I wrote to one of my congressman's staffers:

Hi *****,

I hope all is well. I wanted to apprise the congressman’s office of a letter some anti-gaming groups just sent to Speaker Boehner, which you’ll find attached. While no one honestly thinks Congress will pass legislation banning all online gaming – especially in the short time window that is available (prior to states authorizing intrastate gaming) – it is disturbing in the larger context. These are groups that purport to speak for conservatism, yet they are actively advocating bigger government, executive branch expansion, and reduced states' rights.

When these groups complain that the executive branch will no longer read a broad ban on online gaming into the Wire Act, rather than the ban on interstate online wagering on sporting events or contests that is defined in the actual text of the legislation, that is of great concern to me as a REINS-endorsing limited government conservative. The Constitution defines a process by which the legislative branch writes the laws, the judicial branch interprets them, and the executive branch enforces them. When groups like these insist that the executive branch perform all three functions unilaterally, they weaken the case for Constitutional government and separation of powers as a matter of principle, while also weakening the principle-based case for REINS (my principle-based case for REINS: http://www.geoffdavis.house.gov/News...umentID=205179).

In addition, the aims of the letter are harmful to the Commonwealth, as their request would apply to interstate horse race wagering conducted under the auspices of the Interstate Horse Racing Act. Horse racing interests have had enough problems due to prior executive branch overreach on the scope of the Wire Act of the sort these groups champion. It is sad that they advocate compounding this.

Regarding the state-level bills that concern the groups so much, I agree that we don't need a patchwork of state laws with the federal government left holding the enforcement bag, nor should we have states erecting trade barriers against other states. Our founders included the commerce clause in the Constitution for very good reasons and we ought not violate that important principle here. After all, just as our nation would never permit Indiana (for example) to bar automobiles manufactured in Kentucky on the grounds that Indiana could socialize auto manufacturing for the financial benefit of the state, surely we ought not have state lotteries or other instate interests granted federally-enforced exclusive monopolies over online gaming. Additionally, online instant scratch-off lottery tickets -- the functional equivalent of an online slot machine -- would surely compete directly with private businesses in many states.

There is a better way forward. HR 2366, Rep. Barton’s Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection, and Strengthening UIGEA Act, actually gives these anti-gaming groups what they want, but in a way that respects our principles and our Constitution. Rather than upending states’ rights and limited government principles, we can instead license and regulate interstate horse racing and games of skill like poker in a manner consistent with the commerce clause and limited government principles, while preserving states’ rights with a state ‘opt-out’ provision. I had a great discussion with Grover Norquist on this prior to the 2010 election that you may find of interest (read at http://poker.blogtownhall.com/2010/0...ne_poker.thtml).

For the Commonwealth, conservatism, consumer protection, law enforcement, and liberty, I ask that Rep. Davis cosponsor HR 2366. I think it’s the right bill at the right time and I hope the congressman will give this due consideration.

Thanks for considering.

Best regards,

Rich Muny
Poker Players Alliance
Vice President of Player Relations & KY State Director

done, every bit

The groups that pushed for UIGEA are, in the wake of the DoJ announcement on their interpretation of the scope of the Wire Act, seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming!! Their letter to Congress is HERE.

We'd better all be sure to speak up here to ensure that they hear from us. Our goal is not to prove them wrong via debate. That never works in general and surely won't here. Rather, we wish to show them that the prudent course would be for them to give up on poker, as any bill that sought to ban poker would be doomed to defeat.

Today's action:

• Let's send new prefilled, editable tweets to the signatories of the anti-poker letter. Please feel free to edit, but let's stay courteous: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
• Let's send Gov. Christie a new prefilled, editable tweet in support of New Jersey's proposed legislation (S 1565) HERE. Let's keep reaching out via Facebook HERE as well. We want to keep the states pushing Congress and Congress pushing the states.
  
• Let's send a prefilled tweet promoting today's action plan HERE, and let's share today's action on our own Facebook walls HERE.

If you wish to do more today:

• Let's keep posting and like pro-poker comments on the Facebook walls of some Congressmen in tough (or at least competitive) election fights this year: Rep. Judy Biggert HERE, Rep. Robert Dold HERE (won't be visible to us, but staffers will see it), Rep. Jim Renacci HERE, and Rep. Jon Runyan HERE.
• My webcast, "Poker Advocacy with Rich Muny," is now on iTunes. Please go HERE to rate it (the link will open iTunes...you'll have to be in iTunes to rate). The more votes it gets, the more visibility it will have, which could help us recruit more participants!
  

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!

Done.

Signed and done

Done

done

Friday tweets sent.

With the groups that pushed for UIGEA seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming (their letter to Congress is HERE), we ALL need to stand up and tell our lawmakers that we want them to support poker. Our opponents are pressing Congress for action, so our elected representatives need our letters in front of them:

1. Let's send the prewritten, fully editable PPA member letter to Congress and the White House HERE and to state lawmakers HERE (or click the buttons below). This takes less than 60 seconds! It's very important that our elected representatives know we demand our right to play, so let's all send this out now:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Let's send Sen. Reid, Sen. McConnell, Sen. Kyl, Rep. Boehner, and Rep. Cantor prefilled, editable tweets: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
3. Let's send a prefilled tweet promoting today's action plan HERE, and let's share today's action on our own Facebook walls HERE.

If you wish to do more today:

• Let's send House Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Chair Mary Bono Mack and the rest of the subcommittee tweets requesting a markup for HR 2366: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!

Saturday tweets sent.

Done. And rooting for you, Halstad.

Thank you and Sunday tweets done.

tweeted, done

Done.

Monday tweets sent, all of them. Email sent to Obama and my federal congressmen.

With the groups that pushed for UIGEA seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming (their letter to Congress is HERE), we ALL need to stand up and tell our lawmakers that we want them to support poker. Our opponents are pressing Congress for action, so our elected representatives need our letters in front of them:

1. Let's snail mail the prewritten, fully editable PPA member letter to Congress and the White House HERE and to state lawmakers HERE (or click the buttons below). This takes just a few minutes (especially if you use your printer to print the envelopes). It's very important that our elected representatives know we demand our right to play, so let's all print, sign, and mail these out now. As they will take one month to get delivered, they will not clash with the emails we sent yesterday:
   
   
   
   
   
2. Let's send Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senator Jon Kyl, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor prefilled, editable, pro-poker tweets. Simply click HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
3. Let's send a prefilled tweet promoting today's action plan HERE, and let's share today's action on our own Facebook walls HERE.

If you wish to do more today:

• Let's send prefilled, editable tweets to Democratic lawmakers: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!

Tuesday tweets sent. I'll do the snail mail letter later in the week, I don't have any envelopes right now.

Done.

Done.

tweeted, done

With the groups that pushed for UIGEA seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming (their letter to Congress is HERE), we ALL need to stand up and tell our lawmakers that we want them to support poker. Our opponents are pressing Congress for action, so our elected representatives need our letters in front of them:

1. Let's send Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Senator Jon Kyl, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor prefilled, editable tweets: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE. Ensure that they know their time to act is running out, as states won't wait around forever.
2. Let's make and like pro-poker posts on the Facebook walls of Sen. Reid HERE, Rep. Boehner HERE, and Rep. Cantor HERE.
3. Let's send a prefilled tweet promoting today's action plan HERE, and let's share today's action on our own Facebook walls HERE.

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!

Wednesday tweets sent.

Thanks Halstad!

For anyone wishing a head start, here are Thursday's and Friday's plans (I'll be in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale meeting with members and want to have the formatted version handy to post from my iPad):


With the groups that pushed for UIGEA seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming (their letter to Congress is HERE), we ALL need to stand up and tell our lawmakers that we want them to support poker. Our opponents are pressing Congress for action, so our elected representatives need our letters in front of them:

1. Let's send House Subcommittee for Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Chair Mary Bono Mack and the rest of the subcommittee tweets requesting a markup for HR 2366, the Online Poker Act: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
2. Let's keep making and liking pro-poker posts on the Facebook walls of Sen. Reid HERE, Rep. Boehner HERE, and Rep. Cantor HERE. There are new posts since yesterday's action.

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!


With the groups that pushed for UIGEA seeking a federal ban on online poker and other online gaming (their letter to Congress is HERE), we ALL need to stand up and tell our lawmakers that we want them to support poker. Our opponents are pressing Congress for action, so our elected representatives need our letters in front of them:

1. Let's send the Senate Indian Affairs Committee members these tweets: HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE.
2. Let's post and like pro-poker comments to the House Commerce Committee Facebook wall HERE.
3. Let's keep making and liking pro-poker posts on the Facebook walls of Sen. Reid HERE, Rep. Boehner HERE, and Rep. Cantor HERE. There are new posts since yesterday's action.

Please reply in this thread with "tweeted", "done", etc. to encourage others. Thanks for participating!

Wednesday done.