Guaranteed any agreement negotiated with the Mashpee Wampanoags will not serve the Commonwealth well.
The veneer of pretense slips to clearly reveal the pretense.
In addition to being the Governor's "point man" on developing the casino legislation, including the carve out for Indian gaming preference in SE Mass, he has been the lead person negotiating the compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag on behalf of the Governor - as noted in the paper just the other day that when he moved over to the Commission he was removed from that role... George Brennan is the only one I know who caught that tid-bit.
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120508/NEWS/205080334/0/rss04
"Jason Lefferts, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, said Friday that McGee is being removed from negotiations with the Mashpee Wampanoag on a tribe-state compact, even though McGee expressed an interest in staying in that role. Lefferts said he was not sure when that decision was made by the Patrick administration."
Now that McGee is back in his job, it's not clear if he goes back to the negotiating tables with the tribe or not - regardless, he was the architect of the compact (likely already close to completion) and as such it should be thrown out if he continues to decline to disclose what happened, state on the record that he didn't molest that child (he's never actually denied it) and prove that neither he nor anyone else in the Governor's office used their political influence to get the Florida charges against him dropped when the arresting officers, state sex crime investigators and victim's family all wanted the prosecution to go forward.
http://wampaleaks.blogspot.com/2012/05/inconvenient-distractions-for.html
UPDATE: McGee resigns from gaming post
BOSTON – Stan McGee’s controversial tenure as the interim executive director of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is over after three days on the job.
McGee resigned Wednesday night amid growing controversy over his appointment that included protests from child advocates and legislators. McGee was accused, but never charged, in 2007 in an alleged sexual assault on a 15-year-old boy at a Florida resort. In 2011, he reached a confidential settlement with the boy’s family.
“After much personal thought and given the growing distractions, I have decided that I cannot be effective in the job I was offered,” McGee said in a prepared statement released by the commission’s spokeswoman. “In order to allow the commission to get on with the important public business of job creation and economic development it was created to perform, I respectfully decline the offer that was extended to me to serve as acting executive director.”
Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby accepted McGee’s resignation, though he again praised the casino expertise he would have brought to the table. “In the interest of maintaining public confidence in the achievement of our mission, however, I concur with (McGee) that his serving in this role would impede the commission’s ability to accomplish its mission,” Crosby said in his prepared statement.
McGee’s announcement came after another day of public outcry over his appointment and a perception that the commission failed to do its due diligence.
McGee, a former Rhodes Scholar and a graduate of Harvard Law School, was the administration’s expert on Indian gaming laws in the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. He helped craft Patrick’s casino legislation in 2007.
Crosby referred to McGee repeatedly over the past week as a “superstar.”
McGee did not respond to an email seeking further comment.
Just hours before the resignation, the governor’s office confirmed it never did an independent review of the sexual assault allegations against McGee. That contradicts comments made by Crosby on multiple occasions following McGee’s appointment by a unanimous vote of the commission May 1.
“This office does not conduct independent criminal investigations and did not conduct an investigation of this case,” Kimberly Haberlin, a spokeswoman for Gov. Deval Patrick, said in an email. “Law enforcement officials investigated the claims and decided not to press charges. As (McGee) was never charged with a crime, he was allowed to return from his leave of absence after that decision.”
As recently as Monday, in a letter to a state representative who raised questions about McGee’s hiring, Crosby wrote that the commission was satisfied that McGee was presumed innocent, in part, because of a review done by Patrick’s office. That letter came one day after The Boston Globe quoted unnamed sources saying no such review by Patrick’s office ever occurred.
Reached Wednesday night, Karen Schwartzman, a spokeswoman for Crosby and the commission, had no immediate comment on the conflicting information.
Criticism of Crosby, specifically, and the commission, in general, had increased in recent days after Crosby acknowledged in published reports that his vetting process included reading press accounts of the case, but not interviews with prosecutors or anyone else involved in the case other than McGee.
Wednesday was a day of fast-paced developments that stemmed from the controversy.
At mid-day, state Rep. Daniel Winslow, R-Norfolk, announced that he had hired a private investigator to do an independent probe into McGee and his hiring. About an hour later, led by the Republican caucus, the full House approved an amendment calling for more thorough background checks of gaming commission employees.
“The commission’s failure to conduct due diligence in these circumstances is unacceptable and inexcusable,” Winslow said.
Reached Wednesday night by phone, Winslow said he still has concerns about McGee working in state government and said he is hopeful the Patrick administration will review the case before he is reinstated. McGee is expected to rejoin the state Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development, which had loaned him to the gaming commission, according to Statehouse source familiar with the case.
At a Statehouse press conference Wednesday, Winslow said he planned to use campaign funds and donations to pay a retired state police detective $5,000 to do an independent investigation that he would share with the commission and Patrick.
Winslow, who provided copies of the civil complaint, referred to the detailed, graphic nature of the allegations, contained in the lawsuit, as “heartbreaking.” The Times has decided not to publish the sex acts alleged.
Winslow hired Robert Long, an investigator noted for his surveillance work against James “Whitey” Bulger, to travel to Florida and delve into the allegations – due diligence he said the gaming commission should have done.
A handful of state representatives stood with Winslow in a show of support.
Earlier in the week, Winslow had tried to convince the commission to hold off on McGee’s appointment until it could conduct an independent investigation. Crosby refused and, in a letter to Winslow, wrote that the commission has no investigators and McGee is presumed innocent.
Those comments prompted child sex abuse advocates to criticize Crosby and the commission and to call on McGee to unseal the confidential agreement he reached to settle a lawsuit brought by the boy’s family.
Though some described the hiring of Long as “political grandstanding,” Winslow, former legal counsel to Gov. Mitt Romney and a former district court judge, disputed that there is any partisanship at play.
“Voters sent me here to be a voice and a conscience and that’s what I have brought every day I have been a representative,” said Winslow, a first-term representative who voted in favor of the legislation authorizing three casinos and a slot parlor in the Bay State. “When something is not right, even if I don’t have the power to change it, I do have the power to say something.”
About an hour after Winslow’s press conference, the full House approved an amendment to a spending bill calling for more thorough background checks that avoid the appearance of impropriety. “The original gaming law outlined a reasonable and appropriate vetting procedure, but apparently that wasn’t enough. It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives now has to legislate common sense,” House Minority Leader Bradley Jones said in a prepared statement.
The amendment passed by a voice vote and is the clearest indication yet that confidence in the five-member commission is diminished. “I agree this standard is reasonable and necessary, given the demonstrated lack of due diligence with the commission’s first hiring of a key player,” State Rep. Randy Hunt, R-Sandwich, wrote in an email after the vote.
House Republicans also called into question hiring a Patrick administration insider even for a temporary job with the gaming commission. Hunt called it a “conflict of interest” that is unacceptable for an independent authority.
Because the commission is the most powerful agency in Massachusetts, it needs to be above reproach, Winslow said. “It’s important that it be independent, that it be free from the sway of politics and because of that it’s that much more important that there be complete confidence in the integrity of the people appointed to the senior management positions.”
State rep hires private investigator to review allegations against director of gaming commission
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