LOL I just noticed NBA Dan's first line in this thread.
BTW one of the people supplying the pressure to push this through?
William Wichterman
Who did William serve as chief of staff for when this legislation was being pushed through? You got it! Bill Frist!
I thought Frist was done bending me over but I guess not.
I hate these people. Literally hate.
Bush aide pushes gambling ban
By: Patrick O'Connor
November 8, 2008 09:02 AM EST
The Politico
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15442.html
A Tennessee Democrat is charging a top Bush adviser with exerting “considerable political pressure” to benefit one of his former lobbying clients.
Rep. Steve Cohen asked White House Counsel Fred Fielding to investigate whether William Wichterman, a top political aide to the president, disclosed his “potential conflict of interest” in pushing the administration to enact new requirements to enforce an Internet gambling ban, according to a letter the congressman sent Friday.
As late as March, Wichterman was a registered lobbyist with Covington & Burling where he represented the National Football League, according to the Senate lobbying disclosure database. In that role, he worked on the Internet gaming laws, one of the league's top legislative priorities.
The Cohen letter marks the latest turn in a long-running fight over Internet gambling regulations. The online poker industry has partnered with a wide range of financial ins utions to slow the administration from implementing rules Congress passed in 2006 as part of an unrelated bill.
Wichterman and other White House officials are trying to rush these rules changes through the administration’s normal approval process during the final months of the Bush presidency.
The new rules would require banks, credit card companies and other financial ins utions to block all financial transactions with Internet gambling sites. Online gambling is illegal in this country. Supporters of the new requirements argue this update would allow the federal government to enforce the pre-existing ban.
Opponents, who include House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), argue the law is too vague and places onerous requirements on these financial ins utions—at a time when many are struggling to rebound from the slumping economy.
Wichterman and others backers of the bill, like Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), have been pushing the administration to enact these changes before Nov. 17, in the narrow window before the new administration could make any changes, according to people familiar with these deliberations.
The Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve must sign off on the language of the law before the administration can implement these new rules. There is a 60-day review process, so current administration officials want their recommended language to take effect before the next administration takes over.
In his letter to the White House, Cohen suggests Wichterman “has been a source of considerable political pressure to speed this regulation through finalization.”
The former lobbyist with Covington & Burling represented the NFL, which, says the letter, “has been among the most vocal advocates for the proposed rule and the underlying law.”
Opponents fear OMB will push these rules changes through, even though administration officials testified before the Financial Services panel earlier this year that the law is overly vague.
OMB needs the Federal Reserve to sign off on the new rules before the administration can implement them as law, according to people familiar with the implementation process.
The financial services industry has opposed the Internet gaming law since former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) inserted it in a port security bill during his final days in office. Administration officials and industry representatives have since criticized the rules during congressional testimony.
“The way to get a better reg[ulation] is to get a better law,” said Andy Barbour, who oversees Internet issues for the Financial Services Roundtable. “We’re interested in pursuing that cause, as is the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.”
Religious organizations, on the other hand, are steadfast in their support of the measure. Critics argued that Frist moved the legislation to bolster his bona fides with religious conservatives in anticipation of a potential White House bid, though he never did launch a bid.
Cohen asks Fielding whether Wichterman—who worked for Frist before heading to K Street—disclosed “to you or your office his potential conflict of interest on this matter.”
“If so, was he nonetheless allowed by the White House to work on this issue?” the congressman asks.
In the letter, Cohen asks the White House counsel to spell out for him the Bush administration’s policy on aides working in issue areas they covered as paid lobbyists.
The congressman wants to know if “there is a defined period during which employees who served as lawyers or lobbyists in the private sector must recuse themselves from matters affecting their former clients.”
The Tennessee Democrat also wants to know whether Wichterman plans to return to the lobbying firm. He further asks for a catalogue of contact between the White House office of Public Liaison with Treasury, OMB and the Federal Reserve.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the Cohen letter. On Thursday, spokesman Tony Fratto said his office does not comment on administrative rules that remain under consideration.
Oh and MAKG there is an organization pursuing the uncons utionality of the entire statute as you suggested. I've not followed these proceedings very closely over the past six months and basically just kept up with whatever the PPA sent me via email. I'm now trying to read as much as possible so I can actually understand what we're looking at now and how many blowjobs to my reps I have to promise to get them to vote for me. I have a feeling no amount of blow jobs will help me with my stupid GOP senators.
Well, if the new administration doesn't reverse this, someone could make a mint establishing a middle man payment system.
Except the middle men are all afraid to do business here now. That was how most of this was conducted prior to the UIGEA passage. The major ewallet doing this was Neteller but there were others who have now also pulled out. These guys are afraid of the DoJ coming after them.
Right now I get a check from a payment processor when I withdraw from my accounts. Its a much slower process than it was a few years ago (A few years ago I had virtually instant access to the funds in my accounts) but its safe and its reliable which is the most I can ask for today.
So I love to Gamble but I like going to Casinos and such. However I get an itch every once in a while were I just want to chill, drink a beer and place a few 2$ tri's on dogs and ponys and just watch online. I read online that Texas may finally be back on track to approve a bill that would enable online wagering benefitting charities and Law enforcement.
http://www.legis.state.tx.us/BillLoo...5R&Bill=HB3926
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...-driven-gaming
http://www.usonlinebetting.com/tx/
But who know when this will finally be approved into law if it even passes all the stages. Does anyone use an offshore gaming site that they feel comfortable with? What has your experience been with using an off shore betting account?
Whoa MannyisGod..that takes me back
money talks:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...st-sports-betsThe U.S. Justice Department’s decision to expand a federal prohibition on internet gambling will cast a pall on the industry as businesses and state lotteries evaluate the implications of the change and the government’s plans to enforce it.
The U.S. now says the U.S. Wire Act bars all internet gambling that involves interstate transactions, reversing its position from 2011 that only sports betting was prohibited under the law passed 50 years earlier.
A coalition backed by billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson lobbied the Justice Department in 2017 to reconsider its 2011 decision that cleared the way for states to allow online gambling.
The businesses that will be most directly affected are interstate lotteries that have become well established after 2011, said Dennis Gutwald, an attorney with McDonald Carano LLP in Las Vegas. The Justice Department’s new reading of the law won’t affect intrastate online wagering, where patrons bet only from within a single state.
"A coalition backed by billionaire casino executive Sheldon Adelson"
more irrefutable evidence that the oligarchy buys, and gets, whatever it wants that protects/promotes its Capital (even during govt shutdown)
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