Grover Norquist Has Helped Set the Agenda on American Tax Policy for Over Two Decades
The Casino Association of New Jersey has urged the U.S. Congress to reject Restore America’s Wire Act. RAWA is the bill supported by Las Vegas Sands Corp President Sheldon Adelson. It is championed in the U.S. Congress by Senator Lindsey Graham and Representative Jason Chaffetz. The RAWA legislation, a bipartisan effort that is nevertheless being led by Republicans in Congress, has recently begun receiving criticism from important member of the Republican Party.
Despite the blowback received by supporters of Restore America’s Wire Act, it would be unwise to assume Restore America’s Wire Act. Adelson is the 3rd richest American, behind only Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Chances of RAWA Passing
With such money at his disposal, Sheldon Adelson has the resources to turn back many challenges. Lindsey Graham is a long-time senator from South Carolina, while Rep. Jason Chaffetz just ascended to the chairmanship of the House Oversight Committee, one of the most influential of all posts in the House of Representatives.
With the Republicans assuming control of both houses of Congress, RAWA might find its way to Obama’s desk. Most Beltway experts believe the bill has little chance of passing, but the Casino Association of New Jersey doesn’t want to take any chances.
The Casino Association of New Jersey
The Casino Association of New Jersey consists of 6 of the 7 remaining viable land-based casinos in Atlantic City: Borgata, Caesars, Harrah’s, Bally’s, Tropicana, and Resorts Casino. Only the Golden Nugget is not a member of CANJ, though it might become so, now that the Golden Nugget is in talks to launch its own online gaming portal.
The casinos want the ability to continue signing up online players and maintaining their Internet casinos and poker sites. If the RAWA bill were enacted, it would be illegal to gamble online in all 50 states. New Jersey would have imposed on it the same laws Utah has for online gambling, despite RAWA’s proponents claiming they are defending states rights.
Grover Norquist Opposes RAWA
Tax lobbyist Grover Norquist is also against Restore America’s Wire Act. The activist Norquist is one of the most influential people on Capitol Hill. For two decades, he has waged a war against federal taxes. Norquist leads “Americans for Tax Reform”, a group which lobbies (mainly) Republican politicians about the need to keep taxes low.
People compare the power of Grover Norquist to that of the National Rifle Association, the Heritage Foundation, and Americans for Prosperity. Lawrence O’Donnell said back in 2011 that Norquist is the “most powerful man in America”, because of his ability to guide U.S. tax policy. Grover Norquist calls for low taxes and a rollback of services, and has consistently been able to keep member of the GOP in line with his policy stance. With the inception of the Tea Party, Norquist is not the most vocal advocate of low taxes in the country, but he remains the most effective.
10 Conservative Groups Oppose RAWA
Norquist was the most prominent name among a list of 10 conservative groups which voiced their opposition to RAWA in a letter to Sheldon Adelson. The letter spoke about Adelson’s interpretation of the 1961 Wire Act, which banned sports betting in the United States. Grover Norquist’s letter cited a paper by Michelle Minton, which exposed the fallacies of those who support Restore America’s Wire Act.
The letter read, “While RAWA supporters contend that this legislation is a simple fix to 53 year old Wire Act legislation on sports betting, RAWA attempts to apply federal sports betting regulations to online gambling–even though this legislation was created decades before the invention of the internet. Minton documents the original debate regarding the Wire Act and shows that Congress had a very narrow intent for the legislation because of the same federalism concerns that exist today. Courts have repeatedly upheld that intent, which was the basis of the Justice Department’s 2011 opinion of the law.”
Many online gambling advocates are likely to view the ultra-conservative Grover Norquist as an adversary on most issues. But his libertarian views on taxation apply to gaming law, because the RAWA’s passage would represent a vast expansion of the federal government’s authority. If a government can tell people what to do in the privacy of their own home when they are harming no one else, then the government has the power to set almost any policy.
With so much of the Grand Old Party’s traditional power base against Restore America’s Wire Act, it seems like Sheldon Adelson’s hopes of winning a quick and easy 50-state battle is going to fail in Congress. To fight online gambling, he might have to go state-to-state, where his money and states rights will hamper him less.
