Editorials

"It's déjà vu all over again"

"Can't anybody here play this game."

Although Yogi and "the old professor" were talking baseball, they just as easily could have been commenting on the Alabama State Senate, where local and special interests again are tying up the chamber. Thus, the state is again faced with the possibility of good legislation being left unpassed or, worse yet, bad legislation hurried through at the last minute.

Déjà vu, which makes you wonder why such an inept bunch was elected in the first place.

Last year, the House earned the pay raise it gave itself by passing a host of bills that it promised residents back home it would pass. You may recall that legislation then languished in a Senate where senators were more concerned with protecting party turf than they were doing the people's business.

Trying to put as bright a picture on it as possible, this page noted that among the bills not passed were some that should not pass. Nevertheless, it was also noted that that was small compensation for the harm done.

Now the Senate is at it again. This time, the issue is whether a change in electronic bingo regulations for a Macon County dog track is a local bill and should be passed as a courtesy to members from that delegation, or if it is part of a greater gambling initiative and should be treated as a statewide issue.

Behind this, we are told, are efforts by members of both parties to retaliate against opponents for real and imagined slights in the past.

Even Gov. Bob Riley beat the drum against the Senate on Wednesday, imploring that body to make the most of the final days of this session.

Even so, this sounds like the playground jousting that went on last year.

When will our senators begin playing the game like adults? Nothing was gained last year by the stalemate. Nothing will be gained this year.

If the Senate does not act, the people of Alabama will have to pay income tax on the federal stimulus money that will arrive next month.

If the Senate does not act, the children of Anniston will not get scholarships they deserve.

If the Senate does not act, the issue of illegal immigration will come back next year and be demagogued again.

If the Senate does not act, families in Alabama will continue to pay taxes on the food they eat.

If the Senate does not act, more than 150 other House-passed bills will be held over for another year.

And if the Senate does not act, the people of Alabama will have to pay for a special session so the state can have a budget that should have been passed long ago.

Pardon us for asking, but what is it about electronic bingo at a dog track that is more important than all this?