[Does anyone think it's curious that so many out-of-towners are participating in the PRO Foxborough Slot Barn facebook page? In Middleboro, the most vocal promoters were those who had some financial gain involved.]
How many places has Steve Wynn been kicked out of? Let me count the ways.....
Middleboro is wholly familiar with reporters who babble, yet don't grasp the issue and ignore the facts.
FACTS:
1. The line on the map got moved behind closed doors from the 2010 version of the Predatory Gambling legislation Governor Slot Barns vetoed. Did anyone notice? Surely not this reporter! Are you a little curious?
2. Then there's that PEDESTRIAN BRIDGE TO NOWHERE Governor Slot Barns kept pushing. See a connection?
3. And the silly commuter rail extension that will not only cost taxpayers gazillion dollars at a time the MBTA is mired in Big Dig debt, but municipalities along the route will get sucked into absorbing the annual loss, yet have no voice. Such a deal! That's surely cheaper than the + $500 MILLION Senator Petrucelli wants to spend for his buddies [Remember the report Senator Petrucelli refused to provide?].
4. There's that sticky little matter of the SEC investigation of Wynn for FCPA violations (Foreign Corrupt Practices Act). Translation: Bribing foreign officials.
5. Kraft/Wynn is waving Millions as if that's a solution, ignoring a recent tax settlement, here: Caesars, Atlantic City settle tax appeal or even the many Gambling Industry whiners around the country, always looking for a bailout.
The small town of Palmer, MA appointed a 'Casino Study Committee' composed of town residents. When they determined that the ANNUAL cost to host a monster of this sort was $18 MILLION to $39 MILLION.
And Wynn is waving his magic wand and offering $10 MILLION to $15 MILLION?
That's why he's a good [wealthy] businessman when people fall for his slick and untrue presentation.
Hint: The wand doesn't work!
GOUVEIA: Foxboro selectmen guilty of tipping their hand on casino
Friday, April 6, 2012
Foxboro is a pretty tense place these days. But when you peel away the layers of emotion and passion which have fueled the casino debate for the last several months, the whole thing can and should be seen for what it truly is - a political situation that has been completely mishandled.
The odds of Steve Wynn ever getting a state license to build a casino across from Bob Kraft's Gillette Stadium are slim, and have been from the start. He has to negotiate a deal with selectmen, get the town to change the zoning, win a referendum vote and get Massachusetts to commit to infrastructure improvements along Route 1. Then he has to get the state to give the one available license to him, instead of the gambling facility that currently operates in the East Boston district represented by the Speaker of the Massachusetts House. Yeah - that's a longshot.
But they have begun the arduous process spelled out by state law. And while they certainly didn't expect the path to be an easy one, it is clear they did not anticipate being met with what amounts to open hostility by Foxboro's Board of Selectmen, at least not this early and this publicly. While they no doubt counted on tough negotiations, they seemed genuinely surprised when the town's highest board said it did not want to even talk to them.
They weren't the only ones. Many townspeople seemed at least a bit perplexed by their selectmen's unwillingness to listen to the Kraft and Wynn people, especially with $10 million to $15 million a year possibly on the line. It has led to a heightening of tensions between the town and its largest taxpayer, and between local residents as well.
Analyzing the situation politically, the selectmen have managed to turn a position of tremendous political strength into a glaring weakness. When the casino debate began, they and the town literally held almost all the cards. Kraft and Wynn had to come to them, on their turf and their terms. They even have to pay the town's cost to negotiate. Selectmen have tremendous power and influence in the process, but have inexplicably refused to use it.
Most of the current board clearly does not want a casino in town. So they have dug in their heels and tried to please what they see as the majority of voters by refusing to negotiate. In doing so, they have accomplished what Kraft and Wynn could not possibly have achieved on their own: They have made the Kraft and Wynn organizations look like sympathetic underdogs. This is a colossal political blunder. It simply makes no sense. It has put the town on the defensive when it should be in a position of complete control of the situation. And it has put the community through unnecessary turmoil.
All the selectmen had to do was agree to negotiate. Nowhere does it say they have to be lenient or easy in those negotiations. Given the long odds facing the Foxboro casino, they would have been in a position to make those odds even longer if they wished. They should be taking their time, asking for the moon and stars, and a deal which - if it ever ended up being a real possibility - would leave Foxboro in the strongest possible position.
Selectmen could have appeared to be very reasonable and fair, even if inside the negotiating room they were making outrageous demands and poisoning the process. They would have taken away the argument that Kraft and Wynn were being treated unfairly. There would have been no criticism that they were denying their citizens the ability to eventually vote on the matter.
Instead, they were bullied by a vocal anti-casino faction and their own town manager into a position of some popularity, but political and practical silliness. They created a damaging debate they simply did not need to have at this point. In trying to appear independent and strong, they hamstrung themselves and ceded the political high ground.
Selectmen should agree to negotiate, not because it's good for the Kraft/Wynn group but because it gives Foxboro the best chance to control any casino possibilities. The board has shot itself in the foot, but there is still time to limp to a smart political solution.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and a longtime area town official.
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