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Showing posts with label conflict of interest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conflict of interest. Show all posts

Monday, November 3, 2014

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We're in the final day of the campaign. Today, we're including a Dear Friend Letter that we encourage you to send to your neighbors, friends, and family members. You can simply copy and paste into your own email and send to everyone on your list. I've also included a version for Microsoft Word.


Feel free to send as is or add some personal touches about why you believe Massachusetts should remain casino-free.


Thank you,

John Ribeiro

 

Dear Friend,


Grand jury indictments, conflicts of interest, allegations of cronyism; though not one casino has opened here in Massachusetts, we've already seen the corrupt casino culture creep into Massachusetts life. Fortunately, for you and me, we can stop the mess in just a few days.


Casinos have opened their doors in more than three dozen states across the nation, including the oversaturated Northeast market, where five casinos have gone under in Atlantic City, revenues have been lost in Connecticut, and yet, as many as seven new casinos are planned across our border in upstate New York.


In city after city and state after state, we've seen the true costs. Crime will increase in myriad ways-domestic violence and drunk driving, embezzlement, and thefts. Problem gamblers will increase by two to three times their current levels, straining already limited social services and affecting families. Lottery aid will decrease and local businesses will be forced to lay off workers.


Out-of-state casino bosses have spent millions, more than $7.5 million and counting as of today. The promises of thousands of jobs, burgeoning state coffers, and less tax burdens to citizens have been made before. Let me tell you this, they're empty promises that have failed to materialize time and again.


The Massachusetts Gambling Commission, the very entity designed to protect us, has been a complicit co-conspirator in the mess. In fact, the Chairman of the Commission was forced to recuse himself from the most important decision put before him, the award of the Boston Region license to billionaire Steve Wynn. A decision which resulted in federal indictments for the current landowners.


The evidence is clear. Casinos are wrong for Massachusetts. They're bad for communities, bad for small businesses, and bad for your family and mine. Together, on Tuesday, November 4, we can vote yes to stop the casino mess.


Take 30 seconds to watch our newest ad, "A Family Story." You can also engage with us on Twitter, Facebook, and through our website, as your voice maximizes our reach. For other ways to join the campaign, please donate, and follow us on social media.


Thank you for your support!


John Ribeiro

Chairman

Repeal the Casino Deal


P.S. Please forward this message on to at least 10 of your friends and family members.
 
 
 

 

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

A Whirlwind Week on Mass. Casino Scene



A Whirlwind Week on Mass. Casino Scene

Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby has recused himself from proceedings involving the Eastern Massachusetts casino license.
Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby has recused himself from proceedings involving the Eastern Massachusetts casino license.Credit: John Tlumacki, The Boston Globe

 

If you had mid-May of this year as the point at which implementation of the state’s gambling legislation would explode into a hornets’ nest of legal threats and perceived conflicts of interest, cash in now.
 
It’s been a busy week on the casino front.
 
On Thursday, Gaming Commission chairman Stephen Crosby, in the face of claims that he has gotten cozy with the brass at the competing Everett and Revere casino sites, stepped away from any decision-making around the licensing of an Eastern Massachusetts casino.
 
Given that he’s supposed to be the head decision maker, Crosby is now facing calls for his outright resignation. The chorus includes five candidates for governor in this fall’s election. The Boston Globe reports:
Democrats Steve Grossman, Martha Coakley, and Juliette Kayyem, Republican Charlie Baker, and Independent Evan Falchuk all said Crosby should resign to allow the awarding of the license to move forward without controversy.

Among the first things Crosby recused himself from was the commission’s Thursday vote to determine whether the City of Boston has claim to “host community” status for either of those sites.
 
Had the commission said yes, East Boston would have had the opportunity to vote on whether or not to allow the Mohegan Sun-Suffolk Downs proposal in Revere, and Charlestown to do so for the Everett site. East Boston, of course, already once voted whether to allow a casino that straddled its border with Revere and soundly rejected it, leading the Suffolk Downs proposal to scoot itself fully within Revere’s borders.
 
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh on Friday said his administration believes it has “multiple options available” to continue the fight for host community status.
 
Meanwhile, the Boston Business Journal reports that Somerville’s negotiations for mitigation compensation from Wynn Resorts, the developer behind the Everett casino, have reached the point of bitterness. Each side has objected to the other’s proposed arbiter in determining what Somerville should get in mitigation of the potential effects of having a casino so nearby.
 
Keep in mind, the gaming board hopes to issue the Boston-area license by the end of the summer.
 
All of the above, however, is moot if a voter referendum makes its way on to ballots this November and results in a repeal of the 2011 gaming legislation. In order to make that happen, the group advocating for the question will need to convince the Supreme Judicial Court to allow it. On Sunday, however, the Globe reported that one judge—Justice Robert Cordy—has past ties to both the Suffolk Downs and Everett sites.
It turns out Cordy has more than a passing familiarity with the difficulties casino companies have doing business in Massachusetts. In the 1990s, Cordy was a lawyer and a lobbyist for Suffolk Downs, one of two possible locations for the Eastern Massachusetts casino, and a second gambling company that was seeking to build a casino in the state.

Cordy also served as senior adviser to Governor William Weld, who is now an attorney for Steve Wynn, Suffolk Downs's rival for the Boston-area casino license.

In fairness to Cordy, his work for Suffolk Downs came under previous ownership. But it’s still not a very good look. A court spokesperson told the Globe Cordy has recused himself from some cases in his career, but did not offer any specific cases.
 
So, to recap. The gaming board commissioner won’t play a role in deciding which Eastern Massachusetts casino receives a license. Boston is going to continue its quest for host community status while Somerville’s standoff over the Everett proposal remains terse. And the group that wants to just do away with the casino laws altogether is presenting its case to somebody with ties to the sites desperately vying for said casinos.
 
Let the games begin.
 
 
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/05/12/whirlwind-week-mass-casino-scene/JBSE5YCr2ET5TYHx6cMo8L/story.html