Foxborough: Clouded Judgement

Candidate downplays family tie
BY FRANK MORTIMER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF
Thursday, April 5, 2012

Slattery: Daughter's Patriot Place job doesn't drive her casino stance
FOXBORO - With a $1 billion resort casino proposal bitterly dividing the town, selectman candidate Martha Slattery emphatically insists she does not let her family connection to the Kraft Group influence her decision on any town business.

"Absolutely, positively I only do things that are in the best interest of the town," Slattery said in a brief phone interview Wednesday.

Sharing a position advocated by Selectman Larry Harrington, who is also running for one of the two selectmen's openings, Slattery has said the town should give Las Vegas mogul Steve Wynn a chance to present his plan to build a casino on land owned by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft on Route 1, across from Gillette Stadium and Patriot Place.

Slattery's daughter, Diana P. Griffin, is an assistant marketing manager at Patriot Place, a Kraft-owned complex.

"I am absolutely not commenting on casinos," Griffin said Wednesday, adding that she was working at Patriot Place long before her mother decided to run for a seat on the board of selectmen. Griffin said her mother enjoys having her working in Foxboro, close to home.

"Other than that, I don't think my job weighs on her day-to-day thinking. My mother is brilliant, and she will do a tremendous job for the town," Griffin said.

Slattery has served on the school committee for the past 14 years.

She was one of a select group of citizens invited to meet at Gillette Stadium Dec. 4 with Kraft and Wynn to learn in person about Wynn's move to build a casino.

In a later polling of school board members, Slattery voiced her support for giving Wynn's casino plan a hearing, adding that entertainment can weather tough economic times because people manage to find a way to pay for entertainment.

The school board never took a vote on the casino matter. Asked after Monday's school committee meeting about her family link to Patriot Place, Slattery first reacted with anger.

"I'm tired of the newspaper going after me," she said in a raised voice when approached in the high school media. "I cut the umbilical cord long ago."

Public officials concerned with potential conflicts can seek advice from the State Ethics Commission or the Office of the Attorney General, and may choose to recuse themselves from certain hearings and votes.

State law requires government officials with a potential conflict of interest to disclose the facts in a form - known as a disclosure statement - which is available at the town clerk's office.

Slattery said she will submit the form if she wins election the board of selectmen.

Over the years, many town officials have made the official disclosures, including Harrington, a vice president with Raytheon, a company that is in business with Kraft Group at Gillette Stadium and which rents a luxury box in the stadium.

Harrington updated his disclosure file in February to "confirm to the public that I can be open minded and impartial with respect to any decisions regarding the Kraft Group or any of their related companies."

Harrington and Slattery are in a four-way race for two selectmen's seats with Selectwoman Lorraine Brue and former state Rep. Virginia Coppola, both of whom oppose the casino proposal.