Healey backs repeal on casinos
Dem AG candidates choose sides on law
Dem AG candidates choose sides on law
Attorney general candidate Maura Healey is backing efforts to repeal the state casino law — a notable break from her former boss Martha Coakley, whose office has tried to keep it off November’s ballot — in what could prove a looming issue in the race and for Coakley’s successor.
“I come down on the side of the voters here,” Healey told the Herald yesterday after first posting her position on the liberal blog Blue Mass Group. “I don’t discount the legal arguments. There are close calls and jump balls, and you do the best you can to make a thoughtful and informed decision. ... I would have come down on the side of letting this go forward on the ballot.”
Coakley’s office shot down a ballot initiative to repeal the state’s gaming law last September, arguing casino developers had paid millions in application fees and other costs. Repeal advocates have appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, which will hear arguments next month.
Healey, who oversaw two bureaus under Coakley when the AG’s office denied the ballot initiative, said she didn’t have a role in the decision. But she said she opposes gambling as an economic engine and warned of the social ills casinos could spur.
“I don’t want people to get hurt,” she said.
Former state Sen. Warren Tolman, who is running against Healey on the Democratic ticket, said he’s against repeal and noted he’s heard “a lot of support” for the economic development Springfield residents hope a casino would spur.
“It’s not a decision that I would make for my own hometown of Watertown but it’s one that a number of communities have made,” he said.
http://bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2014/04/healey_backs_repeal_on_casinos
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