Patterson: Enforce gambling laws

By Brent Maze (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Former Gov. John Patterson knows about gambling.

It’s something his father, Albert Patterson, fought when he decided to move the family to Phenix City during the Great Depression. It eventually led to Albert Patterson’s death when he ran for attorney general in 1954. It also gave John Patterson a reason to take his father’s spot on the ballot and continue the fight against gambling in Phenix City.

Now that the topic has arisen once again in Alabama politics, he feels this is an important issue that the state needs to deal with and could lead to a dangerous slippery slope of corruption.

“Gambling only leads to corruption in government,” John Patterson told the Tallapoosee Historical Society Sunday afternoon. “Either we need to enforce the laws we have on gambling or the state needs to pass a constitutional amendment to legalize gambling if the people want to have it.”

Patterson, an 88-year-old Goldville resident who served as governor from 1959 to 1963, saw firsthand in Phenix City what can happen if gambling laws are overlooked. It led to corruption in all levels of local government.

“The (gambling interests) had control of the city, the county and even the ballot box,” Patterson said. “They could put anyone in office they wanted.”

Patterson’s brush with gambling and his rise to the governor’s office are outlined in Warren Trest’s book “Nobody But the People,” which was released two years ago. The author was also on hand at the historical society’s meeting.

“Gov. Patterson’s four years in office was regarded as one of the great periods in state history,” Trest told the crowd. “He never lost the public touch.”

Patterson said that there is a push to build a casino in Phenix City, but he doesn’t want to get involved with the gambling debate right now, unless it gets a little too close to home.

“I don’t want to get involved unless they’re planning to build a casino in Goldville,” Patterson said drawing a laugh from the audience. “That’s just a little too close to home.”

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