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

[TheEngineer]

August 6, 2007

Mr. Steve Beshear
PO BOX 4227
Frankfort, KY 40604

Dear Mr. Beshear:

I am writing to thank you for your strong advocacy of casino gambling for Kentucky. I feel very strongly that we should be allowed to make our own decision on how to spend our own money. As such, I support your candidacy for governor. Please accept my attached campaign contribution.

I personally enjoy playing a little poker after work, either online or at one of the bricks-and-mortar casinos in Indiana (where it seems plenty of the vehicles have Kentucky license plates). I happen to be skilled enough at the game to win significantly more than I lose, but that’s not really the point. Poker is an enjoyable game of skill, much as golfing or fishing. In fact, poker is one of the great American pastimes. Presidents, generals, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress and average Americans have enjoyed the game for more than 150 years. It’s an honorable game.

Out of love for freedom, immediately after last year’s Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act passed I started advocating for its repeal on various web sites. Posting as “TheEngineer”, many of my fellow Internet poker enthusiasts and I have made progress toward our ultimate goal. One step I took was to develop and post a congressional voting guide for poker players and others who value freedom, which is posted at several websites, such as www.eog.com/news/industry.aspx?id=28374. It’s gotten quite popular, and I plan to expand this as much as possible over the next year. In fact, if you Google “Geoff Davis gambling”, you’ll see my guide at positions #1, #5, #9, and #10. Results are similar for almost all 438 congressmen/delegates, so it does have decent readership already. I attached the July 31, 2007 edition for your review.

I’ll add this race to the August 31 edition of the guide. As Gov. Ernie Fletcher has chosen to campaign on restricting our freedoms to appeal to poker prohibitionists, I will award him an “F” for his efforts while endorsing your candidacy.

Keep up the good work! I hope you’ll consider legislation favorable to Internet gaming as you review the options for the new bricks-and-mortar casinos.

Sincerely,

[real name]

[voter guide attached]

[TheEngineer]

Is the above letter okay? (I corrected the typos already.)

[Legislurker]

The problem may lie in the old arguemnt.........online gaming drains revenue from brick and mortar gaming revenue..............Kentucky gets no money for us playing at Stars(still feels weird to not say Party as the default room).
When it comes down to backroom deals, we may be out in the cold as no industry presence is there to line up long term political donations/votes. Ill give some money and some calls, but I am not sure what benefit im describing ot Kentucky to back online gaming, unless they want to base some kind of nationwideremote gaming there.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem may lie in the old arguemnt.........online gaming drains revenue from brick and mortar gaming revenue..............Kentucky gets no money for us playing at Stars(still feels weird to not say Party as the default room).
When it comes down to backroom deals, we may be out in the cold as no industry presence is there to line up long term political donations/votes. Ill give some money and some calls, but I am not sure what benefit im describing ot Kentucky to back online gaming, unless they want to base some kind of nationwideremote gaming there.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's an excellent observation, and I'm glad you asked me about it. IMHO, this election has been cast as gambling vs. social conservatism. That's our fight. The fight will occur with or without us, so we ought to plant our flag now, I think, rather than after the election.

If we win here, it will enhance our chances in Congress greatly. First, it will show our side can win a conservative state. Next, we'll be able to tell McConnell to listen to the voters. And, we'll pick up a lot of good press coverage, as we already are (even if not the Internet side of things, at least gaming vs social conservatism in general). Finally, (and it pains me as a Republican to say this, but I'm poker-first now) a win here will help sow the seeds of a 2008 Republican electoral bloodbath, which will clearly help us (as my analysis of the party divide in the "House Report Card" thread showed).

There's a ton here for us with very little downside. The reverse doesn't help us at all, as Fletcher has come down very strongly for laws to keep people from hurting themselves. Mr. Nanny-stater surely won't help Internet poker. In fact, he could conceivably push for a law like Washington's, to show his appreciation (he's not hinted at such a thing, but I tend to be distrustful of politicians who make the types of statements Fletcher's been making).

[ QUOTE ]
Ill give some money and some calls

[/ QUOTE ]

Cool, thanks. I hope we all will. A little momentum here will be great for our side.

[ QUOTE ]
unless they want to base some kind of nationwide remote gaming there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Once Beshear wins, we'll definitely want to push him for that. That's why I'm planting the seeds now in my letter.

[Legislurker]

I don't think he will credit us with a win, but it would be a good dry run to organize names, emails, phone #s etc for the master effort to unseat McConnell. We could use a master political coordinator if the PPA would fund one in Kentucky to work with the Democratic Party and organize around the existing cardrooms and universitites and big cities. If we could get 10k names down prepared to vote in 08 it would be a serious coup.

[coachkf]

[ QUOTE ]
The problem may lie in the old arguemnt.........online gaming drains revenue from brick and mortar gaming revenue..............Kentucky gets no money for us playing at Stars(still feels weird to not say Party as the default room).
When it comes down to backroom deals, we may be out in the cold as no industry presence is there to line up long term political donations/votes. Ill give some money and some calls, but I am not sure what benefit im describing ot Kentucky to back online gaming, unless they want to base some kind of nationwideremote gaming there.

[/ QUOTE ]

If he's for bringing B&M's to Kentucky for the tax revenue, it's not a stretch to think he'd be for allowing online poker/gambling as well, for the additional revenue. If online poker is legalized and some states opt in, you'd think KY would be one. My own state, Tennessee, on the other hand...

Well, I'm an hour from Kentucky and am not held down by job constraints, so I'd strongly consider moving if KY opted in, and TN out.

[Legislurker]

Thats the opposite. States write revenues from these places in budgets and spend them on corrupt patronage. Then the operators fear cannibalism and tell the state legislators online poker will detract from B&M poker and cost the state money. You think it is a coincidence that Louisiana and Washington have felonies for playing online poker while having physical rooms? This is what we have to fight, and I don't think that opposition will ever go away without one of two things happening. One, a federal law/ruling/treaty telling states they can't criminalize it. Two, poker players organizing(pipe dream) and boycotting rooms who don't politically support any and all legal poker.

[TheEngineer]

Everyone: If anyone has an questions, check out Gov. Fletcher's reelection website, at www.erniefletcher.com . Rather than his plans for the state, he has several articles on the "evils of gambling" and how it harms families. Not too surprising....it's not like he'd have information on government ethics or anything like that.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
Everyone: If anyone has an questions, check out Gov. Fletcher's reelection website, at www.erniefletcher.com . Rather than his plans for the state, he has several articles on the "evils of gambling" and how it harms families. Not too surprising....it's not like he'd have information on government ethics or anything like that.

[/ QUOTE ]

Fletcher updated his reelection site. Now it's ONLY about the "evils of gambling".

[TheEngineer]

Here's my letter to Gov. Fletcher. As usual, I wrote this as a Republican constituent to a Republican office holder, but please don't be put off my that if you're a Democrat. After all, I may be a Republican, but it's not like I'll be voting for many Republicans in the near future. [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

Let's make sure Fletcher, Beshear, and McConnell all hear from us. This race really will set the tone for all of 2008.

Thanks.

--------------------------------

August 9, 2007

Governor Ernie Fletcher
700 Capital Avenue
Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601

Dear Governor Fletcher:

I am writing in regards to your reelection campaign. I am a lifelong conservative Republican; pro-life and pro-Second Amendment. However, I am also pro-limited government. As such, I am very dismayed by your recent embrace of a nanny state for the good people of Kentucky. In fact, your entire reelection campaign is seemingly based only on advocacy of a position that people cannot be trusted to make their own decisions regarding playing poker or other casino games (or to even vote on the issue). Do you really believe casinos cause crime, as if it's the casino's fault and not the criminals'? Quite frankly, your claims that casinos cause crime reminds me of something Sarah Brady would say about guns! Given that you feel this way, I find it difficult to trust you with my other freedoms.

I realize you had to come up with something on which to campaign, and that could not have been an easy task for you this year. Still, couldn't you find something Republican on which to campaign? It seems you and Sen. McConnell think the majority of Kentuckians want the state government to protect them from themselves (and McConnell apparently feels the federal government needs to police the Internet to keep people from playing poker, like in Iran and China). Sorry, but if you continue on this path, I think you'll find on Election Day that this is an erroneous assumption. I urge you to at least gather some polling data, because it may just be a situation where you have too small a circle of friends who don't realize that people like to play poker and games of chance for entertainment and relaxation, and that only a very small percentage of players develop issues.

As a result of the scandals of your administration, your embrace of a nanny state, your scapegoating of the many good people in Kentucky who enjoy an occasional game of poker, and the simply fact that the Republican Party could use some housecleaning to restore us to being a party of small government (and you have an off-year election that will set the tone for the 2008 elections) -- unless you radically change course I plan to vote for Steve Beshear.

Sincerely,


[my name]


P.S. I author a monthly voting guide that gets published in many freedom-loving websites. I attached it for your review.

[guide follows]