Last week’s back and forth over bingo casinos provided a harsh reminder of the reality of politics as most of the public watches.

All of this could have ended with the Alabama Legislature stepping up and allowing citizens to vote gambling up or down. One time. One vote.

That vote just didn’t happen.

Now take a look at the money garnered by candidates for public office and regular Joe and Josephine Citizen see where they were manipulated by state lawmakers — some of them and some of those running for other public offices this summer.

Now the public trough is filled with dollars from gambling interests for legislators and others.

At the same time, Gov. Bob Riley, who has nothing to lose, has fired a salvo at those interests by pounding away at gambling interests in the state. During the last year he has shot down most of the bingo casinos in the state. He has changed the gambling czar, switching from the status quo to Tines.

No matter the eventual outcome, a couple of things are certain forebodings and likely reasons for putting this topic into the mainstream and allowing it to progress to its unnatural end. Many Selma residents saw the beginning of this as state troopers were ordered to stage a raid on a bingo hall last week.