Alliance (www.pokerplayersalliance.org ) is a nonprofit membership organization comprised of over 800,000 poker players and enthusiasts from around the United States who have joined together to speak with one voice to promote the game, ensure its integrity, and, most importantly, to protect poker players’ rights. The PPA seeks to guarantee players secure, safe, and regulated places to play. They promote poker with the intent to keep this recreational activity free from unreasonable government intervention.

[TheEngineer]

Article by Joe Gerth of the Louisville Courier-Journal:

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Pokering around
www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/COLUMNISTS21/711050447/1008/NEWS01

Don't look now, but Fletcher has another group trying to ace him out of a second term.

The Poker Players Alliance, a Washington-based not-for-profit group, is urging its 800,000 or so members across the country to contact Fletcher and tell him they don't like his position opposing expanded gambling.

The group mostly aims to support laws friendly to Internet poker players, but also supports those making it legal to play the game in poker rooms across the country.

"Governor Fletcher is running not on his achievements of the past four years, but on a campaign of distraction," according to Rich Muny, the group's state director. "In the process, Fletcher has demonized the good folks who enjoy the game of poker."

Jodi Whitaker, Fletcher's spokeswoman, said the governor's office has received phone calls and e-mails from the group's members.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
Jodi Whitaker, Fletcher's spokeswoman, said the governor's office has received phone calls and e-mails from the group's members.

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's make sure he gets many more calls. If you have any connection to KY, please call today. Also, please call Beshear and let him know that we won't tolerate what's going on in MA. Thanks.

[TheEngineer]

Here's my letter to Beshear. Please write if you have any connection at all to KY. 1 letter now = 10 letters once the referendum drafting starts = 100 letters after the referendum is submitted to the KY Congress.

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Dear Mr. Beshear:

First of all, I'd like to congratulate you a day in advance on your election as Kentucky's next governor. As the Poker Players Alliance Kentucky State Director, I took a particular interest in this race. Our organization sent out informational communications to our 9,000 Kentucky members alerting them to the issues of this race and how they pertain to poker players. Joseph Gerth wrote of our efforts in his Louisville Courier-Journal article today, www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071105/COLUMNISTS21/711050447/1008/NEWS01. Additionally, I personally (as a private citizen, independent of the PPA) contributed some money to your campaign, as I support your stand relative to poker in the commonwealth.

I do have a request. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick recently proposed a bill legalizing casino gaming in his state. Unfortunately, his bill includes language that prohibits all Internet gaming, including even poker. This language was apparently inserted to limit competition. Needless to say, the PPA and the poker players of Mass. strongly oppose this language. I hope this will not be attempted in Kentucky, but as there is some possibility that it will, I wish to bring this concern to your attention.

Internet gaming (with the exception of sports betting) is legal in Kentucky. Folks voting for you are clearly not voting for a ban on Internet poker (those folks are voting for Fletcher). Will you ensure that your referendum legalizing casino gaming in the commonwealth does not make Internet poker illegal?

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

[Uglyowl]

Great work Engineer. I made a donation to Mr. Beshear so I will have to give him a phone call stating what you did.

Also a very exciting piece of news (which the size of the size of the difference shocked me):

At the wire, it's Beshear 59%, Fletcher 39%

Beshear by 20

I hope the Democrats turn out big to keep the margin at around 20%. What a message this would send.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
Great work Engineer. I made a donation to Mr. Beshear so I will have to give him a phone call stating what you did.

Also a very exciting piece of news (which the size of the size of the difference shocked me):

At the wire, it's Beshear 59%, Fletcher 39%

Beshear by 20

I hope the Democrats turn out big to keep the margin at around 20%. What a message this would send.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks! This one is sweet. I believe this will improve our standing with Sen. McConnell, Sen. Bunning, and Kentucky's congressmen. It also puts us in a good position to proactively prevent what's going on in Mass.

[TheEngineer]

For KY voters, please remember that Rep. Stan Lee doesn't deserve your vote either. From www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708050501:

[ QUOTE ]
Candidates seeking (KY Attorney General) Stumbo's job hit on the same themes used by their party's candidates for governor.

State Rep. Stan Lee, R-Lexington, said that legalizing expanded gambling, as favored by the Democratic slate, will lead to more crime.

"There's no disputing the fact that if you bring gambling to the state of Kentucky, you bring a crime wave with it," Lee said.

Turning to his opponent, Democrat Jack Conway, Lee added, "That's a fact, Jack."

[/ QUOTE ]

He's behind Conway by a lot.

From www.bluegrassreport.org/bluegrass_politics/2007/05/the_frightening.html:

[ QUOTE ]
But what takes the cake for me a passage from the book Politics, Religion and Death: Memoir of a Lobbyist by Carl Wedekind. The book chronicles Wedekind's time as a Kentucky lobbyist, and in particular his work to abolish the state's death penalty.

Here's an excerpt from pages 129-130:

"Stan Lee was a pleasant, intense looking man in his early forties who greeted us politely and seemed a little lost in his cubbyhole office with its unpacked boxes, bare walls, a bare desk and computer. We made nice talk; how did he like it so far, were his committee assignments okay, that sort of thing, and he was quick to share his first impressions with us.

After a bit I began to outline our campaign and the basic reasons Kentucky would be a less violent state if we abolished the death penalty, and he listened...

Pat [Delahanty] took it up at that point and began to talk about the position taken by the various Christian denominations and about how this religious anti-death penalty movement had developed. Very suddenly our new legislator interrupted; it was such an abrupt change. His eyes were very dark. Both his hands were raised in the air as he started speaking.

"All your worries, all your concerns, will soon be over" he announced solemnly.

We stopped and waited. He stared at us intently.

"With the coming of Christ, there will be a circle of judges who will decide...who is good, who is evil...and," (looking at us knowingly) "there will be NO APPEAL. Then there will be a thousand years of goodness--of bliss!" His voice trailed off, his head now raised, and he looked off in the distance.

We stared. This proclamation of judgment was not put forth for debate. It was Representative Stan Lee's answer to our concerns about the death penalty. He was saying it didn't matter. We were stunned. Pat nervously got up, and I think he mumbled something, and the two of us left. Representative Lee was not a likely ally on the House Judiciary Committee.

[/ QUOTE ]

[DeadMoneyDad]

[ QUOTE ]
Great work Engineer. I made a donation to Mr. Beshear so I will have to give him a phone call stating what you did.

Also a very exciting piece of news (which the size of the size of the difference shocked me):

At the wire, it's Beshear 59%, Fletcher 39%

Beshear by 20

I hope the Democrats turn out big to keep the margin at around 20%. What a message this would send.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here's the problem IMO.

Fletcher was down by 20 points when he announced his gaming stance. It looks like the election stayed about where it was from about Labor Day on.

How do you take those facts and claim victory, let alone a measurable impact? Do we have one CD where we can show we changed the numbers from "our" efforts.

Yes a win is a win and should be milked for all it is worth.

But going into '08 if we are going to try to move a couple of races it would have been nice to have the beginings of a playbook.

Yes I know this race came up at a bad time for the PPA as an organization. We weren't properly organized to even make a CD test run to build from for '08.

I am not trying to take away from the hard work that was done in KY. Please do not take this post that way. The PPA got what it could for what it could manage at the time.

BUT.

If it is going to be '09 before we can reasonably expect a bill that we expect to get favorable action on in both the House and Senate, as I suggest, then we need to be a player at the political table in '08 IMO.

To do so we have a ton of hard work to do starting now. In may races the primary winner will win the General because of the make up of the districts. In those CDs where the race is competitive in the General, the Volunteers who help in the even semi-uncontested primaries of those future General races become established and trusted members of the General race campaign effort.

I don't know how many races the PPA and the lobbiests feel we can manage in '08 as to some degree that is based on their feel of the strength of the organization and its members. IMO there are enough dedicated poker players to make a difference in more races than they imagine.

Keep in mind the goal here is not just to get a poker bill through Congress, but the best one possible. IMO our efforts over the next 12 months will determine how much regulation we will have to live with from that bill. The harder we work in the next 52 weeks will make the difference between an acceptable bill and a good one.

This is where the members of the poker community have to decide who is going to lead the effort. If as Mason and others have suggested the PPA is run by some section of corporation interests, IMO really doesn't matter, because any bill will allow the entire industry to make money. What ultimately matters is what will be the cost to the poker community.

Anyone with even a passing knowledge of economics knows who will really pay those costs. The corporations will not suffer from over regulation, "we the players" will.

There will never be enough co-sponsors to carry the bill through both houses. We have to and can make a difference with the members who can't take a stand today because they face a close race a year from now. Those are the members we have the most leverage with, and that is where we should apply it.


D$D

[TheEngineer]

There's no "problem". We accomplished exactly what I laid out when I proposed that PPA get involved. We started off up 20 points, and Fletcher gained nothing by running against us. We developed our tools and got some positive press for our side. Now we have hard data for use with politicians who think everyone is against poker.

This was not an issue of "not being properly organized". This was a race we had won already, and merely needed to put our stamp on it in the most efficient manner possible. You didn't expect PPA to spend tens of thousands to improve on a 20 point lead, did you? That would have been extemely foolish, IMO.