Poker Media Outlets Silent on Ethics Concerns Likely to Derail Michigan Bill
- Online poker measure sponsor married to woman employed by lobbying firm pushing for that legalization
- Poker media outlets ignore conflict of interest concerns that threaten to sink bill’s prospect of passing
- Common Cause Director calls development “pretty troubling set of circumstances”
- ”Reinforces idea that lawmakers aren’t there to represent the people, but they’re doing the bidding of special interests.”
While much has been made of the “marriage of convenience” between a Michigan state Senator and his wife’s lobbying firm backing the online poker bill he’s trying to push through as law, the poker media outlets continue to paint a rosy picture of SB 889’s likelihood of passage.
“Michigan Online Poker Legalization Has Great Chances For 2016” was the glaring headline that appeared on the CardPlayer.com website just hours before Michigan’s largest newspaper, the Detroit Free Press, published a scathing report on that bill’s author, Mike Kowal, failing to disclose that his wife Eileen has been working for the lobbying firm pushing for said piece of legislation.
By Monday, nary a word on the subject, not even from the CalvinAyre.com website, which typically doesn’t hold back when it comes to reporting on negative stories impacting the poker landscape (credit PokerSites.us for beginning to cover this story as we were going to press).
The idea that anyone would still vote on this legislation and risk being tied to a measure that screams of “conflict of interest” should have had the poker media doing an about face by now.
PokerStars parent company, Amaya, is utilizing registered lobbying firm MGS Consultants, which counts Kowall’s wife, Eileen, among the firm’s five lobbyists.
“It seems like a pretty troubling set of circumstances,” said Melanie McElroy, executive director for the watchdog group Common Cause.
“It’s troubling Sen. Kowall would sponsor legislation that would enrich MGS — a consulting firm that employs his wife,” McElroy added.
The state Senator insists there is no conflict of interest since his wife will not be working directly on the project, yet Eileen Kowal did attend a hearing on the matter earlier this month.
McElroy said “this reinforces in the public’s mind the idea that lawmakers aren’t there to represent the people, but they’re doing the bidding of special interests.”
One Michigan voter, Steve Oakley, commented: “An appearance of conflict should be more than enough to abstain from voting on the bill.”
- Nagesh Rath, Gambling911.com
