Letting the Wolves In

Unfortunately, it’s too late to bar door from wolves of gambling industry

YOUR NOV. 8 editorial “Flawed casino legislation leaves public interest too vulnerable’’ is loaded with irony. Several years ago, it was The Boston Globe that opened the door for casinos in Massachusetts. When your editorial board flirted with casinos, you gave every politician in this state permission to let the wolves in. Although I never stopped fighting the notion that we could gamble our way out of budget deficits, the day the Globe flipped on this issue was the very day I knew that casinos would eventually prevail.

Tuesday’s editorial bemoans the flaws and potential for corruption in the current casino bill. I am not privy to your editorial board’s internal debate on this issue, but did you honestly think Massachusetts could do a “clean’’ casino bill? It is called an oxymoron. Where in the country has a clean casino bill emerged from the legislature and remained corruption-free through the years?

The gambling interests have a playbook to get what they want, and the name of the state is irrelevant. They see a market; they buy the political establishment; they hook the state on the revenue; and then they own the legislative-regulatory framework.

Your editorial concludes, “If Massachusetts marries the casino industry on these terms, it will be stuck with the consequences forever.’’ Too bad that the Globe helped officiate at the marriage ceremony.

Susan Tucker

Andover

The writer was a six-term state senator.