Krafts discuss idea in private at stadium

Casino topic of Aug. 8 meeting
Krafts discuss idea with Harrington, Paicos in private at stadium
By Frank Mortimer

In a private meeting in early August with Patriots owner Robert Kraft and associates, selectmen chairman Larry Harrington learned of Kraft Group's interest in hosting a resort casino project on Route 1.

Harrington, who has increasingly fought for public consideration of a Wynn Resorts casino project proposed on Kraft-owned land, never disclosed that meeting to the public -- and now fellow board members say Harrington did not inform them of the secret meeting, which took place on Aug. 8 in Robert Kraft's office at Gillette Stadium.

During that meeting, Kraft told Harrington and town manager Kevin Paicos that Kraft Group had been approached by several parties about doing a resort casino and sought to ascertain the town's level of interest, both Harrington and Paicos confimed this week.

The need for a two-thirds vote to change Foxboro's zoning, necessary if a casino were to be allowed, was also discussed at that meeting, the town officials said in separate interviews.

Paicos confirmed the meeting this past Tuesday, when questioned by The Foxboro Reporter about his schedule for 2011, which the newspaper had obtained via a public records request.

Notified of Paicos's disclosures, Harrington on Wednesday acknowledged that Robert and Jonathan Kraft had sought their cooperation in person weeks before Paicos emerged as the sole sponsor of an effort to change town zoning to allow a casino.

"The Krafts indicated they wanted to test the town's interest in a resort casino," Harrington said. "The Krafts talked in general terms about a billion-dollar investment in real estate for a hotel, conference center, retail and gaming establishment, noting the gaming part would be a small part."

Harrington said the parties noted that current zoning in Foxboro does not allow for such a facility, and that a two-thirds vote of Town Meeting would be required to change zoning.

"We also talked about other requirements that were in the draft legislation that would ensure the host community fully supported the project, such as a ballot vote," Harrington said. "It is a community issue."

Paicos this week said the drive to allow a casino in Foxboro has been perceived as a Paicos issue.

On Aug. 25, Paicos presented the re-zoning idea at a meeting of the planning board, saying he'd received calls or emails from would-be casino builders inquiring about the town's current zoning.

In that meeting, Kraft Group attorney John Twohig presented a series of zoning proposals. Sandwiched in Twohig's zoning report was language to change the definition of "entertainment facilities" in the Route 1 economic development area to include casinos.

The board was told that Twohig had drawn up the casino language at Paicos' request, a perception the Kraft Group encouraged.

"My understanding is that it's not something we initiated, but that the town manager requested," Kraft spokesman Jeff Cournoyer said at the time.

"The appearance was that Twohig had written it for me and that I was endorsing this zoning proposal -- nothing could be further from the truth," Paicos said this week. "I wasn't endorsing any zoning proposal. I was there to explain a concept."

The planning board that night declined to sponsor the article for consideration at the fall town meeting. Selectmen, on Sept. 6, also voted 5 to 0 not to put the gaming zoning before voters.

One week later, however, on Sept. 13, selectman Lynda Walsh said she felt the board had "jumped the gun" in ditching the casino matter. Harrington likewise said he now felt that the issue of casino gambling was too important to be left up to selectmen and should be placed before voters.

As documented on Foxboro Cable Access TV videotape of that Sept. 13 meeting, Harrington spoke for about five minutes about his involvement in getting the casino matter on the previous week's agenda. But he said it was Paicos who wanted to put the casino zoning on the board's agenda for the previous week: "So I agreed with Kevin that it made sense for us to discuss it."

Harrington said nothing about the meeting he had participated in with the Krafts a month or more earlier.

Paicos, who has been town manager for 15 months, this Tuesday said either the officials he was dealing with were "confused," which resulted in his seeming to be the prime mover of the effort to pass casino gambling, or that he was "purposely manipulated and taken advantage of, because I did not have the knowledge or context."

Though reminded during the meeting with the Krafts and Harrington that a zoning change would be necessary to allow casino gambling in Foxboro, no one told him that the town specifically removed gaming from its zoning books about eight years ago.

"Once I made the proposal and it was not popular, they left me holding the bag," Paicos said.

Other members in dark

Selectman Mark Sullivan said he never knew of Harrington and Paicos's meeting with the Krafts until informed by a reporter Wednesday. Sullivan said he has no problem with the idea of the chairman and the town manager having such a meeting but "I would like to have been informed about the whole situation before now."

Lynda Walsh likewise said she did not remember being told by Paicos or Harrington about that meeting, and could not comment. "I've been trying to remember any phone conversations with Kevin or Larry, but I'm not coming up with anything," Walsh said.

Walsh said she did, however, receive a call of thanks from Robert Kraft after a Dec. 13 meeting in the high school auditorium, in which she voted in favor of allowing a Wynn Resorts casino concept to be presented to the public in January. At that meeting, Walsh was booed by some among the more than 500 present.

Selectman Jim DeVellis could not be reached for comment.

Harringtion said he, too, is taking his lumps.

"Some opponents of the casino have tried to change the debate by making me an issue, even going as far as to suggest unethical behavior," Harrington said Wednesday. "Nothing is further from the truth."

Harrington, a vice president with Raytheon, a firm that is a partner with the Kraft Group in the football museum at Gillette Stadium, said he opposed the Kraft stance on the meals tax even though Kraft suggested it would cost them $100,000, and "I have other examples where I opposed the Krafts on items that were in the best interest of Foxboro."

Harrington he said he's been faulted in the press for "supporting a public debate on the casino issue and letting the 11,000 voters make the decision. I have but one vote at Town Meeting and in a ballot question. What is so wrong with letting such an important issue be debated and decided upon by the 11,000 voters? Could anything be more fair than letting the entire community decide such an important issue such as this?"

Selectman Lorraine Brue said she learned from Paicos last Thursday of the Aug. 8 meeting with the Krafts, and how the subsequent zoning proposal to the Planning Board was brought forward without Brue's knowledge.

Brue notes that an Aug. 28 email from Harrington to a quorum of the board, excluding her, describes contacts by developers and the rationale for the zoning change, an effort Harrington in that email attributes to Paicos.

"The public and I were misled," Brue said. "This is not the way government should work. If casinos were such a good idea as presented in the beginning of August, why did Larry discuss it privately until the Wynn's arrival in town in December? There has been no transparency."

Kraft Group vice president Dan Murphy said Wednesday that throughout the spring and summer, Kraft Group leaders had meetings with various officials on a water and sewer issue, and that the casino topic surfaced during such a discussion.

"I invited Kevin and Larry to a meeting in August to discuss water and sewer and a general update on the status of the office park development," Murphy said. "The discussion turned to other development options because water is a lynchpin of that. The town manager asked the Krafts directly if they had been approached by gaming interests because he had been. They confirmed that they had, but were lukewarm to the idea unless there was an opportunity that was truly special and high end. We discussed the current legislation at the state level and inquired about potential zoning requirements locally."