Statement by API President on House District 40 special election

Published: February 17, 2010 - Printer Friendly Update -  Send This Article To A Friend

In a hotly-contested campaign in which casino gambling became an issue, the candidate who took a solid position against gambling won an overwhelming victory over the candidate who proclaimed he was for "letting the people vote." In a special election that drew an unusually high number of voters, Republican K.L. Brown received almost 56 percent of the vote over Democrat Ricky Whaley who received less than 42 percent.
 
Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute, said, "The gambling industry is spending millions of dollars trying to brainwash the people of Alabama into supporting casino gambling. The resounding defeat of the let-the-people-vote candidate in the House District 40 special election clearly indicates that their ads are not working.
 
"The people of Alabama know that the existing casino operations are illegal, they know the harm casino gambling does to local economies and the drain that casino gambling creates on families, churches, social service agencies and government. And they know that the mantra of ‘let the people vote’ is really a call to pass a bill that gives the gambling big shots every thing they want and then turns them loose to dump millions of dollars in a referendum to beat down the people of Alabama.
 
"The overwhelming defeat of the ‘let the people vote’ candidate in House District 40 should send a clear message that voters in Alabama do not want casinos and they apparently are not interested in candidates who are associated with gambling interests or are taking their money."

The Alabama Policy Institute is an independent, non-profit research and education organization.  As a resource to federal, state and local government, the media, and citizens, we research the issues being debated in Montgomery and Washington and provide our analysis and ideas through our publications and reports.

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