Ignorance isn't always bliss

Since information has been forwarded to ALL lawmakers regarding: IGRA, Carcieri v Salazar, Hawaii, the Intercourse Act, pertinent legal decisions and they are fully informed [regardless of professed ignorance to the contrary] that there are no "Reservations" within the original 13 Colonies, the legislation and the Folly are baffling!

More taxpayers' $$$ to Special Interests!


STATE CAPITOL BRIEFS
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE
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STATE SEEKS LAW FIRM, ADVISORY TO HELP WITH INDIAN GAMING COMPACT
The Patrick administration hopes by the end of January to hire a specialized law firm and financial advisor to assist with efforts to strike a compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe for a casino, likely in southeastern Massachusetts. “We respect our Mashpee Wampanoag tribal partners and want to work with them together on this process,” Gov. Patrick said in a statement. “The Expanded Gaming Act accounts for the reality of tribal gaming and these steps will help us prepare for a potential compact to maximize new jobs and revenue for our residents in the southeastern region.” The new gambling law gives a state-based, federally recognize tribal sovereign nation the chance to enter into gaming compact in the state’s southeastern region, without the need for a commercial license from the new state gaming commission. The compact would govern revenue-sharing with the state, jurisdictional issue and regulation. According to the Patrick administration, the compact would be negotiated between the state and the tribe after there is an agreement to purchase land for tribal gaming and a host community vote to approve the proposed development. The Legislature would need to ratify the contract by July 31, 2012, under the new law, and the compact would then need the approval of the Department of the Interior. Patrick administration officials announced they’d issued a request for response and hoped to select the law firm and financial advisor by the end of January. A prospective casino developer eyeing a site in New Bedford filed a lawsuit Patrick last month, contending that the casino law he had just signed was unconstitutionally tilted in favor of Native American tribes seeking a casino in the southeast region of Massachusetts.

New gaming commission head says a test casino 'reasonable'
State House News Service
Stephen Crosby, chairman of the state gaming commission.
By Kyle Cheney
State House News Service

BOSTON —
Stephen Crosby, chairman of the new Massachusetts Gaming Commission, feels no compulsion to issue any casino licenses if he is not satisfied with the bids that come his way.

“If there are no proposals that meet the standards that we set out in combination with the standards set out by the Legislature, we would certainly not approve anything,” Crosby said during a radio interview Saturday on WRKO-AM.

During Saturday’s interview, Crosby repeatedly emphasized that he is just beginning to delve into the complexities of the expanded gambling law. But he described the idea of opening a single casino as a test run, rather than approving licenses for all three regions at once, as “reasonable.

“I’m open to anything on this point. The idea of staging sounds kind of reasonable,” he said. “I’m sure there are reasonable considerations on the other side as well.”

Crosby, tapped by Gov. Deval Patrick last week to chair the new commission, will hold great sway over the vetting process by which up to three casinos will be sanctioned in Massachusetts – one in the eastern region that includes competing proposals in Boston and Foxborough, one in the western region that features potential casino sites in Palmer, Springfield and Holyoke, and one in the southeastern region where a Native American tribe will have the first crack at obtaining a license.

Four other commissioners have yet to be appointed. Attorney General Martha Coakley and Treasurer Steven Grossman will each name an appointee. The remaining two appointees are to be jointly selected by Patrick, Coakley and Grossman. The commission was imbued by new expanded gambling legislation with broad powers to build, oversee and police the new casino industry. Members are charged with vetting all proposals, selecting winning bids, ensuring that all developers comply with standards laid out in the law, and making sure casinos pay required taxes to the state.

The commission will determine what criteria to use to evaluate bids for resort-style casinos. Criteria must include evaluation of architectural design, integration of the establishment into its surroundings, access to multi-modal transportation, tourism appeal, capital investment, and the applicants’ financial strength.

Crosby said the commission is “a long way” from determining what other criteria might be given weight in the vetting process, although he said the prospect of tax revenue for state government would not be an “offset” for potential harm to “the public good.” He said the governor does not have “stars in his eyes” about the tax revenue casinos may generate.

Crosby said he has thoughts about who might be qualified candidates to join him on the commission, but he said he’d only offer those thoughts if they’re solicited by Patrick, Grossman or Coakley.

“I’m happy to help if anybody wants,” describing his ideal pick as someone with “character, integrity, maturity, experience and discipline” as well as the ability to “resist temptations.”

Asked whether he intends to meet with gambling industry lobbyists or officials, Crosby said he wasn’t sure how the commission would deal with those requests.

“It seems to be perfectly obvious that people who are proponents of the proposal at some point … are going to have an opportunity to make their case,” he said, adding, “The question will be trying to figure out how to do it in a way that is transparent” and that “the public has access to the same kind of information that the commission has access to.”
Copyright 2011 The Enterprise. Some rights reserved