Online Poker Nemesis "Vile" Kyl has Alienated the Media

In the world of online poker, Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl is affectionately known as "Vile" Kyl.  Since this is a family website, we won't get into details as to what this community calls him behind closed doors. 

Beginning in 1998, pushed along by the major sports leagues and horse racing lobbyists, Senator Jon Kyl began drafting bills that sought to ban online poker and other forms of gambling.  He tried and failed every year since that point (skipping only one year to press the issue).

Desperate, Jon Kyl worked with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last October to attach his piece of legislation to an unrelated port security act that he knew would receive a near unanimous vote.  The ploy worked and born was the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA), which is actually a more watered down version of previous measures he and a few cronies in Congress had drafted up. 

The port security bill, eventually signed into law by President George W. Bush (who some say probably didn't even see the attached Internet gambling legislation), essentially stipulates that banking institutions must have in place a means of monitoring online gambling transactions and be able to prevent said transactions via credit card come mid-July.  The new law does not make it illegal for gamblers to place bets online.

And the new law specifically allowed for carve-out niches for Jon Kyl's friends - the horse racing lobbyists and the professional sports leagues.  Yes, Little Johnny can bet horses online and the banks can allow such transactions.  Likewise, online fantasy sports leagues and state lotteries are legalized under the UIGEA. 

Kyl gambled on the idea that online bettors were nothing more than degenerates who had little political clout.  Former New York Senator Alfonse D'Amato meanwhile has assumed the role of Chairperson for the powerful 542,973 member strong Poker Players Alliance, and Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, Barney Frank has proposed his own piece of legislation that in many ways would repeal the UIGEA.  Needless-to-say, Jon Kyl has underestimated the political clout behind the online poker community.

The Senator may have also underestimated the power of the press and its ability to uncover stories.

Such was the case last week when journalists unmasked Jon Kyl as the lone individual who placed a secret hold on Senate Bill 849, also known as the Open Government Act of 2007.  How ironic!

The news media has now labeled Senator Jon Kyl as “Senator Secrecy" - and with good reason.

The bill would significantly reform the federal Freedom of Information Act, which is one of the strongest tools Americans have to supervise the inner workings of government and to hold elected officials accountable.

The Senate bill has bipartisan support and the unanimous approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a nearly identical version of the bill in March. The secret hold blocked the bill from a Senate vote on May 24.

SPJ members helped unmask Kyl by asking every U.S. senator whether he or she placed the secret hold. Members reported their findings online.

On May 31, Ryan Patmintra, Kyl’s press secretary, confirmed that Kyl placed the hold to allow for more negotiations among him, bill co-sponsor Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and the U.S. Department of Justice. It is no secret that Kyl has concerns about the Open Government Act, Patmintra said.

So why the secret hold then?

“If Sen. Kyl's concerns are no secret, then why would he insist on working from the shadows to place a hold on this very important legislation?” asked Christine Tatum, SPJ's President and an assistant features editor at The Denver Post. “The irony of secretly blocking a vote on a bill that would make government more transparent is supreme. Sen. Kyl should feel pretty silly.”

Kyl is behind another bill that concerns SPJ. Known as the Kyl Amendment, this bill would criminalize the leaking—and publishing—of classified information.

“So, Sen. Kyl is ‘Senator Secrecy’ in more ways than one,” Tatum said.

Bloggers have also jumped on the "Bash Jon Kyl" bandwagon. 

"You may be asking yourself, who the hell is Jon Kyl and why is he trying to single-handedly wreck America?" asks one blogger at OneCitizenSpeaking.com

The blogger goes onto express further apprehensions as to what Mr. Kyl has done and why he feels the Arizona Senator is "wrecking" America: