Every session of the Legislature offers several examples of some big interest groups ganging up to kick the stuffing out of a smaller interest group. In this session, the premier example centers on the seemingly innocuous game of bingo.
The big guys in this instance are the state's Indian tribes and the Catholic Church. They have joined forces to push through a bill that would outlaw electronic bingo machines, and in the process cripple fundraising efforts for an untold number of small charities across California.
This lets the tribes and the church hold onto their share of the gambling business. For the tribes, it's their legal monopoly on slot machines; for the church, it's the caller-and-dauber bingo games that are a staple of parish fundraising.
The church-tribe coalition has succeeded in creating Senate Bill 1369, gutted and amended from its original form, which sailed through the Senate and is poised to do the same in the Assembly in the closing days of the legislative session.
This bill takes care of the tribes and the church at the expense of countless smaller charities, many of them in Sacramento, that rely on electronic games. These charities do good works but are simply no match for the army of lobbyists at the disposal of the tribes and the church.
There are solutions that would be fair to all parties, but this isn't a fair fight, and it's not obvious how to make it more even. Or is it?
One of the classic Hollywood movie clichés involves the hero stepping in to stop the big guy from kicking the little guy around. Such a script typically requires the presence of a strong, manly hero with a flair for the dramatic and an innate sense of fairness.
Now, that seems to strike a familiar chord. Is there anybody around the Capitol these days who could fill such a role, with a pen if not with fists? Is there, Governor?
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