Online Poker: George Bush and Family Values According to Jon Kyl

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl (R) wants President George W. Bush to know he still supports him.  The staunch advisory of online poker sent the President a letter thanking him for his protection of family values and urging him to act immediately in ensuring that the forthcoming regulations for the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) are as stringent as possible.

The UIGEA was a measure Kyl attached to the unrelated Port Security Bill, with most of his colleagues seemingly unaware until it was time to vote.  Kyl's "family values" as they related to this bill include carve-out niches for horse racing and state lotteries, thus ensuring the state of Arizona is not impeded by his bill. 

Kyl also made sure to exempt Fantasy Sports from the new law. 

The New York Sun criticized Kyl's position. 

"Happily for baseball, Mr. Kyl's ban on online gambling includes a carve-out for fantasy sports," the article explains. "Five card stud might be crack, but apparently the crystal meth that is fantasy baseball is fine with the good senator, who obligingly cleared out a whole gang of rival dealers so that MLB and the other major team sports could sling their product on the corner.

"Head over to MLB.com and you'll be pointed to clean destinations where you can wager on baseball through fantasy sports leagues - a good, legal way to spend some of that cash you otherwise would have burned in your virtual crackpipe."

The author then claims that according to records accessed through the Center for Responsive Politics, Kyl raked in $41 398 from MLB executives and the game's political action committee last year.

In John Kyl's world it is okay for Little Johnny to steal his parents credit card
just as long as he does not use it to play poker online.  Theoretically, if Johnny
were to steal his parents credit card and use it to bet horses online, John Kyl might
reward him with a cookie.  Kyl ensured it is legal to bet horses over the Internet, much to the chagrin of Little Johnny's parents.

And Kyl's letter - now being circulated throughout the Senate - was rather unusually timed.

He began distributing the letter a day after chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank, announced he will be submitting legislation to repeal the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which looks to prevent credit card companies and banks from honoring online gambling transactions.

Senator Kyl hit back at Frank.

"Any progress made over the last several months may evaporate if immediate action is not taken to ensure strong and effective implementing regulations," Kyl said in the letter.

The letter circulated throughout the Senate by week's end.

"The politics of protecting state lotteries and Indian gaming is comical at times," said one Senator under the condition of anonymity.  "Where are the families that this letter represents?

"Jon Kyl is like the instigator and teacher's pet in Junior High.  You know, the one who always brings an apple to class.  All the other students talk bad about him behind his back but because he is deemed as scholastically intelligent, they all vote him into Student Counsel."

Kyl Wants Press, ACLU Silenced?

The Arizona Republic featured an editorial expressing concerns over Kyl's latest moves.

Arizona U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl is pushing a law so broadly drafted it could leave journalists exposed to criminal liability for publishing information concerning the government's counterterrorism efforts, open government advocates warn in a story posted by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Here's what the story said: Kyl is seeking an Amendment to an espionage law that would criminalize the publication of information "concerning efforts by the United States to identify, investigate, or prevent terrorist activity," according to a report by Cox Newspapers. Kyl's Amendment would also boost the penalty for violating that provision, from 10 years in prison to 20 years.

Critics contend that this broadly worded provision is unnecessary to protect the government's classified intelligence methods, which are already prohibited from disclosure under the espionage statute Kyl seeks to change. Instead, open government advocates say Kyl's law amounts to an Official Secrets Act – a reference to the British laws criminalizing the unauthorized disclosure of government information – that will stifle whistleblowers and chill the news media's attempts to report on the effectiveness of and other issues surrounding the government's anti-terrorism activities.

"It seems the intent is to go after the press and go after organizations like the ACLU to prevent and prohibit and chill a legitimate debate of policy concerns," said Patrice McDermott, executive director of OpenTheGovernment.org. 

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com

Originally published March 18, 2007 6:34 pm ET