Watching the Senate "Casino" Hearings from the Gallery was a rather despicable display of enduring lobbyists strutting like peacocks, proud of dictating legislation and enduring most elected officials spouting the Industry rhetoric from scripts like puppets.
Not so Senator O'Leary!
He was among the unsung heroes who had conducted his due diligence and was informed about the truth about the degradation and impacts of state sponsored Gambling Addiction, its negative impact on tourism.
Maybe the Cape and Islands falsely believe your immune from the impacts of Gambling, but you'll pick up the tab and you'll sacrifice tourism as a consequence.
A federal report determined that every $1 in gambling revenue, cost the taxpayer $3.
After watching that disgraceful display, it would have been easier to support the Industry known to lavish generous campaign contributions on supporters.
I've become rather cynical and suspicious of candidates who clearly have too much funding from other than local voters and send out glossy brochures and much else.
Not so Senator O'Leary!
He was among the unsung heroes who had conducted his due diligence and was informed about the truth about the degradation and impacts of state sponsored Gambling Addiction, its negative impact on tourism.
Maybe the Cape and Islands falsely believe your immune from the impacts of Gambling, but you'll pick up the tab and you'll sacrifice tourism as a consequence.
A federal report determined that every $1 in gambling revenue, cost the taxpayer $3.
After watching that disgraceful display, it would have been easier to support the Industry known to lavish generous campaign contributions on supporters.
I've become rather cynical and suspicious of candidates who clearly have too much funding from other than local voters and send out glossy brochures and much else.
Maybe we use the wrong values to determine which candidate to vote for. Maybe it's not who has the most signs.
The comment below was thought-provoking.
A closer look at the Keating vs. O'Leary race
While perfectly content to mostly watch the entertainment on the other blogs, I've found myself more wrapped into the Keating-O'Leary primary fight than I thought. I was pretty open minded back in the Spring. I honestly was not sure that O'Leary had the fire in the belly you need to really run hard. I admired his record as Senator, but I wanted to see more about how things would play out. At the Brewster in Bloom parade, Keating had a large contingent, including the candidate. O'Leary had a schedule conflict and few people.
Bill Keating vs. Rob O'Leary
Fast forward through the summer and I saw that O'Leary "got it" as far as campaigning. Concurrent to that, I found that the Keating campaign was willing to run a campaign that was more than glad to take things out of context to try and scare voters. When you get to the point in politics where you will do and say anything to get elected, it's a huge turnoff for me.
So I wanted to take a look deeper at Keating's history and record, someone who just moved to the 10th to run, versus someone that has lived here for over 30 years. Keating thought it was outrageous for O'Leary to be teaching at state schools. I see teaching as honorable, I don't care where it is, and he's teaching OUR young adults. I was thinking, I once worked at UMass/Amherst. Suppose a teaching position opened up the road at Greenfield Community College that I was perfect for. To follow Keating's logic, no way should I be doing that.
Never mind that O'Leary had taught far longer than he's been in public service. I guess Keating is more comfortable if one earns additional income from your own law firm. In 1992, Keating reported to the state that he earned over $100K from his law practice at the same time he was a State Senator. Sorry I don't have other years available, I would speculate similar numbers, but it is only speculation. I'm far more comfortable with a legislator/educator than a legislator/lawyer. I guess you need that kind of income if you have or had houses in Edgartown, Bourne, Sharon and now Quincy. Pretty disingenuous to me to criticize O'Leary when you're pulling over $100K/yr on the side.
If I thought O'Leary was going to go to Congress and raise the age on Social Security, I would have a problem with it. That's the soundbite that the Keating campaign hopes will scare people. They know many people won't get past the soundbite to know what was actually said and why. It's on O'Leary's website, you can find it easily enough.
Then there is the credibility issue that I have with Keating. If people called Kerry a flipflopper how about this-
Against Cape Wind before he was for it
Was going to keep his $100K plus state pension if elected, before getting called on it
Voted against reforms in the State Senate before coming out for them and against Bulger
Must have changed his mind again, as his political committee has donated to both Sal DiMasi and Tom Finneran. Even before their indictments, not really known as reform minded public servants.
Most of his campaign money is from outside the 10th. Since he couldn't use the money from his DA committee, he returned it to people and said they could always donate to his congressional campaign instead.
So yeah, the more I looked, the more I had a problem with Keating. And I knew O'Leary's record for the Cape & Islands, a strong record of accomplishment in education, the environment, a major reason we have the CPA, a major reason Massachusetts ed reform was awarded $250 million from the Feds. His record won the Globe endorsement, the 14 Gatehouse papers on the South Shore and 7 local Cape papers.
It's certainly been harder to look at the good things that Bill Keating has done in public service, and he has done many. However, in a primary you need to try and balance your message so that come 9/15, you haven't pissed off your opponent's supporters. There is a big difference between I'll vote for you and I'll work for you.
The comment below was thought-provoking.
A closer look at the Keating vs. O'Leary race
While perfectly content to mostly watch the entertainment on the other blogs, I've found myself more wrapped into the Keating-O'Leary primary fight than I thought. I was pretty open minded back in the Spring. I honestly was not sure that O'Leary had the fire in the belly you need to really run hard. I admired his record as Senator, but I wanted to see more about how things would play out. At the Brewster in Bloom parade, Keating had a large contingent, including the candidate. O'Leary had a schedule conflict and few people.
Bill Keating vs. Rob O'Leary
Fast forward through the summer and I saw that O'Leary "got it" as far as campaigning. Concurrent to that, I found that the Keating campaign was willing to run a campaign that was more than glad to take things out of context to try and scare voters. When you get to the point in politics where you will do and say anything to get elected, it's a huge turnoff for me.
So I wanted to take a look deeper at Keating's history and record, someone who just moved to the 10th to run, versus someone that has lived here for over 30 years. Keating thought it was outrageous for O'Leary to be teaching at state schools. I see teaching as honorable, I don't care where it is, and he's teaching OUR young adults. I was thinking, I once worked at UMass/Amherst. Suppose a teaching position opened up the road at Greenfield Community College that I was perfect for. To follow Keating's logic, no way should I be doing that.
Never mind that O'Leary had taught far longer than he's been in public service. I guess Keating is more comfortable if one earns additional income from your own law firm. In 1992, Keating reported to the state that he earned over $100K from his law practice at the same time he was a State Senator. Sorry I don't have other years available, I would speculate similar numbers, but it is only speculation. I'm far more comfortable with a legislator/educator than a legislator/lawyer. I guess you need that kind of income if you have or had houses in Edgartown, Bourne, Sharon and now Quincy. Pretty disingenuous to me to criticize O'Leary when you're pulling over $100K/yr on the side.
If I thought O'Leary was going to go to Congress and raise the age on Social Security, I would have a problem with it. That's the soundbite that the Keating campaign hopes will scare people. They know many people won't get past the soundbite to know what was actually said and why. It's on O'Leary's website, you can find it easily enough.
Then there is the credibility issue that I have with Keating. If people called Kerry a flipflopper how about this-
Against Cape Wind before he was for it
Was going to keep his $100K plus state pension if elected, before getting called on it
Voted against reforms in the State Senate before coming out for them and against Bulger
Must have changed his mind again, as his political committee has donated to both Sal DiMasi and Tom Finneran. Even before their indictments, not really known as reform minded public servants.
Most of his campaign money is from outside the 10th. Since he couldn't use the money from his DA committee, he returned it to people and said they could always donate to his congressional campaign instead.
So yeah, the more I looked, the more I had a problem with Keating. And I knew O'Leary's record for the Cape & Islands, a strong record of accomplishment in education, the environment, a major reason we have the CPA, a major reason Massachusetts ed reform was awarded $250 million from the Feds. His record won the Globe endorsement, the 14 Gatehouse papers on the South Shore and 7 local Cape papers.
It's certainly been harder to look at the good things that Bill Keating has done in public service, and he has done many. However, in a primary you need to try and balance your message so that come 9/15, you haven't pissed off your opponent's supporters. There is a big difference between I'll vote for you and I'll work for you.
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