You are invited to a front row seat to watch the unfolding very public corruption brought to you by Governor "Slot Barns," the cherubic faced politician who has been allowed to get away with pathetic performance.
Commitment is easy to pretend. Especially for one who worked for Ameriquest and pens an autobiography that proclaims the importance of SOCIAL JUSTICE.
How dare you question? How dare you oppose?
After all, look at the price Sal DiMasi is paying for his casino opposition. Governor 'Slot Barns' carried that grudge like the petulant child he is.
Here's the Johnny Come Lately of public scandals because he hasn't been doing his job:
“Boiling is the word. It’s an outrage."
Well, Governor, I felt much the same way when it became publicly known that the Trust Funder made a generous profit on Casino stocks as he was testifying in Gardner Auditorium and you failed to request his resignation.
A recent article (Council to huddle with developers on casino) aroused my curiosity about registered lobbyists.
The named 'Gambling Interests' salivating over New Bedford are KG Urban and Foundation Gaming.
KG Urban is registered with the Secretary of State in the category of 'real estate' which makes sense - when we allowed our steel industry to move overseas, KG partnered with Sands to promote Gambling Addiction in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
We'll return to KG in a moment.
Foundation Gaming on the other hand is curious.
A quick search:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110404006805/en/Joseph-L.-Billhimer-Jr.-Joins-MTR-Gaming
Web site - UNDER CONSTRUCTION? You're kidding, right?
http://www.foundationgaminggroup.com/
http://www.casinoman.net/gambling-news/article/foundation-gaming-group-announces-the-successful-completion-of-it.9716.asp#
They're also not registered as lobbyists or as a corporation with the Secretary of State. All very confusing!
Then there's the article below, in its entirety, linking Steve Norton (whose companies have filed for bankruptcy elsewhere solely to re-negotiate terms) to the Foundation Gaming location.
Then there's this gem found here in its entirety in a clear attempt to escape campaign contribution limits:
Democrat Deval L. Patrick, who regularly decries what he calls a "Big Dig culture" on Beacon Hill, collected thousands of dollars in campaign money at a fund-raiser this month hosted by O'Neill and Associates, a firm that lobbies for the Big Dig's project manager.
The breakfast, which raised more than $20,000, took place Oct. 3, hours before Patrick complained at a debate in Springfield about the state's "inward-looking political establishment" and referred to special interests as "people who get to play, no matter who the governor is."
"I bring that outsider perspective," Patrick said at the debate. He has also aired a television ad vowing to clean up the "Big Dig culture" and cited the Big Dig as "an example of what's wrong with Beacon Hill today." Oh?
Andrew Stern, SEIU leader, and Andy Pavin, KG Urban mouthpiece, disclosed some pricey meals - here.
And then there's a disclaimer about the Big Dig - clearly absent is the Gambling Industry. Hmm.
Here's Andrew Paven, a lobbyist employed by O'Neill and Associates, and who works on behalf of Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff, explaining how supposedly there's no actual conflict of interest at work here.
"We raise money for many candidates," said Andrew Paven, a spokesman for Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff. ``We had a breakfast fund-raiser for [US Representative] Barney Frank today. The contributors are a matter of public record."
Paven said that at Patrick's request, no one associated with the consortium nor any other Big Dig contractor was invited to the Oct. 3 fund-raiser or allowed to contribute. He said that he is the only person at O'Neill and Associates who works with Bechtel/Parsons Brinckerhoff and that he did not attend.
"Nobody who works for any company with any work on the Big Dig was invited," he said. "They're not taking money from the Big Dig, which is why I didn't make a contribution."
Paven quite clearly asserts that he did not make a contribution, beause there would be a conflict of interest if a lobbyist for the Big Dig were to contribute to a candidate who, in his elected capacity, would have oversight responsibilities on that project.
File under: Yeah, no kidding.
Second city casino plan in the works
By Steve Decosta
December 05, 2009
NEW BEDFORD — Through the last 2½ years of economic turmoil and political uncertainty over the expansion of gambling, the city has been flirting with not just one but two potential developers of waterfront casinos.
One plan, for a casino in the Hicks-Logan neighborhood, has been prominently reported almost since it was proposed by Northeast Resorts of East Longmeadow.[Steve Norton]
The other continues to fly just under the radar. While Mayor Scott W. Lang acknowledged the efforts of a second suitor to build a casino at the site of the old NStar power plant on the city's harbor, he would not identify the developer.
The mayor said the developer is working on acquiring the property, owned by NStar and Sprague Energy. "I think that's one thing they've been spending a lot of time on, the assembly of parcels they would need."
Andy Paven, who identified himself as a contracted spokesman, said KG Urban Enterprises is involved in negotiations for the NStar site, but would not confirm that it is for a casino. "It's a really complicated real estate deal," he said.
KG Urban Enterprises is registered with the secretary of state's office as a foreign limited liability company with offices on 42nd Street in New York City. Its principals are listed as managers Barry M. Gosin and James D. Kuhn, who also are CEO and president, respectively, of Newmark Knight Frank, a New York-based real estate services firm.
A Google search for KG Urban Enterprises produced a site that said only "Web site coming soon." [At least this reporter conducted a quick google search. For Foundation Gaming Group or Joseph Bilhimer, there is no record of corporate registration, nor is there one in the lobbying section. Who is New Bedford negotiating with? And who is asking?]
Lang said the proposed developers of the NStar site have "been involved in casino development in other parts of the country. They have, in fact, developed a casino in another urban area."
"They've been working on the design and they're close to final drawings. I'd say it's something equal to or exceeds the proposal that's been presented for Hicks-Logan."
That Hicks-Logan proposal, called Revere Landing, would front New Bedford Harbor on 35 acres just south of Interstate 195.
The $1 billion, 2½-story, 230,000-square-foot casino would include 4,000 slot machines and 150 table games.
Flanked by a 600-room hotel tower, it eventually would employ more than 4,000 permanent workers [don't count on it!], Northeast Resorts has said. [Northeast is/was Steve Norton]
The mayor, who said he has seen drawings of the proposed casino on the NStar site, professed no preference for either location. "I don't at this time," he said. "There's going to have to be an awful lot of vetting of both proposals before I can support either one."
He said he would insist that any casino built in the city "has to be done correctly for an urban area. It has to be melded together with what the city already has."
"If a casino is done right, the city has many attributes that they don't have to replicate," Lang said. [Mayor, With all due respect, find one community in which it has been 'done right.' That community doesn't exist.]
"We told both developers that we have theaters. They don't need to re-create a theater. We have the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center. We would want them to help us maintain it. We want them to help us with the renovation of the Orpheum Theater. We have the Capital Theater in the North End. They don't have to spend money building new structures. If they come in and replicate what the city already has, that's a net loss. If we work together to renovate or refurbish what we have now, that will benefit the community as well as the developer." [Dream on, Mayor!]
Legislation to allow casino gaming is being developed by the House and Senate leadership, and House Speaker Robert DeLeo has promised a vote on the issue early next year.
A proposal by Gov. Deval Patrick to allow three resort casinos in three different parts of the state was torpedoed last year, but "it appears the leadership is now aligned in a positive way to support gaming," Lang said.
Even if the Legislature agrees to expand gaming, there is no guarantee a casino would be located in New Bedford. "I'm sure there will be a tremendous vetting process not only by the state but by the city," Lang said. [The City is currently entertaining Foundation, an unidentified group, not registered with the Secretary of State. That's 'vetting'?]
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