From Poker to Politics

 

 

Bob Ciaffone’s Story: Intro

 

Bob Ciaffone resided in Las Vegas from 1983 to 1994. He is a well-known figure in the poker world, being a professional player for much of his adult life, the author of four poker books, a Card Player columnist since 1991, and a leading authority on poker rules. In the 21st century, he has become very active in the political world. Among other things, he was elected as a delegate from Michigan’s 4th Congressional District to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. He has consented to write a series of articles for Vegas Community Online giving the inside personal story on his transition from the world of poker to politics.

 

Part 1: My Roots

 

I come from a family that was interested in politics and talked a lot about political issues. My father for the vast majority of his life had a subscription to Time, Newsweek, and US News & World Report––all at the same time. On our TV set, we were more apt to watch a news program like This Week or Washington Week in Review than a sitcom. My dad had a strong preference for non-fiction over fiction, because he wanted to learn new things rather than be entertained. Like father, like son. It is not surprising that my major when I was at Michigan State University was political science, and my favorite class was constitutional law.

 

My first contact with a political party was attending a meeting of the Young Dems while at MSU in 1964. On a hot summer day, they asked a group of us to stand on a street corner passing out political leaflets. I fled the scene, and had no more formal contact with the Democratic Party until 2005. However, my vote remained reliably Democratic in all national elections, despite the fact that I considered myself an independent voter.

 

My first political accomplishment took place not in Michigan (where I grew up, and moved back to in 1996), but in Las Vegas. I had an interest in protecting the environment, and became Vice-President of a group called “Air Care.” The main interest of this group was getting Clark County to adopt mandatory additives for gasoline in order to protect our air quality. After Air Care achieved success in this area, I was able to divert their attention to my favorite subject, the banning of olive and mulmerry tree sales by nurseries. These tree types had been greatly overplanted, and by sheer numbers, were able to provoke by their abundant pollen allergic symptoms like wheezing and runny noses even in people who had no history of such problems. Several years earlier, there had been a hot political discussion of such a ban, but the opposition had been so strong that the policy eventually adopted was one of “voluntary compliance.” I resurrected the issue.

 

My argument in favor of a ban on olive and mulberry trees was simple and straight-forward; the “voluntary compliance” did not work. All the nurseries still stocked these trees, and hardly any posted a warning about health issues. The nursery workers were supposed to mention the potential health problems to prospective buyers, but I pointed out that many of those workers did not even speak English! Mike Naylor, Director for the Air Pollution Control Division of the Clark County Health Department, showed with charts that these two tree types were responsible for most of the pollen problems in the county.

 

You would think the overwhelming case for a ban would be a no-brainer and easily be passed by the Clark County Commissioners. However, some of the commissioners were afflicted with the frontier mentality of non-government interference, regardless of circumstance. I pointed out that we were no longer in the Old West, but in the fastest-growing county in the country, and had over a million residents. Now, more willingness for the government to act was needed, especially in solving health problems partly caused by the large population. The opposition to the ban was led by some lady who owned a flower shop, and whose qualification to be a commissioner (as far as I could see) was that she was “interested in local politics.” The ban passed by a single vote. Please take some deep breaths this spring––and think about me if you fail to have an adverse reaction. If I had not pumped so hard to get this ban, Las Vegans might still be choking during pollen season, as no one else was making waves. This was a good lesson to me that one person can make a difference. It also showed me that people who make important political decisions were not all sensible and competent people, especially on the local level. The same is true today.