Bill Frist

The father of UIGEA, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist announced he will not seek presidency in 2008.

"In the Bible, God tells us for everything there is a season, and for me, for now, this season of being an elected official has come to a close. I do not intend to run for president in 2008."
- Bill Frist, AP story

But was it God or the Securities Exchange Commission investigation that helped Frist decide against a presidential run? According to an Associated Press story the SEC has been investigating Frist for over a year after allegations of insider trading through the sale of shares in HCA Inc., his family's hospital company. Frist denies any wrongdoing.

(Read Wolves In Wolves' Clothing for some background here.)

Now that he's got a little free time after pulling shenanigans on Capitol Hill, Bill Frist has found the time to write back to me about online gambling. Or, as he feels the need to call it, illegal internet gambling. Here's the full text of his reply to me, dated September 22, 2006 and received today, October 13, 2006. Settle in, this might take a while.

Not sure if this is good or bad for poker -- probably neither -- but you may find it interesting that Sen. Bill Frist recently traveled to Afghanistan and voiced support of bringing the Taliban into the Afghan government. Didn't John Walker Lindh get 20 years for something similar?

The body isn't even cold and already Bill Frist is singing his own praises to his consituent base, getting them primed and ready for his 2008 Presidental bid. An ice cube has a better chance of lasting on the Las Vegas Strip than Frist does of getting the Republican nomination, but he thinks he's got a chance and he's using the pre-election Congressional break to make sure those he serves know what a good boy he's been.

Today Frist sent a letter to the Southern Baptist Convention telling them "Before it wrapped up business in late September, Congress passed an important new law to make it easier to crack down on illegal Internet gambling." Uhh...right...emphasis on the LATE September, and I think you're using "Congress" a wee bit loosely there Bill.

Frist then goes on to state "Internet gambling has grown out of control. Although four major federal laws and hundreds of state policies already make it illegal to gamble on the Internet, enforcement has proven almost impossible." Well it's a good thing this new law has all sorts of enforcement mechanisms spelled out then!! Oh, wait...

When the first signs of our poker apocalypse rang out a few months back in the form of bills sponsored by Reps. Jim Leach and Bob Goodlatte, I did what all Americans have been taught to do when legislation we don't like is up for consideration. I contacted my senators and representatives to express my opposition to any Washingtonian designs to take my favorite pastime away from me. When I say take it away, you see, I'm not being over-reactive or dramatic; unlike many of my poker-playing friends, the only games within a stone's throw of me are those on the internet. I cannot be even a part-time serious poker player living where I do. In my rural area of middle Tennessee we're a minimum of four hours by car from any casino with a sizable poker room. Online games, then, are important to my development as a player - and communicating that to those holding online poker's (American) fate in their hands was likewise important. I expected at least a token response from the elected officials representing me; what I received was an education in the way things are done in the New Washington.

For the record, before we go any further I should note who my elected officials are. Marsha Blackburn (R) is my single representative in Congress. Lamar Alexander (R), former governor of Tennessee and Secretary of Education under George H.W. Bush, is my junior senator. And the esteemed Majority Leader of the United States Senate (not to mention 2008 US presidential hopeful) is my senior senator - a Republican by the name of William Harrison Frist.

The Associated Press is reporting that Senator Bill Frist (a/k/a the guy that wants to kill online poker) is planning on attaching the proposed online poker ban to a massive defense bill that authorizes military action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These little political manuevers aren't new. They're the reason you have fancy new roads and bridges in your hometown, along with a host of other public works projects that if given the choice, you'd never have agreed to use your tax dollars for. But to a Congressman, it's a way to come home during election time and point out all the great stuff you've done for your district, no matter how many boneheaded decisions you made on issues of national importance. They love to leave openings for themselves to slip bills that on their own would never get Congressional approval through to the President's desk.