Muny Defends Perceived ‘Meekness’ in Poker Players Alliance Response to GOP Platform

Following a scathing report on PokerFuse.com accusing the Poker Players Alliance of not properly reacting to last week’s announced GOP agenda to essentially eradicate online gambling, that grassroots organization’s Director Richard Muny immediately went on the defensive this past weekend.

The GOP platform as it pertains to Internet gambling reads:

Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the prohibition of gambling over the Internet and call for reversal of the Justice Department’s decision distorting the formerly accepted meaning of the Wire Act that could open the door to Internet betting. The Internet must be made safe for children.

While there are those insisting that poker will be exempt from such a Republican policy stance, most believe it is doubtful the party will make any distinctions between sports betting, casino gambling and poker. 

Haley Hintze wrote the editorial piece for PokerFuse citing the PPA’s lack of any aggressive response.

So what would you do if you’re a single-issue lobbying organization whose very raison d'être has been slammed by the same party you’ve been courting?

The answer turned out to be… not much. If ever an instant occurred where the PPA should have picked up the phones and screamed to GOP policymakers that they represented a million-plus poker players who knew how to vote, that instant was earlier this week.

Along the way, a proper political shot-over-the-bow would have mentioned the demise of Iowa Rep. Jim Leach, one of the four legislative horsemen of the UIGEA apocalypse, who suffered an unexpected loss in a tight 2006 reelection battle to Dave Loebsack.

Loebsack upset Leach by less than 6,000 votes in a race which analysts subsequently speculated may have tipped due to online poker players upset at the UIGEA’s passage just weeks earlier, led by Leach, Bill Frist, Jon Kyl and Robert Goodlatte. Loebsack carried the Iowa City area alone (home to the University of Iowa, and many online players) by more than 8,000 votes.

The PPA message should have been: “Once in a while, special-interest blocs do matter. Do you really want to antagonize us?”

Muny followed up with this response:

Thanks for the kind words on my personal efforts. It is true that I submitted the two pro-poker suggestions that hit #1 on the GOP platform website and that I pushed that action through my social network. It is also true that I have taken the lead in organizing the poker community to reach out to lawmakers to let them know our feelings on all of this.

That being said, I'm not following your attack on PPA at all. You state that poker has tremendous opposition within the GOP, conceding right off the bat that it's an extremely tough fight.

Assuming you're not blaming PPA for the fact that some social conservatives oppose online poker, I fail to see where you think PPA failed. Are you suggesting that PPA should give on on trying to move legislation through Congress because you think it's too hard? We should stop all dialog with them and allow our opponents to own this issue, as 
they did prior to UIGEA's passage in the House by 317-96 (as HR 4411 in 
2006)?

By "wave the stick," are you suggesting press releases talking about retaliation. Oooh, that will show them! It's a little late for that. If someone gets shoved to the ground, that person cannot just wave the stick. That person will have to use it. In poker's case, surely it's time to show action rather than talk about it.

As for your new organization, I definitely encourage you to take the lead there. The more, the merrier. We will all ally in the fight. And, when you get attacked for waging a war as an underdog by people who think there are a bunch of shortcuts by which we could achieve a simple, clean victory, I hope you'll graciously offer up a humble apology for failing to find and exploit those mythical quick roads to victory.

The rest of us will continue waging what we have -- a very tough fight but one with a real strategy. PPA has won over many Republicans, including Rep. Barton and Rep. Campbell. Opponents now see that they won't be able to pass legislation banning all online gaming (for which we can all thank the PPA and the poker community...our offense has been a terrific defense). It is clear some will accept licensing of poker if it means they can keep states from authorizing online casino gaming. It is also clear that others will support us simply because we're right on the issue and because we are an active group.

PPA has also done a great job of bringing all the disparate interests to the table. Many now see online poker not as an "if", but as a "when and how" (thanks to PPA's outreach to the DoJ on the Wire Act and to the legal victories you cited). After all, if we don't get federal legislation passed this year, we will surely see more and more states authorizing online poker. That's no secret on Capitol Hill.

So, while we all hate that the GOP platform attacked online poker and no one wishes to downplay its significance, let's all remember not overreact either. After all, it was added by a handful of social conservative activists and it not binding on anyone. It is what it is, but we'll keep pressing forward in our fight for our rights.

The lame duck session looks as promising as ever. I believe we are better than a coin flip there and I encourage everyone to do their part to keep pressure on Congress for action by the end of this year.

- Ace King, Gambling911.com