Massachusetts Mayors Promote Low Wage Jobs

Recently, the same Massachusetts mayors submitted the same letter promoting the same failed proposal to support predatory gambling in the Commonwealth.

Sometimes, when something sounds too good to be true, it is.

It is clear that these Mayors have short-changed their constituents by failing to do their homeowrk, consider the facts or just simply 'look around.'

The letter below was sent to one of thje Mayors in response to the factless support:

I was disappointed to learn that you had co-signed a letter urging the Governor and the State Legislature to authorize casino gambling in the state without first requesting a detailed, unbiased review.

I have read much of the 2 reports prepared by Spectrum Gaming Group (SGG) for the sole purpose of helping proponents sell expanded gambling in Massachusetts; I have also read most of the report (also prepared by SGG) for Governor Jodi Rell in Connecticut -- and I can tell you that significant sections relating to the negative aspects of casino gambling were completely left out of both Massachusetts reports.

As just one brief example, the report prepared for Governor Rell showed that 38.2% of Foxwoods employees earned less than $20,536 annually. That's over one-third. 86.99% of all Foxwoods employees earned less than $28,930 annually. That's nearly 9 in 10 employees earning what could, at best, be called a subsistence wage.

At Mohegan Sun, the numbers are almost as bad: 38% of all Mohegan Sun employees earned less than $22,189 annually and only 16.26% earned more than $36,700 annually.

Those aren't quite the great jobs that proponents of casino gambling have been selling us, are they? And these aren't the only lies they've been feeding us.

For casino gambling to work in Holyoke, or elsewhere in Massachusetts, the citizens of the Commonwealth are entitled to know the true, hard facts before final decisions are made.

As a concerned public servant elected to champion the public good, I am asking you to please revise your letter to request a full, independent study of both positives AND negatives before casino gambling expands into Massachusetts.

It is the right, and prudent, thing to do.