12th Bristol District candidates agree on distaste for Taunton casino plan
State representative candidates for the 12th Bristol District reflect differing backgrounds and political opinions.
But on the Mashpee Wampanoag's plan for a casino in East Taunton, they're mostly on the same page.
"It's a terrible deal. So is the compact," said Adam Bond, who criticized both the agreement the tribe negotiated with Taunton and the compact Gov. Deval Patrick signed last month.
Fellow Middleboro Democrat Roger Brunelle Jr. and Rep. Keiko Orrall, R-Lakeville, said they, too, oppose the plan.
Bond and Brunelle will vie for the Democratic nomination in the state primary Sept. 6. [Somewhat baffling since Mr. Bond really isn't a Democrat!] The winner will try to unseat Orrall in the Nov. 6 general election for a district that covers Lakeville, Berkley and portions of Middleboro and Taunton.
Orrall said she's opposed to the Taunton plan because of its regional impact and what she called a "lack of information" available to district residents. Orrall said she's also worried about the lack of regional mitigation under the Taunton plan, the lack of regional input to date, the effect the project could have on the Assawompsett Pond complex and its impact on traffic on routes 79, 24 and 140.
All three candidates voiced concerns about mitigation and traffic and said they'd prefer a commercial casino.
A commercial casino is "'regulatable.' It's taxable and it's all within the control of the state, and you can get more money out of it," Bond said.
In the state's expanded gaming law, a commercial casino license requires "all sorts of provisions ... that allow for mitigation for surrounding towns," Brunelle said. "There are avenues for the public to be involved."
Brunelle and Orrall voiced concerns about the delay and the indefinite timeline inherent in the fact that the Mashpee Wampanoag must first get the federal government to take the land into trust. A Supreme Court decision holds that this is only allowed for tribes that were federally recognized as of 1934. The Mashpee Wampanoag was recognized in 2007.
"Southeastern Massachusetts is now going to have to wait ... on an act of Congress. Literally," Brunelle said. He also said he is worried about potential legal ramifications, citing as one example developer KG Urban Enterprise's lawsuit claiming that the gaming law's tribal preference is race-based.
Both Bond and Orrall said the compact's requirement that the tribe pay 21.5 percent of its daily gross gaming revenue to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission might be rejected at the federal level.
Bond, meanwhile, railed against many aspects of Taunton's agreement with the Mashpee Wampanoag, including what he described as the tribe's ability to take additional land off the tax roll.
The deal calls for the city to get 2.05 percent of yearly net revenue from slot machines or a minimum of $8 million, according to the Cape Cod Times.
Bond, a former Middleboro selectman, called the Taunton deal "wretched" in comparison to a casino deal he helped negotiate with the tribe for his town.
To say that Middleboro's deal was better, doesn't say much since Mr. Bond crammed it through and called Opponents Braying Donkeys!
The "$7 million that we were going to get a year was increased annually by the (consumer price index)," he said. "Their $8 million is always $8 million."
Any consensus from the candidates ends when it comes to the basic concept of whether a casino is good for Southeastern Massachusetts. Orrall said she remains against expanded gaming, which she said can be predatory; the state should foster other areas of economic development, reduce regulation and reduce taxes, she said.
Casinos should be treated as any other incoming industry, Brunelle said. He said he supports expanded gaming as an opportunity for jobs and revenue but said people must be part of the process.
Bond said he, too, supports expanded gaming. But "I don't care about casinos one way or the other.
To me, it's the terms of the deal," he said. The Middleboro agreement included the best terms possible for the town, he said.
How'd that go for ya?
A casino is "up to the people whether they want it. As for the Taunton plan, "yeah, I have some opinions on the casino," Bond said. "But it may bring jobs. It may. If it ever happens."
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