July 4th, 2008
Happy Fourth of July everyone!
First I’d like to apologize for not hitting the forum for quite some time. I had a family illness that took a lot of my time.
Parts of my responsibilities are to visit various politicians to determine if they are a friend or foe to our cause. An obvious clue is how they have voted or intend to vote on Bills and Amendments that affect our cause.
Yesterday I met with Bryan Kendro, Senior Legislative Assistant to Congressman Jim Gerlach of Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District http://gerlach.house.gov/District/ . I was accompanied by Pete Segal, a PPA member and constituent of Gerlach’s. Congressman Gerlach was one of the “Nay” votes that lead to the defeat of the HR5767 amendment to the UIEGA. If you’re not familiar with this amendment and its purpose, go to http://theppa.org/headlines/2008/06/24/hr5767-selected-coverage-of-hr5767-markup-congressional-hearing/
If you haven’t already done so, look at the video testimony of this hearing, particularly that of Congressman Bachus (R-AL). It’s amusing to say the least! Congressman Bachus seems to attribute most of the worlds ills to online gambling, at one point quoting a McGill University “Study” (really a thesis from what I could see) that claims that 30% of underage gamblers commit suicide! While I’m not sure how many underage gamblers there are, I suspect that we’d all be tripping over bodies if this were true. The same study apparently claims that 80% of children 8-18 years have a gambling issue! Must be a lot of lunch money being put at risk out there.
PPA’s purpose for this meeting was to determine why Congressman Gerlach voted against this amendment, what his general stand is on poker, if he has been hearing from our members, and if there is any position on current or future bills that he feels comfortable with that supports our goals.
Mr. Kendro stated that Gerlach’s Nay vote was due to his belief that the UIEGA should be either repealed or enacted as is. His belief is that this amendment would have only served to delay the implementation of the act. It is his opinion that the legality of internet gambling should be decided by the States, not the Fed.
Bryan stated that Congressman Gerlach makes no distinction between any forms of gambling. “Gambling is gambling is gambling” is how it was put. Obviously this is counter to our belief that Poker is a game of skill and does not bode well as an indication of his future votes on the subject. We did ask for his positions on both HR 2046 and 2610 that would license the activity while safeguarding our citizens. Mr. Kendro was unfamiliar with these but said he would research them and get back to us.
Bryan indicated that he had indeed heard from membership. I can’t stress how important this is! Phone calls and letters are best and really get their attention. Frankly that’s probably why we wound up with a senior assistant instead of a more junior one.
Congressman Gerlach is running for election and is vulnerable. He only won by about 500 votes in the last election in spite of his district being gerrymandered by the Republican Congress (Note the big hole full of Democrats that was chopped from the middle of his district!). We currently have about 1500 PPA members residing in the 6th, so we could potentially determine the next election!
Overall I would rate Gerlach as Neutral at best, probably leaning towards the negative towards our issues. I do think that if presented with good solid information supporting our issues and continued contact by his constiuents we could move him up the scale.
I will be contacting Gerlach’s opponent, Democrat Bob Roggio next week to try and determine his stance on our issues. I’ll report back to you with this information as well as any clarification on Gerlach’s part as soon as I can.
Tripp
