A gambling constitutional amendment came close to making it to the ballot this year. It missed the three-fifths threshold, the tally required for passage, in a test vote in the Alabama Senate earlier this year despite sailing through the House of Representatives.
A few Baldwin County lawmakers, including State Reps. Donna Givens (R-Loxley), Matt Simpson (R-Daphne) and Francis Holk-Jones (R-Foley), voted for the bill.
Despite an amendment to the enabling legislation and lawmakers' reassurances that casino gambling would not come to Baldwin County, skepticism remained. Without the gambling prohibition in the Alabama Constitution, the legislature could revise its view on gambling on the Baldwin County portion of Alabama's coastline.
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon is among the skeptics who said the measures taken by pro-gambling lawmakers to keep casino gambling out of Baldwin County were not sufficient.
During an interview with Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5, Kennon voiced his frustration about the possibility of casinos in Baldwin County once the Alabama Constitution was amended.
“No, hell no — forgive me. I don't want to see a casino within 100 miles of Baldwin County," he said. "And once the Constitution is changed, then location, how many, is completely at the whim of the legislature. And anybody that supports casinos down here, I will do my best. I never get involved in other races. I will do my best to get them out of office because there is nothing about a casino that's socially redeemed. Now, I'm not even taking — I'm not looking at it from a moral perspective because I love to play poker. But I know casinos bring nothing but trouble — prostitution, crime, theft, drugs. During the oil spill, I've talked with pretty much all the matriarchs and patriarchs of Biloxi and Gulfport. And almost every one of them, to a person, said the same thing: The biggest mistake they ever made was bringing the casinos to their coast. It just ruined their communities. And it's second."
"Any government that thinks they got to have gambling dollars to balance their budget, they all need to resign and get somebody in that knows how to run a business," Kennon continued. "So, when I hear that crap, when I hear about how revenue — well, the first off, the revenue never goes where it's supposed to. It's going to end up in New Jersey, Atlantic City or Nevada, or some other big gambling cabal. So, it's all nonsense. It's a fraud. It's a fake. And all this stuff about how good it does. It's just absolutely, to me, it's a lie. And I think if you research it, the research backs that up over and over and over again. It's just so much money from the gambling lobby and so much pressure — these people cave into it, and it sickens me, it truly sickens me. But no, that's something I get hot about real quick because it would absolutely ruin our community and who we are."
Kennon questioned the judgment of lawmakers who did not recognize the risk of altering Alabama's constitution.
"[O]nce it's eliminated from the constitutional issues, it is at the whim of the legislators," Kennon said. "And Alabama's proven itself in a lot of ways to be no different from the federal government. The legislators that kept saying, 'Oh, we're going to protect Baldwin County, we're going to...' They were so full of it that it sickened me because if they didn't know that we were at risk once it was removed from the Constitution, then they should not be representing us — because they're either ignorant or incompetent or they're liars. But none of the three are very complimentary. So no, once that door is open, buddy, they're coming. And they're going to do everything they can get down here to the beach, just like they did in Mississippi. You know, just like in New Orleans. And we'll turn into the dump that all the rest of them are."
The Orange Beach mayor said it also raised questions about the conservative bona fides of Baldwin County politicians who claimed the mantle of social conservatism in their election campaigns.
"I never knew that because certain ones presented themselves as social conservatives, and we're starting to see now whether they're more social liberals, RINOs or maybe they're just Democrats with sheep's clothing," Kennon explained. "I don't know, but I can promise you that they would even consider casinos in Baldwin County or allow the situation to present itself and that it could happen. Again, they're not on my list for re-election. So now I'm sure I'm not making any friends there. But again, I go back. I'm not making any kind of moral judgments on gambling. I mean, that's for adults to decide. Lottery, that's sort of a different animal altogether. You know, that's something you do at home. That's something that doesn't affect others for the most part. I mean, you can make the addiction argument."
"But when you start talking about casinos, you do the research — there is nothing, nothing socially redeemable about a casino in any community whatsoever," he added. "But I'm realizing, well, it's just like Baldwin County is supposed to be an extremely red county. Well, we've got a very liberal school board, a driven school board, that sickens me. So, you know, where are the social conservatives in Baldwin County fighting to turn that school board around to a very socially conservative school board or conservative school board? There's a lot of things wrong. Sometimes, I don't know if we're red, but I think we may be just more pink than we are red.”
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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