New Hampshire attorney Patrick Fleming, director of the Poker Players Alliance’s Litigation Support Network, has been selected as a new member of the PPA’s board of directors. The PPA describes itself as a ‘grassroots advocacy group’ and while they utilize every tool at their disposal in lobbying government on behalf of poker players, we doubt they’ve ever seriously considered the use of a drugged enchilada.
Earlier this year, the PPA testified before the California State Senate on the as yet unresolved issue of online intrastate poker. Way back in 1971, Richard Diaz, the then-Mayor of Irwindale, CA was also being sweet-talked by proponents of legalized gambling. However, when Diaz proved unwilling to budge on the issue, the lobbyists decided not to take ‘no’ for an answer, so they served him up a Quaalude-laced enchilada. (Imagine our dismay when we rushed on down to Taco Bell, only to find no such item on their menu.) Once Diaz was snoring peacefully, he was stripped naked. Then a woman (also naked) was brought in, along with a camera or two, and ‘compromising’ pictures were taken. Sadly (for the lobbyists) their scheme came to nothing, and most of them ended up pleading guilty to various things a civilized society frowns upon.
Man, lobbyists played rough back in those days, huh? Of course, the good folks at the PPA would never stoop to such underhanded tactics. Then again, the next time the PPA brings poker pros to testify in front of Congress, we have a suggestion for whatever politicians may be in attendance – if Annie Duke offers you a homebaked cookie, you chew at your own risk, okay?
