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2 top Democrats open to Internet gambling |
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2 top Democrats open to Internet gambling
Gambling lobbyists are pressing for a law that would allow Iowans to legally gamble on the Internet, and two Democratic leaders said Friday they're not opposed to the idea.
"I don't have strong feelings on that issue," said Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs. A reported 150,000 Iowans already engage in online gambling, such as poker, but it's illegal, the state doesn't capture taxes on it and there's no regulation.
"Some efforts to take charge of our fate on this ... makes sense," Gronstal said during a meeting with The Des Moines Register's editorial board. Legislation could require people to sign up via a local casino, and deposit cash upfront so that they're not running up gambling debt on credit cards, Gronstal said. There would need to be safeguards to prevent kids from gambling and other precautions, he said.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, said any gambling proposal is bound to be controversial - and people will complicate the issue by suggesting changes for horse racing and dog racing and other state gambling laws. Here are other issues the Democratic leaders discussed Friday:
JOB CREATION: A team of about 10 senators is putting together economic development tools to help small businesses, Gronstal said. Existing programs in the state economic development program have proved effective, too, he said.
Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, said Iowa needs more skilled workers, but the community colleges need more state and local funding to pay for expensive technical education programs.
GAY MARRIAGE: Gronstal has vowed to prevent a ban on gay marriage from going to a statewide vote.
Asked about criticism that one person shouldn't prevent the people from having their say, Gronstal said it would be "wrong in every way" to put the rights of individuals up to a vote of the people. "We did not put it to a vote of the people when Iowa took out of our constitution in 1857 the prohibition of interracial marriage. We did not put the right of different race couples to a vote of the people. We didn't put to a vote of the people whether or not women should be admitted to the bar," he said.
The Iowa Constitution exists "to protect everybody's rights and to avoid the tyranny of the majority," he said. Gronstal said the Nov. 2 election didn't prove Iowans oppose same-sex marriage. Each election, judges get "no" votes totaling about 25 percent. It was those votes, plus those who don't want gay couples to marry, that pushed the vote high enough to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices who participated in the marriage ruling, he said.
More evidence that banning gay marriage isn't the will of the people, he said, is that two-thirds of voters opposed the opportunity to hold a constitutional convention, which would have given Iowans a chance to amend the constitution to ban gay marriage.
Some Republicans, who hold the majority in the Iowa House, favor passing a law that would prohibit abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy unless the mother's life is in danger. Asked how the Iowa Senate, where Democrats have the majority, might react, Gronstal said he doesn't know.
"It would go through the normal committee process. We'll see when that comes up," he said. McCarthy said some House Democrats might support such an anti-abortion bill, but they need to study exactly how it's worded.
SMOKING CESSATION: A proposal by House Republicans would cut state money for anti-smoking programs that offer free stop-smoking advice, nicotine gum and anti-smoking advertisements. The cuts would save $2.4 million in the last six months of this year, plus $6.7 million in the next fiscal year. However, the state health department said at least several hundred thousand dollars in federal grants could be revoked.
Democrats will defend money for the anti-smoking programs, which have helped Iowa become a leader in reducing underage smoking, McCarthy said.
Gronstal said the state has a responsibility to help people quit smoking and to discourage kids from starting smoking, which is the mission of a Quitline Iowa hot line and counter-advertising programs such as Just Eliminate Lies.
The programs save the state millions of dollars in the long term, Gronstal said. "Tens of millions," he said. Cutting funding saves only a tiny amount of money, he said. |
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