When Mark Kennedy checked the caller ID on his cell phone and the words "Atty Gen" came up, his first reaction, he says, was "Uh oh, what did I do now?"
Of course it was Montana Atty. Gen. Mike McGrath who had called. He was asking Kennedy to consider accepting an appointment to the Gaming Advisory Council (GAC).
"Your government is calling your name," is how Kennedy recalls McGrath phrased the proposition.
And that's pretty much the way Kennedy sees it, too: time to give back; time to make your contribution to society.
But that's what he has been doing for years, anyway. He served a 10-year stint on the Billings City Council and has been President of the Montana Council on Problem Gambling for four years.
Kennedy, a Billings investment advisor for First interstate Bank, brings a unique mix of experience to the council, including experience in licensed business ownership, government and non-profit organizations. He represents the general public on the council.
The Gaming Advisory Council was created in 1989 to study all aspects of gambling in Montana, to review and comment on administrative rules proposed by the Department of Justice's Gambling Control Division and to make recommendations to the department and the legislature on gambling-related matters.
In an earlier news release, McGrath said of Kennedy, "As Chairman of the Montana Council on Problem Gambling, Mark will be an important voice on the Council. In addition, he brings a lot of experience as a business person and, as a former city councilman, knows how to reach consensus on difficult issues."
Kennedy sees this council as "a great tool for an Attorney General who knows how to use it." Composed and run right, Kennedy says, such a body can "be good for the Attorney General, the justice department, the industry, the Legislature and the public, even those who oppose gambling.
"It provides a venue where issues related to gambling can have an open airing, where things can get hashed out in a public forum; where crucial compromise can be reached."
The council is made up of nine members: one each from the Senate and the House of Representatives, one public member, two local government representatives, one Native American representative and three gaming industry representatives.
Leaders of the Montana House and Senate select the legislators while the attorney general appoints the other council members.
Representing the Senate is Sen. Joe Tropila and for the House is Rep. Mark Blasdel. Kalispell Mayor Pam Kennedy represents cities and Garfield County Attorney Nick Murnion serves for counties.
Attorney for the Fort Peck tribes, Bob McAnally, represents Native Americans. Steve Morris represents the Montana Tavern Association, John Tooke is from the Gaming Industry Association and Tim Carson represents the Montana Coin Machine Operators Association.
Kennedy notes that members of this council come from diverse backgrounds and perspectives, but adds, "These are good people; we respect each other, even when were disagree.
"We're like a big family at Thanksgiving that maybe gets a little too rambunctious during the meal, airing our disagreements forcefully, but the next day we get together and enjoy leftovers and we're a family again."
The council's deliberations are a process, Kennedy says. Numerous issues come before the body and through deliberation it is soon determined which are important and will require the most effort, versus those that are less so.
Mostly, Kennedy says, the overriding concern had always got to be about fairness.
"We also need to allow the owners of these legal businesses to make a living, let them do what they do, but they have to do it responsibly."
While Kennedy has attended two council meetings, agendas were relatively tame, he says, with no crushing business pending, though as the 2009 legislative session looms, he expects hot-button issues to percolate to the surface.
He acknowledges changing technology will continually drive the council's agenda: the ongoing implementation of the Gambling Control Division's internet-based electronic video gaming machine reporting system and related business processes; the coming changes in U.S. currency that will force a new cycle of equipment obsolescence; and potential changes that may be coming to record keeping methods and requirements.
But he also sees the council and Gambling Control having to stay on top of the issue of live card games, often in unregulated venues, that can "get out of control. I have even heard of parents who are hosting poker parties for school kids. C'mon."
He said he recognizes the pending smoking ban, while not necessarily the business of the council, will have an effect on businesses licensed for alcohol and gaming.
"No one wants to talk about it," he notes. "But its time has come. Let's move forward on this."
And, as you would expect, as President of the Montana Council on Problem Gambling, the industry-backed group that provides gambling addiction treatment, Kennedy says he will always strive to find ways to provide help to those who are hurt by out of control gambling.
"The industry support has been good, reliable," Kennedy says, noting a half dozen business groups and companies stepped up last year to bolster the MCPG's budget through increased funding when it began hemorrhaging red ink.
Ultimately, though, Kennedy would like to see other, more structural and institutional sources of funding established.
The Portland, Ore., native attended high school there, then earned a degree in Business Administration at Southern Oregon University. Of course, he was also working in a bar, he says.
After college he managed a supper club in Ashland Oregon before coming to Montana in 1982 to help open the Bert & Ernie's group of licensed restaurants where he wound up with a 25 percent ownership stake and, he says, figuratively earned his masters degree.
"That was a real changing time for hospitality businesses," he recalls. Gambling had been legalized and as alcohol sales declined, gaming departments were built up.
"I learned to run a casino," he says, though admits his heart really remained in the foodservice business. And he laments continued changes in the industry from one of unique, family-owned enterprises that have distinction and character to one more exemplified by generic and formulaic corporate homogenization.
"I just had the best hamburger I've ever had at the Snag Bar in Red Lodge. It was a three- or four-napkin sandwich! But we've losing that uniqueness and quaintness of a home-town place. I somehow hope we can continue that feeling.
"It's really hard to make a living in a mom 'n' pop," he acknowledges, especially as Montana is flooded with big-city out-of-staters who are comfortable and familiar with national chains and aren't used to seeking out locally owned alternatives.
"I just took my college graduate to lunch at the Western Bar in Billings. We played shake-a-day, had a beer, checked out what was on television... I just want them to experience the color and quality of these wonderful places we have here.
"We need to perform public service in our communities, in our state. That's how we've managed to keep government here very close to the citizens; it's very personal.
"We can do something that makes a difference. That's what I have in mind with the GAC. We need people who understand the business, but we also have to understand the effects of the business on our communities."
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, January, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.