Sen. Ben Brooks fires back at critics

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - "This bill will lead to corruption in Alabama, and I just can't put that before the people," said Alabama Senator Ben Brooks.

Senator Brooks said the critics who call themselves the Let us Vote Coalition are actually a small group of gambling kingpins.

"We have a handful of gambling kingpins controlling the agenda in Montgomery," he said.

Brooks is not opposed to letting Alabama voters decide the fate of electronic bingo in the state, but he said he does object to the bill being proposed.

"I'm just trying to make sure it's a clean bill that comes out," Brooks said.

So what would constitute a clean bill?

"One is I think you ought to have a straight up or down vote. If it fails, then the electronic bingo is eliminated. I think you ought to have state wide bids on the casinos if we're going to do this, not just authorized folks to come in as it currently stands," he explained.

Brooks was asked his thoughts on the governor's illegal gambling task force, which has conducted several raids throughout the state on bingo operations, including the most recent one in Chickasaw last week.

"I don't know the legality of all of that, and I really have not gotten involved in commenting one way or another, but if I were the governor I might handle it differently, but I'm not. I'm a senator, and I'm trying to look at the bills that are before me," he said.

Senator Brooks said bingo has overshadowed a number of other important issues in the state, including the general fund budget, the PACT program, and skyrocketing homeowners' insurance rates.

You can listen to the entire interview here on Fox10tv.com.