What about 'No' . . . .

Google "No - is a complete sentence" and you’ll get everything from parenting to psychology to politics. 

In her book by that title Megan LeBoutillier stresses – for the stressed-out - the psychological power of ‘No’.

If your boss comes into your office just before closing and asks you to stay late, again, while he heads off to happy hour, just say no.

If children learned early on that ‘no’ meant ‘no’ because it was saved for the things that really mattered and was thus uttered once and once only, maybe American parenting wouldn’t be the embarrassment that has found its way into recent headlines.  

In an article entitled “Why our lousy child rearing wouldn’t cut it with the French”, Anthony B. Robinson writes in a book review about the boundary-creating power of ‘no’.  “French kids don’t snack all day. While American parents can hardly imagine going anywhere without a bag of Goldfish, Cheerios, raisins or apple slices, as if starvation were imminent, there is by-consensus only one official snack time in France. It happens at 4:30 p.m.”

“No.”  With a period.  Maybe an exclamation point.  It works (supposedly) with an overbearing boss; it’s healthy for you; and it’s good preparation for surviving - unembarrassed – trips to the grocery store with the little ones in tow.

So what about ‘no’ does the predatory gambling industry not understand?

‘No’ is now the rumor out of Olympia that a legislative insider is reporting as the answer to the $380 million question.  That’s the amount of money, considering of course the source, HB 2786 was purported to have raised for “education, human services and public safety” - that is if passed by the legislature.  The bill would have allowed non-tribal casinos to obtain for the first time electronic scratch tickets – the precursors to slot machines.

The legislation, scuttlebutt has it, has failed. 

Again.

In 2010 HB 2873 would have permitted local governments to limit house-banked social card games within their jurisdictions.  The Association of Washington Cities (AWC) supported the bill.

It failed.

HB 2873 would not have stopped the growth of gambling.  HB 2873 practically, under the guise of control, in reality would have taken control away.  The plan was to have tipped the balance of power to the casinos. Like the 2012 version, 2010’s was not family, or community-friendly, legislation. 

Similarly the year before that, in 2009, regulating house-banked social card games (SHB 2162) was once again an AWC priority.  Supposedly an attempt to keep the industry away from churches, schools and city halls, SBH 2162 was at best an illusion of control. Zoning would not have prevented gambling expansion as slot machines have long been acknowledged as necessary by the industry to level the playing field with the tribes. Despite the fact they spoke in favor of the bill at its public hearing in Olympia, Lakewood City Mayor Doug Richardson, Lakewood Planning Advisory Board Member and Lakewood City Council Candidate (now current councilmember) Jason Whalen, Lakewood Chamber President Linda Smith, the Kirkland Assistant City Manager, and a representative of the AWC – all lost. 

Just like two years before that. 

In January, 2007, lobbyists for the AWC and the minicasinos combined efforts to get Senate Bill 5558 through the legislature.  Since gambling’s viability depends on visibility, SB 5558 would have created a gambling ghetto gateway to our city - not the I-5 corridor welcome mat – the strip - that makes for good first impressions.  Fortunately, the effort failed and granting zoning-capability to cities and counties was rejected (TNT, 4/8/07).

Then in 2004 Initiative 892, that would have placed 19,000 slot machines in nontribal casinos across the state, failed. 

Adding to the ‘no’ pile-up, a state-wide poll reveals the popular sentiment with regards gambling expansion – under any guise or pretense – is resoundingly ‘no’.

Since the 2012 ‘no’ is only a rumor, it remains to be seen whether ‘no’ really means ‘no’.  And even if it does for crying-out-loud mean ‘no’ this time, given the never-satisfied antics of the pro-gambling expansion advocates, we’re likely to witness more embarrassing public spectacles on our well-worn rutted road to Olympia’s store-house where legislative (parental) approval is once again sought for what cash-strapped casinos seem always to be crying for.

More.