A Walk Down Memory Lane

Revisiting past comments 'not at the top of the agenda' seems disengenuous to say the least.

Maybe they should have focused on more comprehensive Ethics Reform....oh...like Stock Ownership and charities to escape campaign limits. [Bialecki and Rosenberg and Petrucelli come to mind.]

If it wasn't at the top of Governor Slot Barn's agenda, why did he meet with Native Americans immediately after his re-election and promise a Slot Barn in Freetown? or a Slot Barn in Foxborough?

Nothing else happens? And little else did!


Gambling not at top of agenda for DeLeo
Says health care costs, deficit are top priorities
By Michael Levenson
Globe Staff / November 12, 2010

WINTHROP — House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, an ardent supporter of expanded gambling who led this summer’s unsuccessful drive to legalize slot parlors and casinos, said yesterday that the issue is no longer at the top of his agenda.

In a brief interview, DeLeo said he is focused instead on closing the state’s projected budget shortfall and reducing health care costs when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Gambling “will be one of the items we’ll take a look at, [but] I think more immediately the issues of the health care debate and the budget really are going to require our attention,’’ he said, after speaking at a Veterans’ Day ceremony in his hometown of Winthrop.

The comments from DeLeo, who has fought to legalize slot machines at racetracks since entering the Legislature in 1991, suggested that Beacon Hill’s enthusiasm for expanded gambling may be waning after a showdown with Governor Deval Patrick on the issue ended in finger-pointing and acrimony in July.

Patrick, a casino supporter, told the Globe last week that he is not inclined to pursue gambling again in his second term. DeLeo seemed to agree that the issue may be shelved as the state faces an estimated $2 billion budget gap and persistent complaints about the escalating cost of health care.

“I think we’ve got some other issues we have to come out right at the beginning with,’’ he said.

Senate President Therese Murray declined, through her aides, to comment on her priorities for the coming year.

DeLeo, a Democrat, also spoke for the first time about the results of this month’s election, in which the Republican Party succeeded in ousting a dozen House Democrats and more than doubling, from 15 to 32, the number of seats it controls in the 160-member chamber.

The GOP’s inroads into the House were one of the party’s few bright spots in an election in which Democrats maintained control of every statewide office and congressional seat.

But DeLeo downplayed the result, saying he did not view the Republican victories as a rebuke to his leadership or a desire by voters for a new direction on Beacon Hill.

“We knew that we had a lot of difficult races out there, and, in actuality, we probably did a little better than could have been expected,’’ said DeLeo, whose political action committee spent $235,466, by Oct. 15, to reelect House Democrats.

“The results have shown that, quite frankly, in those areas where Charlie Baker won, those are the areas we had our problems, certain pockets of the state,’’ DeLeo said.

In addition, several of the House Democrats who lost their seats were dissidents who had questioned DeLeo’s leadership style and demanded greater openness and accountability.

DeLeo said he has met already with several of the newly elected House Republicans and they “pledged that they want to work together and get things done.’’

“It’s going to make for a little more lively debate, but the thing folks have to realize is we still have close to 130, 131 members,’’ DeLeo said, acknowledging that some of the Democrats who lost are considering recounts. “We’re still in good shape.’’

DeLeo’s comments on gambling were significant because of the major role he played this summer in shepherding to the governor’s desk a bill that would have legalized three Las Vegas-style casinos and a pair of slot parlors at the state’s racetracks.

A track worker’s son whose district includes the recently closed Wonderland Greyhound Park in Revere and the struggling Suffolk Downs racetrack in East Boston, DeLeo was incensed when the governor rejected the measure and demanded that lawmakers strip out the licenses for slot parlors at the tracks, calling them “no-bid contracts’’ for special interests.

DeLeo, who did not ask lawmakers to consider the governor’s changes, said yesterday that he was “disappointed with the way it ended.’’

But he seemed to echo Patrick, who said last week that the state must focus next year on education, health care, and job creation and not casino gambling, because, Patrick said, “all the air goes out’’ of Beacon Hill when the issue is considered and “nothing else happens.’’

DeLeo said he appreciated the governor’s comments.

“Obviously — surprise, surprise — the budget is going to be front and center as the major topic, and I think health care reform is going to be an issue we have to address,’’ DeLeo said.