Thursday, December 16, 2010

my thoughts on the PPA and the third draft of the Reid bill...

posted in legislation forum on 2p2 in response to someone who is frustrated with people like m criticizing the PPA:

Originally Posted by mpethybridge
To those of you busting on the PPA, I will say two things:

1. I rarely see any of you posting in this forum.

2. Harrah's, MGM, et al, have money to burn, are well-entrenched interests and have a tame senator who happens to be the senate majority leader; if we have lost, they lost, too.

Please explain how the PPA was supposed to win a fight that major corporate interests who own one of the most powerful people in America couldn't win.

I really want to hear it; it should be good.


response:
1. what does posting on this forum usually have to do with whether or not our criticisms are valid now? (answer nothing)

2. I've never held it against the PPA that they didn't win the fight. my only complaints are about how they fought and whether or not they are who they have claimed to be while asking for my support and money (which I have contributed).

finally what you have to understand is that most of the people that have a problem with the PPA don't have a problem with their rate of success, we have a problem with their intentions and whether or not they are who they've portrayed themselves as. To be fair they have claimed they are an organization for the game and the players. But frequently during this fight it has seemed that they have thrown their support behind corporations that care nothing for the game and players. And while I understand this may have been a genuine attempt to win a battle by trying to align interests, when things start to go totally awry (as they have with the third draft of the Reid bill as well as the fact that Reid and Harrah's basically cut out the PPA from having any influence on the writing and drafting of the legislation) then they need to step in and be honest with us. If the PPA made a statement that things have gone wrong, the bill is not in our best interest, and the deals that Reid is making to get it passed are no longer supported by the organization then I would commend them for their honesty.

Basically they've lost the fight regardless of whether or not this bill passes, and our support (letters calls etc) and money were not difference makers this time around (not surprising). But we haven't lost the war, and this organization can still stand hold on to its integrity by stepping up and repping what they claimed to be since their inception. If Harrahs and MGM are running the show to the detriment of our online poker future than the PPA should say so. If Reid has lost all interest in what the PPA and players have asked him to support and is now just trying to serve the people that paid for his campaign by cutting them an insider deal with this bill, then say so.

stand up for the people that you claim matter to your organization. tell us where things went wrong, even if we can't fix them now. Admit to how much money you guys have taken or given to the various parties that now seem to not give a **** about the players.

Also understand that our complaints about the situation are not attacks on the people themselves. I don't know the PPA board members and have no idea about them personally. I would guess based on most of their reps and posts around here that they are good guys that mean well. Maybe they just got played in the political game (standard) and if so I'll gladly sympathize with them.

But the fact is that this bill is a disaster now, and was borderline a disaster from the beginning. And I thought their adament support of it seemed contrary to their stated goals, and as the drafts have gotten worse and worse I've yet to hear them speak up and say "sorry guys but this isn't what we wanted and we understand why you guys are opposed to this garbage version of the bill".

end of rant although I'm sure I've left stuff out.

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