For years, critics have warned that political donations from Missouri鈥檚 unlicensed video gaming industry to its elected leaders make it difficult for the state to rein in the games, which operate with impunity because the Legislature refuses to touch them. Now those donations have gotten Missouri鈥檚 top law enforcement official out of the industry鈥檚 way 鈥 at least, that鈥檚 sure what it looks like when unelected Attorney General Andrew Bailey from representing the state in a legal battle with the industry. His withdrawal is apparently because the industry鈥檚 political contributions to him create the appearance of, and probably an actual, conflict of interest.
At gas stations and other venues around Missouri, thousands of video gaming machines take in money from patrons hoping to win more, and who sometimes do. Yet the games pay no Missouri gaming tax and aren鈥檛 regulated by the state because, the owners claim with a straight face, that it isn鈥檛 gambling 鈥 and Missouri鈥檚 leaders flush with donations from the industry have .
People are also reading…
As a measure of just how brazen these operations are, two of them are suing to prevent the Missouri Highway Patrol from seizing the machines as illegal gambling. Bailey, as Missouri鈥檚 attorney general, is obligated to defend the state against that suit. Yet last week, attorneys from Bailey鈥檚 office withdrew from the case and have been replaced by attorneys from a private firm hired at taxpayer expense.
Bailey鈥檚 office was vague about the reason, stating: 鈥淥ur office followed our longstanding practice of retaining conflict counsel to avoid any appearance of impropriety.鈥
What appearance of impropriety? As the Post-Dispatch鈥檚 Jack Suntrup reports, there鈥檚 a big one: more than $25,000 in political donations to Bailey that are traceable back to either plaintiffs in the suit or their high-powered lobbyist, former Missouri House Speaker Steve Tilley.
Bailey鈥檚 office is correct to invoke the conflict of interest reference 鈥 but it鈥檚 not a solution to keep the campaign money from an arguably illegal industry. The solution is to return the donations, as Bailey鈥檚 predecessor once did.
Instead, he鈥檚 sticking the taxpayers with the bill for private attorneys to do his office鈥檚 job. These are the same taxpayers, remember, who are already being ripped off by the video gaming industry because they don鈥檛 pay state gaming taxes as the casinos do. This isn鈥檛 the first time Bailey has passed on carrying out his duties in relation to these generous gaming operators.
His responsibilities include consumer protection, which is his cynical excuse for his legal attack on transgender medical treatment. Yet he hasn鈥檛 bothered to protect consumers who might very well be getting ripped off by these unregulated gaming machines.
It鈥檚 yet another example of how Missouri鈥檚 ruling Republicans are working for just two constituencies: big-money industries and the culture warriors of the extreme right. Regular Missouri taxpayers apparently aren鈥檛 worth betting on.
