Experts: Martha Coakley opposition to casino question may backfire

Experts: Martha Coakley opposition to casino question may backfire

Monday, May 5, 2014

By:

Jack Encarnacao

 

Attorney general and gubernatorial hopeful Martha Coakley will put herself firmly in the cross hairs of the divisive casino debate today when her office argues before the Supreme Judicial Court that people should not be allowed to vote on a ballot measure to overturn the state’s casino law, according to political observers on both sides of the aisle.

Democratic political strategist Scott Ferson, who formerly represented the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in its quest to open a casino, said the case will be a problem for Coakley “if one of her opponents picks up the baton and hits her over the head with it.”

Charley Manning, longtime adviser to Bay State GOP candidates, including Mitt Romney, said,
“We’ve always been a state where people like to have their say-so on important issues, and casino gambling is an important issue. Politically, it’s going to hurt her in this campaign season.”

Coakley in September denied a petition to place a casino repeal on the November ballot because she argues it violates the implied contract rights of casino developers who have spent millions applying for licenses. The group Repeal the Casino Deal, which has gathered more than 73,000 signatures, appealed her decision to the SJC, which will hear arguments today.

Coakley’s stance has highlighted an awkward arrangement — her campaign strategist Doug Rubin and his firm, Northwind Strategies, also represents Suffolk Downs, partners with Mohegan Sun in the hunt for the lucrative Boston-area casino license. It also comes as polling indicates a softening of casino support in the Bay State, as communities have voted proposals down and the state Gaming Commission struggles to keep on schedule amid a host of controversies. Rubin has denied any involvement in Coakley’s decision to deny the ballot question.

“The Attorney General’s Office conducted an independent and strictly legal review of the ballot initiative,” Coakley’s campaign said in a statement issued yesterday. “The Attorney General believes the most important thing is that we get the right result, and her office will work cooperatively with all parties once the Court issues a final ruling.”

Justices today will hear arguments from Coakley’s staff, a lawyer for the Repeal the Casino Deal ballot committee and one representing other intervening parties, including casino license applicants.

A decision likely will be issued sometime in June.

Thomas Bean, an attorney for the repeal group, said Coakley is overreaching in applying principles related to public bidding laws to casino regulation.

“We believe there is no implied contract,” Bean said. “The people should have the opportunity to enact laws in the way the Legislature does, if the people think the Legislature has gone in a direction with which the people disagree.”


http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_politics/2014/05/experts_martha_coakley_opposition_to_casino_question_may?utm_source=ML+14%2F05%2F05+%28ACLU+%2B+SEIU+509%29&utm_campaign=20140505ML&utm_medium=email

 

Kudos to Joan Vennochi once again!

Doug Rubin also advised Governor 'Slot Barns' Patrick!

What does a casino share with Coakley?

By Joan Vennochi

| Globe Columnist February 13, 2014


This is a busy campaign season for political consultant Doug Rubin.

He represents Attorney General Martha Coakley in her bid to become governor. He also handles public relations for Mohegan Sun in its bid to win a casino license for the Boston region.

Sometimes, that lands Rubin and his company, Northwind Strategies, right in the middle of the same story. This week, Coakley urged Massachusetts regulators to prohibit casinos from placing liens on the homes of patrons who borrow money and then fail to pay it back. The AG’s exhortation followed a Boston Globe story about the longtime practice of two Connecticut casino operators to loan money to gamblers and then go after their homes when they don’t pay up.

One of those casino operators is Rubin’s other client — Mohegan Sun.

 

If that sounds complicated, it is.

The test for the hottest consultant in Mass. will be to keep all his interests straight — and separate.

In its initial response to questions about its credit and collection policies, Mohegan Sun defended the practice of using liens. “Your inference that our methods of seeking repayment are somehow more aggressive than other gaming companies is not accurate,” wrote Charles Bunnell, chief of staff of the Mohegan Tribe, in a letter to the Globe. After Coakley warned of the dangers of that practice, Mohegan Sun put out a statement saying “We have always indicated our willingness to work with the Gaming Commission within whatever regulatory framework they establish.”

Rubin’s shop helped craft both statements from Mohegan Sun. In the first, liens are fine. In the second, doing away with them is fine, too. Coakley’s letter to the state gambling commission came directly from the AG’s office, not from Rubin’s operation — a technical way to separate what he’s doing for two clients with, in this instance, very different interests.

“This is not an uncommon issue for consulting firms like ours to encounter,” said Rubin. “We are very careful to draw clear lines with our clients.” He said Northwind didn’t “discuss the issue” with Coakley before she sent her letter to state regulators — or before she made a decision to block a ballot question that calls for repeal of the state’s new gambling law.

As a candidate for governor, Coakley says that casinos are not her first choice for an economic development plan, but since expanded gambling is now legal in Massachusetts, she wants to make sure it’s done right. As AG, she issued a ruling last September that kept a question calling for the repeal of casino gambling off the ballot. She argued that the money casino operators put up to take part in the licensing process amounts to an implied contract with state officials; therefore, if the ballot question wins and the law is repealed, that would constitute an unconstitutional taking of property from casino operators.

The ballot question’s backers appealed the AG’s ruling to the Supreme Judicial Court, which is expected to take up the matter sometime this spring. In January, several casino companies pursuing Massachusetts gambling licenses — including Mohegan Sun — asked the SJC to let them join the suit. In their motion, the casino companies argued they have an interest in the AG’s side of the case, because their property rights are at stake.

That means Coakley and Rubin’s client are officially aligned on the referendum question. That may work well for Rubin, but it could pose problems down the road for Coakley, who is seen as the likely Democratic nominee. Republican Charlie Baker, who supports casino gambling, said he supports the voters’ right to weigh in, via ballot question.

For Rubin, being the man in the middle of Massachusetts’ biggest political stories is further proof of his ascendance in the world of consulting. His company is also involved with a local effort to bring the summer Olympics to Boston in 2024.

Last September, a lengthy Boston Magazine profile dubbed him “the hottest political consultant in Massachusetts.” In the piece, Governor Deval Patrick, for whom Rubin worked as strategist and chief of staff, called their relationship “a blessing.” Elizabeth Warren recounted how she told Rubin she would get into the Senate race only if he worked for her.

Now, in the heat of multiple campaign battles, the Bay State’s hottest consultant must keep all his interests straight — and separate.


http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2014/02/13/what-does-casino-share-with-coakley/RdEfA9czfjqwnaK7Tf09qN/story.html?s_campaign=email_BG_TodaysHeadline

 

Elizabeth Warren's questionable position

Elizabeth Warren's Predatory Gaming Lobbyist Campaign Consultant Pens Email Against Lobbyists
by: Rob "EaBo Clipper" Eno

It must be very tough being a predatory gaming lobbyist and the campaign consultant for a candidate who is supposedly against all things predatory. Especially if you're Doug Rubin, lobbyist for predatory slot machine manufacturer GTech, not to forget campaign manager for Predatory Lender Deval Patrick.

When you serve two masters sometimes you are forced to attack yourself. Take for instance this email, sent under Doug Rubin's name, on behalf of Elizabeth Warren.


As one of Elizabeth Warren's earliest supporters, you know she's a tireless fighter for working families. She's gone toe-to-toe with the big banks and armies of corporate lobbyists -- and won -- and she'll do it again as Massachusetts' next United States Senator.

Rubin is the signatory to that email fundraising request, not Elizabeth Warren. Shouldn't he be disclosing to the recipients of that letter that he is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Northwind Strategies, a consulting and lobbying firm that has among it's clients: Deepwater Wind, GTECH Corporation, Equity Office Properties, and the Massachusetts Association of Health Plans.

So the reason, according to Doug Rubin, to support Elizabeth Warren is that she fights lobbyists. Well that is of course unless she's hiring them to run her campaign.



From a previous article:

"Warren staked out traditional liberal Democratic positions on several big issues: She supports abortion rights, gun control, and gay marriage, but she opposes casinos, even as her political consultant is a lobbyist, Doug Rubin, working on behalf of a major gambling enterprise. She defended her hiring of Rubin, saying it was a practical decision because of his history of managing successful campaigns, most notably his work for Deval Patrick."

From: Facebook and Warren not set to announce a run, but she’s ready for a fight

Sinus problems on Beacon Hill continue

Smell is everything and this reeks!

Ex-Patrick aide now lobbyist for gambling firm
Also had ties to current, previous state treasurers
By Frank Phillips

Doug Rubin, a former close political adviser to Governor Deval Patrick and the state treasurer, has registered as a Beacon Hill lobbyist for GTech Corp., the gambling giant that holds multimillion-dollar contracts with the Massachusetts State Lottery.