REPEAL THE CASINO DEAL Appoints Director

In The Cards

08/20/2013 | 12:57 PM

Millbury selectman directing casino repeal signature drive

By Mark Arsenault / Globe Staff

 

Millbury Selectman Brian Ashmankas will direct the signature drive for the statewide anti-casino movement Repeal the Casino Deal, the citizens group announced.

 

The group needs to collect nearly 69,000 valid signatures from registered voters this fall to put a repeal of the state casino law before the voters on a statewide ballot next year.

 

“Brian understands state government’s promotion of casinos represents the wrong direction for Massachusetts and is a bad deal for citizens,” said John Ribeiro, of Winthrop, chairman of Repeal the Casino Deal, in a statement. “He is principled, talented, passionate and selfless – all qualities that reflect the kind of campaign we intend to run.”

 

Ashmankas, 26, was elected to the Millbury Board of Selectman in 2010 and was recently reelected.

 

He graduated summa cum laude from University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and earned his master’s degree in political science from Boston College.

 

His town of Millbury votes Sept. 24 on a proposal by an affiliate of Rush Street Gaming to build a slot parlor in the community.

 

http://www.boston.com/news/local/blogs/in-the-cards/2013/08/20/millbury-selectman-directing-casino-repeal-signature-drive/YH8EAsYIF0QJUkLVh5WJZM/blog.html

 

 

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MEDIA RELEASE

SELECTMAN TO MANAGE STATEWIDE SIGNATURE CAMPAIGN TO REPEAL CASINO DEAL

(Boston, Massachusetts) Repeal the Casino Deal (www.repealthecasinodeal.org) announced today that Millbury Selectman Brian Ashmankas will serve as Signature Campaign - Director in its effort to repeal the law crafted by state government with predatory gambling interests to promote casino and slots gambling to its citizens.

Repeal the Casino Deal, a statewide coalition of public health, municipal, family and religious leaders along with concerned citizens from all walks of life in Massachusetts, needs to collect 68,911 certified signatures of registered voters across the state throughout the fall. Among the initial petition signers were Mark Gottlieb, Executive Director of the nationally-recognized Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern Law School and Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone.

“Brian understands state government’s promotion of casinos represents the wrong direction for Massachusetts and is a bad deal for citizens,” said John Ribeiro of Winthrop, chairman of Repeal the Casino Deal. “He is principled, talented, passionate and selfless – all qualities that reflect the kind of campaign we intend to run.”

A lifelong resident of Massachusetts, Ashmankas, 26 years old, was first elected to the Millbury Board of Selectman in 2010 and was recently reelected in the spring of 2013. He graduated summa cum laude from UMass-Dartmouth and earned his master’s degree in Political Science from Boston College.

“I am honored to be part of an effort where Left and Right, so divided in recent years, can join together for such an important and worthwhile cause,” Ashmankas said. “Government’s experiment with casinos has failed. As well as any issue, it represents how government has moved away from promoting a common good, attempting to balance the books by exploiting its own people rather than making tough budgeting choices.”

Repeal the Casino Deal urges citizens to donate and sign-up to volunteer to collect the signatures at www.repealthecasinodeal.org.