Fight UIGEA!! -- Action plan for week of 3/5 discussion thread

[TheEngineer]

Great job so far on the 2/26 action plan to stand up for our rights against the UIGEA! So, let's discuss our week of 3/5 action plan. What would you like to do? What do you think would be most effective. Thanks!

[TheEngineer]

I have a suggestion. As Party shares jumped last week on (erroneous) news that Barney Frank was going to use his role as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee to bottleneck enforcement of UIGEA, it would be a shame if Rep. Frank didn't receive a single letter or phone call from UIGEA opponents. After all, he did release a press statement on this matter, so it has his attention.

While Rep. Frank is clearly on our side here and likely always will be, we could benefit by providing him some ammo by contacting his office with our concerns and opinions. To maximize our efficiency, we could each write a letter to Rep. Frank from stratch (or leverage it from templates posted here), then tweak it a bit for other members of the House Financial Services Committee. There are a lot, so perhaps we could each pick four of them to contact (ones in our home state or adjacent states). As representatives prefer to hear from voters in thier own district, in our letters I guess we could indicate that we're contacting Frank in his capacity as the HFSC chair (that's not a local position) and the others as the closest HFSC members to our congressional district.

It seems the Republicans more likely to vote with us are moderates from non-Southern states. Many moderate Republicans are members of the Republican Main Street Partnership, so it may make sense to pick choose Republicans who are members both of the House Financial Services Committee and the Republican Main Street Partnership for our efforts. I'm not sure how to figure out which Democrats are likely to vote for us, though.

Talking points:

- This bill forces U.S. banks to act as the moral police of America; it shifts the costs to them as well.

- If any of us are stockholders in banks, complain that we're being asked to foot the bill for an act that never should have been passed (at least in our opinion, of course)

[TheEngineer]

United States House Committee on Financial Services members:

Democrats:

Barney Frank, Chairman, Massachusetts (voted against HR 4411)
Maxine Waters, California
Brad Sherman, California
Joe Baca, California (voted against HR 4411)
Ed Perlmutter, Colorado
Chris Murphy, Connecticut
Robert Wexler, Flordia
Ron Klein, Florida
Tim Mahoney, Florida
David Scott, Georgia
Jim Marshall, Georgia
Luis Gutierrez, Illinois
Melissa Bean, Illinois
Julia Carson, Indiana (voted against HR 4411)
Joe Donnelly, Indiana
Dennis Moore, Kansas
Michael Capuano, Massachusetts (voted against HR 4411)
Stephen Lynch, Massachusetts
Keith Ellison, Minnesota
William Clay, Missouri (voted against HR 4411)
Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri
Paul Hodes, New Hampshire
Albio Sires, New Jersey
Carolyn B. Maloney, New York
Nydia Velázquez, New York
Gary Ackerman, New York (voted against HR 4411)
Gregory W. Meeks, New York
Carolyn McCarthy, New York
Mel Watt, North Carolina
Brad Miller, North Carolina
Charlie Wilson, Ohio
Dan Boren, Oklahoma
Paul E. Kanjorski, Pennsylvania
Lincoln Davis, Tennessee
Ruben Hinojosa, Texas
Al Green, Texas
Gwen Moore, Wisconsin


Republicans:

Spencer Bachus, Ranking Member, Alabama
Rick Renzi, Arizona
Edward R. Royce, California
Gary Miller, California
Tom Feeney, California
John Campbell, California
Christopher Shays, Connecticut
Ginny Brown-Waite, Florida
Adam Putnam, Florida
Tom Price, Georgia
Donald Manzullo, Illinois
Judy Biggert, Illinois
Peter Roskam, Illinois
Geoff Davis, Kentucky
Richard Baker, Louisiana
Michele Bachmann, Minnesota
Scott Garrett, New Jersey
Steve Pearce, New Mexico
Peter T. King, New York
Walter B. Jones, North Carolina
Patrick McHenry, North Carolina
Deborah D. Pryce, Ohio
Paul E. Gillmor, Ohio
Steve LaTourette, Ohio
Frank Lucas, Oklahoma
Jim Gerlach, Pennsylvania
James Barrett, South Carolina
Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee
Ron Paul, Texas (voted against HR 4411)
Jeb Hensarling, Texas
Randy Neugebauer, Texas
Shelley Capito, West Virginia

[Soul Rebel]

Mel Watt (D-NC) is my congressman. I've written him several times regarding online poker and the UIGEA. Each time I get a letter back that details the issue and how he is all about personal freedoms, etc. Basically he's on our side. He'll be getting another one letter though.

[TheEngineer]

[ QUOTE ]
Mel Watt (D-NC) is my congressman. I've written him several times regarding online poker and the UIGEA. Each time I get a letter back that details the issue and how he is all about personal freedoms, etc. Basically he's on our side. He'll be getting another one letter though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent! Glad to hear we're getting some support on Capitol Hill. I really think many of these poliiticans believed the spin the social conservatives put on this issue and are now seeing the light. I spoke with Harry Reid's assistant yesterday. I think he's moving in our direction as well. He sent Arnold Snyder an affirmative letter a few days ago, which is welcome news.

If you focus this letter to Mel Watt on banking issues, you should be in great shape to tweak it a bit and sent it to Barney Frank and a couple of others.

Too bad we didn't start doing this as a group last year. I really wish I had. It's an uphill fight now, but we're starting to be heard.

[TheEngineer]

Also, there is ongoing tension between the Religious Right and the rest of the Republican Party. This growing schism will likely help us. The voters rejected the anti-freedom policies of the Religious Right in 2006, and congressmen heard that loud and clear. They'll have to move back to the limited-government model of Reagan and the Contract with America if they wish to regain their majority in Congress.

[Uglyowl]

[ QUOTE ]
Mel Watt (D-NC) is my congressman. I've written him several times regarding online poker and the UIGEA. Each time I get a letter back that details the issue and how he is all about personal freedoms, etc. Basically he's on our side. He'll be getting another one letter though.

[/ QUOTE ]

Soul Rebel... Ship him a little bit of money if you can. $25 is what I usually do and it has been surprisingly effective.

[Belok]

Not sure if this has been discussed before...

With the WSOP coming up and lots of poker players soon to be given their 15 seconds of fame on tv... What if there was a collaborative effort between players to get the message out there.

Basically, anybody who is aware of the idea and will be playing in any of the WSOP events could have a quick 10-second "Fight the UIGEA" message that they could plan on saying once the cameras are pointed at them...

This would help bring more awareness to the non-pros out there, and make the cause more popular. Best of all, its free.

Has this been discussed? It would be relatively free to organize and execute...the biggest hurdle would be convincing players to do it.

If the PPA tried to start a movement like this, I bet it would rally a lot of support from the poker community.

Thoughts?

[SlapPappy]

ESPN would edit it out I'm guessing. If they wouldn't that would be tremendous exposure.

I wish they would talk about it more on High Stakes Poker. I know they the pros are trying to concentrate while playing but I think it would be in their best interest if they play on the internet.

I know Barry G. has hinted at the ban somewhat. But I have yet to hear him or anyone mention the UIGEA specifically.

[Belok]

[ QUOTE ]
ESPN would edit it out I'm guessing. If they wouldn't that would be tremendous exposure.

I wish they would talk about it more on High Stakes Poker. I know they the pros are trying to concentrate while playing but I think it would be in their best interest if they play on the internet.

I know Barry G. has hinted at the ban somewhat. But I have yet to hear him or anyone mention the UIGEA specifically.

[/ QUOTE ]

You think they would? As long as nobody was affiliated with a particular site online, I think they would let some slip.

Plus, if most of the internet players (which would account for the majority of the field) were talking about it during interviews, at the table, etc... Something would have to get through.


If i happen to qualify for some events this year, I'm definitely going to custom make some "Legalize it" "Frist bad, poker good" etc shirts and wear them myself. Screw endorsements, this is a real cause.


HSP would definitely be some great exposure too...But for whatever reason it seems like all but Aba/Wasika have their own agenda, and online poker isnt part of it.