....incestuous relationship on Beacon Hill...

Robert A. DeLeo tied to tribe flak
Fundraiser for speaker has casino client
By Joe Battenfeld

A fundraiser for House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo and other Democratic legislators who have final say over a Mashpee Wampanoag casino bid is also on the tribe’s payroll as a public relations consultant.

Brooke Scannell, the spokesperson for Wampanoag tribal chairman Cedric Cromwell, is a $3,000-a-month fundraiser for DeLeo’s PAC, Committee for a Democratic House, according to records.

DeLeo was a major force behind the state’s new casino law that gives the Mashpee Wampanoags first crack at a casino in southeastern Massachusetts.

Scannell is also a fundraiser for state Sen. Jennifer L. Flanagan (D-Leominster), who was on the six-person conference committee that helped craft the casino bill last year, and a half-dozen other current and former legislators.

“It’s an incestuous relationship on Beacon Hill and it’s no wonder taxpayers are so cynical,” said Kathleen Conley Norbut, former president of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts and founder of the Western Massachusetts Casino Task Force.

DeLeo’s office referred all fundraising questions to David Martin, who is the treasurer for DeLeo’s campaign and PAC. Martin did not respond to an email request for comment.

Scannell, head of the Scannell Group, defended her dual roles in an email.

“My company consults to clients including campaign committees and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe,” she wrote.

“The public relations services provided to the Tribe do not include lobbying legislators on gaming or any other issues. I do not discuss the Tribe’s interests with any of my company’s other clients.”

Gov. Deval Patrick’s campaign has refused to accept any contributions from gambling interests — let alone employ one as a fundraiser. [Except that he did until he was caught!]

But DeLeo and other lawmakers have raked in tens of thousands of dollars from gaming interests.

“It shows the coziness that exists up on Beacon Hill. ... That’s been going on for years,” said John Ribeiro, an East Boston casino opponent.

The state’s new gaming law gives the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe a head start in negotiating with the Patrick administration for casino approval. The Legislature must vote to give final approval of a Wampanoag casino by July 31. The tribe wants a gambling resort in Taunton.

Scannell has been the fundraiser for DeLeo’s PAC since 2009 when she began representing the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe. She has also been on the campaign payrolls of state Sen. Katherine Clark (D-Melrose), state Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland), state Sen. Kenneth J. Donnelly (D-Arlington), state Rep. Carlo P. Basile (D-East Boston), state Sen. Barry R. Finegold (D-Andover) and ex-state Sen. Steven Tolman, a Watertown Democrat, records show.

DeLeo, Flanagan, Clark, Basile and Tolman supported the new casino law while Spilka, Donnelly and Finegold voted against it.