Online Poker Article

[Coy_Roy]

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By the way, and this may be old news, but Patton Boggs is apparently also making the rounds on the issue.

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Sweet.

[MiltonFriedman]

They do carry water for Indian Gaming interests, which as we've seen in Washington State, is not always on our side.

[ChrisAJ]

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They do carry water for Indian Gaming interests, which as we've seen in Washington State, is not always on our side.

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Considering who they've been making the rounds with, I don't think that's an issue. They've also carried water for one of the Brit sportsbooks, if I remember correctly.

[DeadMoneyDad]

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Why wait for "the law firm of Jack Abramof, convicted swindler and lobbyist for online gaming" to hit the press releases ?

The tangible evidence is the FoF ability and likely plan to smear the PPA with the association.

I am not knocking the firm, I know their history in this industry. I am just saying cut them loose from lobbying because this is online gaming.

If the Titanic had turned a little sooner, we would have been spared a really terrible movie.

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Given the role Greenberg plays in this effort the FoF's position is very weak.

I don't mean to harp on an issue I had hoped would die down soon but we as a group deminish Greenberg's role and visibleness the more member driven our actions become. Greenberg's role has never been to lead the fight, and my issue is the feeling that perhaps the PPA has become to reliant on their talents.

But to suggest that we throw them under the bus just because a FoFer realized they are involved and in truth are more scared of them than us is simply folding to a bluff weak raise in the press.

If Greenberg Trauig had a hint of loosing its ability or was painted with the same brush I would be the first to point that out. I have a personal friend caught up in that mess, his political life was destroyed as well as that of his wife and he may end up in jail because of his association with Jack.

I am well aware of getting tarred with the same brush game that is played well in DC. I've seen good people loose their jobs and ability to survive in DC because they happened to work for or were friends with the wrong person.

It is a constant parlor game here, it is part of what makes this place the swamp it always was. It doesn't matter sometimes the value or loyality of the individual, you can get "killed" just as quick in DC as you can in a Manhattan poker room, for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

If you look deeply into this you'll find Jack joined GT late in his career. GT had been around and well established long before Jack came around. Had the circumstances been different perhaps we might have to worry, but as it is there is no need for concern.

Right now it would be like refusing to go to a world class hospital who had the best doctors for your condition because a doctor they hired was screwing candy stripers and the hospital promptly fire him. If the hospital has defended the doctor knowing he was an idiot at the least then you might have cause for concern.


As it is you are over reacting.


D$D

[dlk9s]

Is there any data on how many people watch football (and other sports, but football is the biggie in the U.S.) because they are betting on the games or following their fantasy players? It seems very hypocritical to me that the NFL wants to make sports betting illegal when much of its revenue very likely directly or indirectly comes from people with money riding on the games or players in the games.

Yeah, I know, I'll use Google. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Legislurker]

If it comes down to a war of association with FoF we may have to throw names around. Im not sure how connected Ralph Reed was to FoF but he and Abramoff were both complicit in two-sided gaming lobbying. If it comes down to a panel in the House covered by CSPAN we need a fast retort in our pocket drawing a line to a Rep ex Rep in jail they gave money to involved in this somehow. Maybe Ney or Cunningham or someone has a close enough degree of separation we can use. Ney is the best bet as he was in leadership at some point. Something along the lines of you and jack abramoff both gave money and lobbied together in the UIGEA effort with Rep X or Sen X. The more disgraced or name recognizable the Republican the better. You can't win on the merits of an argument as much as its one-liner appeal and saying Abramoff lobbied for Party is just enough true they can use it, we just need a comeback schoolyard style.

[Legislurker]

To go with Berge's concern, we still don't have an answer Im comfortable with when people ask me, well who/what is the PPA.
Its going to come back to haunt us, and maybe we don't need to go as far as Mason wants, but we need to be fully transparent and transition swiftly to a democratic board.

[DeadMoneyDad]

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To go with Berge's concern, we still don't have an answer Im comfortable with when people ask me, well who/what is the PPA.
Its going to come back to haunt us, and maybe we don't need to go as far as Mason wants, but we need to be fully transparent and transition swiftly to a democratic board.

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IMO the kind of transparency especially the financials would likely hurt more than help anything. Because it is my opinion that it would show the amount of money raise from other than industry sources is pretty poor relative to the totals.

Call it a Field of Dreams moment in an organizations evolution. "They have built it", were are the point where it is up to us to "come." If we the regular members step up and do what needs to be done, then the issue of the amount of seed money to the organization goes away.

IMO the PPA is at fault for not providing a nice enough field or atractions to the park before things like the DC fly-in to over come this "are they worth it" common objections. It has also been somewhat lacking in using a number events to spark member motivation and involvment. I will not belabor this point, but there have been quite a number of issues where little sparks could have been helped into nice little brush fires of activity.

But the PPA currently is at a point where we and it has to decide what it wants to be, either an industry funded lobbying group that calls itself a grassroots organization, or a grassroots organization that has execlent lobbing and consulting help.

But I do place an equal share of blame on the members and non-members. Politics isn't rocket sicence, but it is hard work. Done right it can be a lot of fun. Too many people in this country are accustomed to sitting on the sidelines or barely participating and simply bitching about the system and the result they get from minimal participation.

This standoffisness has been all to evident in the almost 2 1/2 years of the PPA. Not building beyond the freeroll stage of membership has been the key problem IMO.


D$D