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11/15/2007

It was not an abuse of police power.

It was not the state's greedy, heavy hand coming down on undeserving victims.

It was, however, the quite legal application of a dumb law.

The law being enforced was put on the books to keep illegal gambling at bay in Maine's many clubs and fraternal organizations.

Yet when a law can shut down penny ante card and board games played by elderly veterans, retirees and churchgoers, there's something wrong with the law. Not the police who enforce it, but the law. Indeed, the state policeman who ventured into the American Legion hall on that fateful day didn't even issue a summons about the violation. He just told players and Legion management that the law prohibited what they were doing.

The players stopped playing, though, and by the time the event became public, it had been transformed into a sad and sorry story of veterans being victimized by the cops.

Thus ensued the typical Maine response: Online commentators urged the impeachment of the governor local lawmakers vowed to introduce emergency bills to void the law, and all bemoaned the lack of respect for octogenarian veterans who had paid their dues serving their country. There were dire warnings of church bankruptcies and the potential to jail innocent grannies for unknowingly participating in illegal games of hearts. And the provisions of the law are evidently so convoluted that even the State Police and legislators couldn't figure out what it really does, says or allows.

Despite the uncertainty about just what the law does do, one local lawmaker forged ahead and announced he'd introduce legislation to exempt veterans' organizations from punishingly high license fees so that members and their families can play cribbage at the posts.

While that was a laudably bighearted move to serve his constituents, we don't think that legislating by anecdote is ultimately the best thing for the state. The state's statutes are littered with laws motivated by genuine sentiment, but passed without an eye to the larger context. What kind of barn door is opened when we exempt one group from this law? Who's next?

Instead, Gov. John Baldacci has asked the State Police to propose revisions to the law so that it prohibits $15,000 poker tournaments at a sports bar, but allows low-stakes games played by the good folks at churches, social clubs, veterans' halls and other non-commercial establishments.

That strikes us as the entirely proper course to take. It isn't quite so heroic, but that comprehensive approach will serve the interests of all Mainers.

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