As previously noted, last week Troy King had his much-anticipated press conference to outline his position on Gov. Riley's anti-gaming task force. The end result was a lot of sizzle with no steak. Although the AG reasserted his authority to be able to shut down the task force, he did not take any action, 'criticizing' the actions instead.
In today's Birmingham News, Joey Kennedy provides a good analysis of the issue which you can read here. Kennedy acknowledges that King's conflicts of interest with the gaming interests make it difficult for him to step in. The Decatur Times Daily provides another detailed look at the issue which highlights Gov. Riley's position on the issue which you can read here.
I think it's worth pointing out that the point of this blog is not to defend every action Gov. Riley has taken. Although we are of the opinion that large-scale casino gambling would be a social and long-term economic detriment to Alabama, that does not mean that there aren't conflicts of interest on both sides of the issue. It also does not mean that Riley's task force may have overstepped its bounds in certain points.
The point of this blog is to highlight the difficulty of these problems and the need for an AG with strong conservative principles to take them on. King is approaching this issue with his hands tied behind his back because of his connections to gaming interests. His 'criticisms' fell on deaf ears, as John Tyson (the task force leader) immediately announced that he had no intention of taking King's criticisms seriously.
As Kennedy rightly points out, it's difficult to find credibility on the gambling issue right now. King is definitely not the right guy moving forward, either.
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