The Clown Files: Maine Has White Supremacist Sympathizer in Charge of Sports Betting (Update)
If you are going to enter the regulated sports betting space in the US, might as well do it with a bang.
Maine is grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons.
It's one thing for the head of the Maine Gambling Control Unit to refer to women as "bitches". That's pretty bad by itself. But apparently that wasn't enough. Let's defend a known white supremacist group while we're at it while offering up a racially insensitive remark to boot.
Milt Champion, the Gambling Control Unit’s executive director, was placed on paid on May 17 in the wake of tweets he posted containing sexist language and racist connotations, just in May alone.
On July 7, Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck finally announced the punishment: A five day suspension without pay and he must undergo training on workplace harassment and social media apologies.
On May 6, Champion expressed frustration about being told “ladies” was an unprofessional term for females, and suggested “Bitches” would be more appropriate.
The next tweet supporting the white supremacist group we could see coming a mile away as it was pretty obvious he's already fallen deep down the rabbit hole. News flash: Certain terms commonly used to describe individuals have gone on to be deemed "offensive" throughout the last century. This isn't something new or woke. Anyone want to bet the Over/Under number of times Mr. Champion has used the word "woke" in the past month? We'll take the Over 68.5 please.
The local press was characterizing this as a "racially insensitive" incident, which is how we referred to it above as that's the rationale behind his suspension. We get that it is. But is anyone asking what compelled him to defend a tweet by Brian Krassenstein describing the Patriot Front as a "hate group in the United States that espouses white nationalism and neo-fascist ideologies".
Champion seems to be okay with these people. They don't burn down stores apparently.
Authorities arrested 31 members of this group after they were found packed into the back of a U-Haul truck in 2021. Something tells us they weren't there to raise the rainbow flag. Instead, police say the men planned to start a potentially violent riot at a Pride celebration. Ironically, two of those arrested had ties to On Fire Ministries.
A propaganda banner hung by members of the white nationalist group burst into flames and fell into traffic lanes on Interstate 3, but they don't burn things apparently?
Property of the People released more than 1,200 pages of public records detailing the hate group's presence in the city and on the North Idaho College campus in 2021.
Maybe they haven't set fires, but they were engaging in vandalism according to the leaked docs, Mr. Champion. Same thing.
The Legislature’s Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee handles gambling legislation in Maine. Rep. Laura Supica, D-Bangor, is the co-chair of the committee, and she told News Center Maine that she agreed with how the Department of Public Safety handled Champion after the tweets.
“I personally support the decision to have a leave of absence,” she said. “I think the comments that were made were sexist and racist, and not representative of our values. So, I think that that was the correct decision to make.”
Uhhh....is he going to be forced to take sensitivity training while on his paid leave?
Ms. Supica, your comments ring shallow.
Has this guy even apologized?
That would be a big fat Nooooooo.
This isn't his first rodeo. Champion once suggested the Washington NFL franchise was no more because they changed another name that's been deemed offensive.
"I know what you’re going to say but after 63 years I’m going from a Redskins fan to an Eagles fan. Redskins are no more..."
Maybe Champion is in sensitivity training and will come out and apologize, who knows? Our money is on the NO.
Thousands of qualified people for any head gambling regulator position read the Gambling911.com website. Fortunately for Champion, few of these folks live in Maine.
A real test would be to force Champion to read this article. If he curses us out, he can't be changed. If he reads this article and says to himself or those around him, "I deserve the criticism", there is hope.
- Frank Doyle, Gambling911.com
