Secret closed door meetings again? When will gambling supporters allow public input and transparency?
Gambling addiction treatment agency could fold
Boston, Mass. - As state policymakers ramp up the push for casinos and slot machines here, the non-profit agency that treats problem gamblers is facing extinction after a 62-percent cut in funding.
The Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling could be forced to close this year, after Gov. Deval Patrick halved its state aid as part of his midyear budget-balancing efforts and the agency lost another $130,000 due to a drop-off in income from the state’s four racetracks, a top official said.
“We’re definitely threatened and we’re trying to figure out how to recoup some funding,” said the Council’s executive director, Kathy Scanlan. The Council has contacted the Patrick administration and was waiting to hear back about setting a meeting, she said.
Both Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have voiced recent support for expanded gambling, while Gov. Deval Patrick, after pushing hard for casinos last year, has ratcheted down his enthusiasm.
Pro-gambling House members huddled Monday in a closed-door briefing on gambling with industry experts, including Scanlan, to field questions from other legislators and aides.
Emerging from the briefing for a press conference, some lawmakers said they wanted to ensure a dedicated revenue stream in whatever legislation may pass to treat gambling addictions, and said they were confident the odds of expanded gambling had increased.
“I think we’re moving in the right direction,” said Rep. Brian Wallace, a South Boston Democrat and longtime gambling backer.
“We certainly feel good about the progress we’ve made in the last couple months,” Wallace said.
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What progress? Are you referring to the transparency of your actions?
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The House is expected to vote Tuesday on legislation extending off-track betting rights at the state’s two dog tracks, essentially creating off-track betting parlors there by January, when the facilities will be hit with a voter-approved ban on dog racing.
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When were public hearings held on off-track betting? OTB parlors? Paleeze! Who are we enriching?
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This is a major shift in public policy that deserves careful consideration and not secret meetings.
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It is my firm belief that when the public is excluded, they're hiding something.
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The Council said it logged 1,305 calls to its helpline in fiscal 2008, resulting in 1,080 referrals to the Department of Public Health, self-help groups, and other services. That year, 95 percent of its funding flowed through the Department of Public Health.
Scanlan said the Council’s landlord had agreed to cut its rent in half, to roughly $35,000. She said the agency was considering other sources of funding as it formulated a “survival strategy.” Patrick announced a $500,000 cut to the agency’s $1 million line item last month.
Appearing with the pro-casino lawmakers Monday, Scanlan said the state would likely see increased social problems related to gambling if casinos were introduced.
Patrick last week said the state could expect “real human costs.”
“I don't want anybody in the Legislature to be thinking about expanded gaming as a quote fix unquote for the fiscal challenges facing the commonwealth. It's not. It's not," Patrick said during an appearance 96.9FM-WTKK.
"It's another job-creating opportunity, which has to be done right and because there are real human costs,” he continued. “That has to be faced. There are real human costs. We have to be very, very clear and careful about the regulatory framework that that business comes into."
Asked Monday about any plans to come to the Council’s aid, Patrick said, “There are lots and lots of worthy programs and agencies that are squeezed because of the fiscal crisis we are in. We’re going to do the very best we can with them, as we do with other agencies.”
Rep. Daniel Bosley, who helped lead the House opposition that ultimately killed Patrick’s casino plan on a 100-55 procedural vote last year, said he thought Patrick might be reconsidering his support.
“I think the governor has taken a second look at this, and I think he realizes that even in the best case scenario it would have to be perfectly drawn to realize any new revenue at all,” the North Adams Democrat said Tuesday.
Even within the pro-gambling caucus, there are fault lines along the details of any expansion.
House Dean David Flynn turned on labor officials joining him at Monday’s press conference and conveyed his disappointment unions have not come out more forcefully behind his effort to sanction slot machines at the state racetracks.
Organized labor for the most part has kept its powder dry for the larger fight over resort-style casinos, after long years of stumping for the racetracks only to be disappointed when deals fell apart.
Flynn kept up his criticism after the formal portion of the presser, corralling Mass. Building Trades Council president Francis Callahan and repeatedly telling him he was “very disappointed” unions had not been more active in working for slot machines at the tracks.
“I want you to endorse my proposal tomorrow,” Flynn told Callahan, who responded that Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park, for which Flynn is an ardent Beacon Hill advocate, should allow more workers to unionize.
Why would the union support or endorse slot parlors that don't create jobs? Maybe the unions have more sense than Rep. Flynn.
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During the press conference, Flynn told reporters, “I think that the message from the governor has been rather lukewarm, but I don’t think it’s a danger signal. I really think, from the position we’re in, and the financial plight of the coffers of the Commonwealth. I would think that the governor would sign whatever is placed on his desk.”
Several lawmakers who took part in the earlier briefing said they had been unaware it was closed to the public. Rep. Richard Ross (R-Wrentham), who has pushed for track slot machines, said the briefing should have been public.
“I think that open and frank dialogue between all the parties that have an interest in expanded gaming makes it a better chance that the institution as a whole would make an informed decision,” Ross said after the briefing.
Kathi-Anne Reinstein, the Revere Democrat who organized the briefing, said the session was closed so members and aides would “feel comfortable to ask any questions without having any type of criticism.”
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Does this beg the question "Why hold public office if you're afraid of criticism?"
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What are they hiding?
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