Over the years the people of Alabama have strongly affirmed their opposition to virtually all forms of gambling. Yet today, Alabama is locked in another chapter of this decades old conflict. But the current debate is really not about gambling; it is about whether or not the laws of the state of Alabama mean anything and whether our elected officials have the courage and integrity to uphold them.

A few years ago, a book by Alan Grady came out regarding the assassination of Attorney General candidate Albert Patterson in 1954–one of the most shocking episodes in Alabama’s tumultuous political history. The title of the book was aptly named “When Good Men Do Nothing.”

The legacy of our state is one of political corruption that has held our state back. And one of the worst episodes of this sad legacy was the lawlessness that pervaded Phenix City in 1954.

In 1954 the gambling bosses operated with impunity controlling local politicians and law enforcement all the way to the Alabama Attorney General’s office. Murder, intimidation and lawlessness went unchecked and unchallenged as politicians quickly learned their success (and safety) depended on accepting the handouts of the gambling kingpins and looking the other way. The money was huge and so was the level of corruption.

Albert Patterson, who was himself from Phenix City, could not sit by and watch his hometown and state descend ever further into the muck and mire of lawlessness. He ran for the Democrat Party’s nomination as Attorney General on a platform of rooting out the gambling interests and the corruption that followed them. Despite massive voter fraud, Patterson won the primary, but on June 18, 1954, to the shock and horror of the state’s citizens, he was brazenly assassinated by those very interests.

As we fast-forward to today, the story of Patterson’s courage is instructive in two ways. First, it is a timeless story of an individual who put his career and ultimately his life on the line to serve the interests of the citizens of the state. But his example also points out what happens when powerful forces and the money associated with them—be it gambling bosses or any other shadowy interest group—washes over the state’s politicians like a tidal wave of corruption. Good men or bad, when hopelessly compromised, cannot act for right, even if it means ignoring the law and enabling openly illegal behavior.

Now the fight against gambling revolves around the term “bingo.” Many behave as if this term can mask the truth that an electronic machine with a scheduled payout determined by a computer chip is not the same as a Las Vegas casino slot machine. Unfortunately, when compromised men who have a sworn duty to uphold the law violate their oath, confusion reigns and lawlessness advances breeding contempt for the law all over the state. That is exactly the situation we have in Alabama today.

The current Attorney General, Troy King, whether by an act of intentional omission or sheer cowardice has aided and abetted lawbreakers in the gaming industry. By turning his back on his duty to uphold the law and saying his hands are tied, he seeks to avoid angering those friends from whose cup he has chosen to drink his political wine. Consequently, once again gambling interests are running roughshod over Alabama’s laws. The current level of contempt for the law makes me believe that what happened in Phenix City might once again be repeated, only this time statewide as the gambling industry spreads its poison all over Alabama.

Due to this lack of enforcement, Alabama now has an epidemic of illegal bingo/slot machine establishments. These establishments are fighting to stay open claiming they are responsible for “economic growth.” That is simply not true. Setting up a thousand casino slot machines in White Hall, Alabama, and hiring employees to help hustle money from people who cannot afford to lose it is not economic development. It is cruel.

Now is the time for good men to step forward. Gov. Bob Riley has stepped forward, six courageous members of the Alabama State Supreme Court have stepped forward, men and women all over Alabama are stepping forward in this effort to defend and uphold our laws against the ravenous gambling industry. In 1954 Alabama Attorney General Si Garrett’s refusal to enforce the law ultimately resulted in the murder of Albert Patterson, a good and courageous man who stepped forward to uphold and enforce the law.

The highest responsibility of an Alabama Attorney General is to uphold and enforce the law. The failure to do so results in a contempt for the law that undermines and even endangers society. That, as we found out in Phenix City, is the most dangerous and socially destructive side effect of illegal gambling.



Luther Strange is a Republican running for Attorney General. He has practiced law in Alabama since 1980. Strange has long been active at the grassroots level of the Republican Party and on behalf of Republican candidates throughout Alabama. He is an active Rotarian and serves on the Board of Talladega College.