Gambling in football – A dangerously underestimated problem
Written by Andy Pakes
In a week that has seen shock results in the Premier League, fresh allegations of corruption inside FIFA and an ongoing controversy over alleged racism, it is entirely possible that a certain piece of news coming out of Portman Road will be somewhat overlooked.
But the news that Ipswich striker Michael Chopra has been suffering from a relapse of a gambling addiction is a story that carries with it a dangerously underestimated problem in football.
Chopra, 28, joined Ipswich from Cardiff for just over £1 million during the summer. With a solid start of 5 goals in 13 games, Ipswich fans could be forgiven for thinking all was well with their frontman.
Yet manager Paul Jewell announced on Thursday that Chopra had been in rehabilitation at the Sporting Chance clinic for three weeks. Absent from every training session, Chopra left the clinic just three times, to play on match days for his side; fans unaware of his turmoil off the field.
Gambling addiction in football is not new issue or an entirely uncommon one, but it rarely hits the headlines. The dangers of drink and drug addiction have received wide attention through the highly publicised cases of the likes Paul Gascoigne, Tony Adams and Paul Merson.
Gambling addiction is not without its high profile victims however. Stoke City winger Matthew Etherington suffered heavily during his time at West Ham and in the early days of his Stoke career. He estimated that he lost over £1.5 million before he conquered the illness.
The danger of a gambling addiction is the ease with which it can start. Etherington pointed to the casual gambling within the West Ham squad as one of the catalysts of his gambling; and in an age of wi-fi and smartphones, large sums of money can be gambled and lost at the push of a button.
Another key contributor is the boredom factor of the modern-day footballer. Former Leeds United and Blackburn defender Dominic Matteo, another victim who gambled away over £1 million on horses, used to bet while being driven to and from training each day. The long hours of travelling to and from games together with the hotel stays can only make the ease of betting seem all the more tempting.
In Chopra’s case, the man should be commended for coming clean and seeking help for his problem. It takes a great deal of courage to admit such a crippling addiction to your teammates, but also the fans, who must have been completely unaware of the problems Chopra was trying to deal with.
The wisdom of playing Chopra in matches, however, is something that could be called into question. It cannot be helpful to the recovery process if the striker leaves his rehabilitation once a week to play alongside teammates he has been unable to train with for some time. Surely it would have been better to let the treatment run its course; for Chopra to return to training and to matches when he was fully confident that the worst of his problems were behind him rather than gambling with his long-term well-being.
The decision to continue playing him seems even more risky given his relapse following rehabilitation while at Sunderland in 2008. As much as Ipswich fans, myself included, want Chopra to play every game, nobody wants to see him continue to struggle with a very dangerous off-field illness due to incomplete treatment and being rushed out every weekend to play in games.
While is likely that the Chopra story will be quickly forgotten as the Terry/Ferdinand racism row drags on, the addiction itself remains a serious problem in the world of football. The case of Michael Chopra shows that it’s one that should receive a great deal more attention before more players are dragged into the turmoil and pain that Chopra is so bravely confronting.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Chopra: My gambling addiction is not cured
Chopra: My gambling addiction is not cured
By MEL HENDERSON
MICHAEL CHOPRA has opened his heart on the gambling addiction that threatened to wreck his career.
The Ipswich striker, who lines up at Millwall today after a second spell in rehab, said: "It's a huge relief to get all this out in the open.
"I know I'll be a better player for facing up to my problems - I just wish I'd done this five years ago.
"I know I'm not cured. There is still a long way to go."
Chopra, who once lost £15,000 in a couple of hours betting on horses, said: "Being a footballer you've a lot of free time. Some play golf. I gambled.
"Bookmakers shut at nine or 10 but you've got the internet, your phone too.
"Whatever I could bet on, I would. It reached breaking point and I realised I had to do something about it.
"I'd be waking up in the night betting on matches in Brazil and Argentina.
"I'd get little sleep and then come to training the next day not in the right frame of mind.
"If people want to take the mickey, I'm not bothered. I'll be stronger for talking about this.
"It's a massive release and I can't wait to let my football do the talking."
By MEL HENDERSON
MICHAEL CHOPRA has opened his heart on the gambling addiction that threatened to wreck his career.
The Ipswich striker, who lines up at Millwall today after a second spell in rehab, said: "It's a huge relief to get all this out in the open.
"I know I'll be a better player for facing up to my problems - I just wish I'd done this five years ago.
"I know I'm not cured. There is still a long way to go."
Chopra, who once lost £15,000 in a couple of hours betting on horses, said: "Being a footballer you've a lot of free time. Some play golf. I gambled.
"Bookmakers shut at nine or 10 but you've got the internet, your phone too.
"Whatever I could bet on, I would. It reached breaking point and I realised I had to do something about it.
"I'd be waking up in the night betting on matches in Brazil and Argentina.
"I'd get little sleep and then come to training the next day not in the right frame of mind.
"If people want to take the mickey, I'm not bothered. I'll be stronger for talking about this.
"It's a massive release and I can't wait to let my football do the talking."
Alabama: Judge refuses to block retrial of Alabama gambling corruption case
Judge refuses to block retrial of Alabama gambling corruption case
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The judge in Alabama's gambling corruption case has refused a request from the defendants to block a retrial scheduled for Jan. 30.
Casino owner Milton McGregor and five other defendants argued that retrying them after a hung jury in August amounted to double jeopardy. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson disagreed in an order Friday.
The defendants also argued that most of the remaining charges against them should be thrown out because the jury in the original trial acquitted them on all extortion charges and on most honest services fraud charges. The judge declined because he said it's not clear what facts the jury used as the basis for its acquittals on the extortion charges.
The defendants are accused of using campaign donations to buy state senators' votes for pro-gambling legislation.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The judge in Alabama's gambling corruption case has refused a request from the defendants to block a retrial scheduled for Jan. 30.
Casino owner Milton McGregor and five other defendants argued that retrying them after a hung jury in August amounted to double jeopardy. U.S. District Judge Myron Thompson disagreed in an order Friday.
The defendants also argued that most of the remaining charges against them should be thrown out because the jury in the original trial acquitted them on all extortion charges and on most honest services fraud charges. The judge declined because he said it's not clear what facts the jury used as the basis for its acquittals on the extortion charges.
The defendants are accused of using campaign donations to buy state senators' votes for pro-gambling legislation.
Massachusetts: Why 5 year ban made sense
New York State ranks among the leaders of fiscal mismanagement and ethically challenged, having ignored the community degradation caused by Gambling Addiction.
The lawmaker to lobbyist revolving door highlights why the 5 year ban in Massachusetts made great sense to avoid rewarding Beacon Hill with employment options.
Aqueduct opens VLT casino
By Tom Precious
Bloodhorse
Derided by addiction treatment experts as overkill in a state with a growing reliance on gambling, the new VLT casino is seen as a financial life raft for the Thoroughbred industry.
"Increased purses will help bring more top owners, trainers, and horses to our tracks, create larger fields for our customers to wager on, and generate higher handle for our races,'' said Charles Hayward, president of the New York Racing Association, which operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. [Taxpayer funded bailouts for the failing racing industry should sound alarm bells.]
The Malaysian-owned company, according to state lobbying records, is spending $125,000 a month on a "who's who" of politically wired lobbying firms at the state Capitol. The firm has made no secret of its desire to turn the new Aqueduct facility into a full-fledged casino with table games and other betting now blocked by the state constitution.
A recent NYRA document submitted to an oversight panel shows the optimism. In 2012, based on $380 projected win per machine from 5,000 VLTs that will be fully operational in the months ahead, NYRA is projecting it will receive $28 million for its capital fund and $21 million in operating proceeds as revenue-sharing from the Genting casino.
NYRA also projects $44.8 million in additional purse money in 2012 driven from the machines, and an extra $6.9 million for the Thoroughbred breeding fund.
NYRA still owes Genting $25 million it received to help with cash-flow issues; the money will be repaid by allocating 25% of capital and operating funds. Hayward expects the loan to be repaid in about two-and-a-half years.
With its location in Queens and access to metropolitan New York, the Aqueduct casino is expected to eat into business at casinos in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, as well as Empire City at Yonkers Raceway in New York. The Aqueduct casino will be open 20 hours a day and is the only NYRA track approved for casino operations.
Meanwhile, Genting has retainers worth $1.5 million this year with lobbyists, some of whom specialize in close relations with Democrats who run the Assembly or Republicans in control of the Senate. The firm even gave pay hikes over the summer to several of the lobbyists, whose ranks include well-known Albany representatives as Patricia Lynch, Brian Meara, John Cordo. and Nick Spano, a former state senator.
The lobbying and public affairs firms, not including what Genting is paying its own in-house lobbying staff, each earn between $25,000 and $30,000 per month.
The lawmaker to lobbyist revolving door highlights why the 5 year ban in Massachusetts made great sense to avoid rewarding Beacon Hill with employment options.
Aqueduct opens VLT casino
By Tom Precious
Bloodhorse
Derided by addiction treatment experts as overkill in a state with a growing reliance on gambling, the new VLT casino is seen as a financial life raft for the Thoroughbred industry.
"Increased purses will help bring more top owners, trainers, and horses to our tracks, create larger fields for our customers to wager on, and generate higher handle for our races,'' said Charles Hayward, president of the New York Racing Association, which operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. [Taxpayer funded bailouts for the failing racing industry should sound alarm bells.]
The Malaysian-owned company, according to state lobbying records, is spending $125,000 a month on a "who's who" of politically wired lobbying firms at the state Capitol. The firm has made no secret of its desire to turn the new Aqueduct facility into a full-fledged casino with table games and other betting now blocked by the state constitution.
A recent NYRA document submitted to an oversight panel shows the optimism. In 2012, based on $380 projected win per machine from 5,000 VLTs that will be fully operational in the months ahead, NYRA is projecting it will receive $28 million for its capital fund and $21 million in operating proceeds as revenue-sharing from the Genting casino.
NYRA also projects $44.8 million in additional purse money in 2012 driven from the machines, and an extra $6.9 million for the Thoroughbred breeding fund.
NYRA still owes Genting $25 million it received to help with cash-flow issues; the money will be repaid by allocating 25% of capital and operating funds. Hayward expects the loan to be repaid in about two-and-a-half years.
With its location in Queens and access to metropolitan New York, the Aqueduct casino is expected to eat into business at casinos in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, as well as Empire City at Yonkers Raceway in New York. The Aqueduct casino will be open 20 hours a day and is the only NYRA track approved for casino operations.
Meanwhile, Genting has retainers worth $1.5 million this year with lobbyists, some of whom specialize in close relations with Democrats who run the Assembly or Republicans in control of the Senate. The firm even gave pay hikes over the summer to several of the lobbyists, whose ranks include well-known Albany representatives as Patricia Lynch, Brian Meara, John Cordo. and Nick Spano, a former state senator.
The lobbying and public affairs firms, not including what Genting is paying its own in-house lobbying staff, each earn between $25,000 and $30,000 per month.
How Stuart Levine — a thief and con man — became star witness
How Stuart Levine — a thief and con man — became star witness
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
To most people, Stuart Levine probably appears unassuming enough.
At 65, he works at a kiosk in a suburban shopping mall selling electronic cigarettes.
But if the man helping bring down some of the most powerful people in the state hoped to disappear into suburban obscurity, that hasn’t quite happened.
Some days while behind that kiosk, the former Highland Park resident once worth $70 million gets hecklers.
Those are the people who recognize the now minimum-wage-earning Levine, having had a glimpse of his lurid history, painstakingly laid bare in public twice after Levine has spent parts of 21 days testifying in two high-profile criminal trials in Chicago.
He most recently sat as the star witness in the federal trial of Springfield power broker William Cellini.
If Cellini is convicted, the much-reviled Levine will have been central to sending some of the most prominent and back-room politicos to prison. That includes Tony Rezko, a onetime political fund-raiser to Barack Obama. Levine was the star witness in Rezko’s 2008 trial, which led to his conviction.
Levine wore a wire against Ed Vrdolyak, a onetime alderman and behind-the-scenes political force for decades. Vrdolyak ended up pleading guilty to taking part in a $1.5 million bribery scheme.
Then there’s former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose corruption investigation stemmed from a probe into corruption involving state boards that blossomed with Levine. Once he flipped, Levine spent years getting debriefed by various teams of federal agents and prosecutors.
“This was a massive undertaking,” said Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, of his client’s role in cooperating since 2004. “You’re talking about analyzing activities of the entire state government and having to understand who and what and how it worked and figuring out from the government’s standpoint who was culpable and who wasn’t.”
Drugs and scams
On a recent day in federal court, a quiet settled over the courtroom as Stuart Levine answered questions about his past.
It wasn’t just the drug-binge parties and snorting 10 lines of animal tranquilizer mixed with crystal meth at the Purple Hotel that stunned the courtroom.
It was an interminable list of scams that one man was able to pull off for decades.
Did he steal $6 million from one charity, keep half and never pay it back?
“Yes,” he said plainly.
Levine, wearing an ill-fitting suit and glasses, was asked if he rewarded a dying friend who entrusted him with his estate by stealing $2 million from the dead man’s children. “Yes,” he said.
He’d answer “yes” to handing out bribes to politicians, to school board members, to a postal union worker and to using his position on state boards to work kickback deals amounting to millions of dollars. Levine even admitted that once the FBI caught him and he swore to tell the truth, he initially lied about Vrdolyak. Was that because, even while under FBI scrutiny, he still wanted to secretly take part in a $1.5 million kickback scheme with Vrdolyak? Levine answered predictably: “Yes.”
“This man, every time he has ever been trusted to do anything, has lied, cheated and stolen his way through life,” Cellini’s attorney, Dan Webb told jurors last week.
Defense lawyers have repeatedly lambasted the government for pitting Levine, someone who has admitted to conning people out of millions of dollars, against defendants who aren’t accused of pocketing any money.
Webb noted Levine spent the better part of his adult life committing reprehensible crimes, then pointed to an on-screen timeline: the evidence tied to the criminal allegations against Cellini spanned just a few days in May of 2004.
“Levine is a whack-job. Okay?” Webb told them.
In his 2008 closing argument, Rezko’s attorney, Joseph Duffy, said Levine had spent decades living a double-life and fooling the world. It didn’t end when he faced natural life in prison with no possibility of parole after admitting to all of his crimes, Duffy argued.
“They are trained to suspect deception, and he conned them,” Duffy said of the government. “He got the better of them, and he got his deal.”
Levine’s deal calls for a prison term of five years, seven months.
Duffy dismissed secret recordings on which the government has built its case as equally unreliable.
“If someone is a liar and thief and a drug user and a con-man,” Duffy argued, “does it make a difference if he’s live or on Memorex?”
But there’s another side of the story, prosecutors say: there are few “choir boys” that can expose Illinois’ odorous underworld.
“Flippers like Levine, you don’t see them too often. He’s an anomaly,” said former federal prosecutor Jeff Cramer. “The government would have preferred to have put an honest man on the stand. The problem is that defendants who are on tape trying to extort money never conspire with honest men.”
But many believed he was an honest man. Levine was appointed to state boards by three different governors and served on hospital and charitable boards. He served on the Illinois Gaming Board when it famously denied Rosemont a casino license.
While abusing drugs, he served on a board that operated drug rehab centers.
Tom Rosenberg, allegedly the victim of attempted extortion in the Cellini case, said he didn’t see repeated attempted shakedowns from Levine as greed-driven. It appeared to be more for sport.
“He wanted to compromise me,” Rosenberg testified last week.
Testimony at trial showed Levine routinely schemed for kickbacks while serving on state boards, including the Teachers’ Retirement System. In 2004, when he left the board, he didn’t give the real reason: the FBI had come knocking on his door and played tapes of him secretly scheming to make kickbacks off board business.
Fellow board members, still in the dark, viewed him as a philanthropist.
“Stuart distinguished himself by his grace, self-deprecating humor, reasoned opinions, and civil debate,” fellow board members wrote in a resolution after he resigned. They also said he was “known for his sharing of time, talent, and, treasure through philanthropic endeavors that have earned him international recognition.”
Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, said he’s worked on rehabilitation through church, therapy, meditation and his minimum-wage job.
Levine, now divorced and millions of dollars in debt to the government and others, at times gets heckled when he’s recognized at work, Steinback said.
“Virtually anybody he was ever associated with him at that time has turned their back on him, shunned him, ignored him,” Steinback said. “He once lived in a beautiful home by a lake. There were times in this investigation where he couldn’t pay his rent, where he couldn’t pay for food. Where the only job he could get was being a public messenger.”
Steinback said Levine has endured some of the toughest and most embarrassing cross examinations without complaint.
“You would be hard-pressed to find an individual more self-effacing, more willing to be honest with himself to confront his own personal demons and try to do something about it in a positive way,” Steinback said.
BY NATASHA KORECKI Federal Courts Reporter
To most people, Stuart Levine probably appears unassuming enough.
At 65, he works at a kiosk in a suburban shopping mall selling electronic cigarettes.
But if the man helping bring down some of the most powerful people in the state hoped to disappear into suburban obscurity, that hasn’t quite happened.
Some days while behind that kiosk, the former Highland Park resident once worth $70 million gets hecklers.
Those are the people who recognize the now minimum-wage-earning Levine, having had a glimpse of his lurid history, painstakingly laid bare in public twice after Levine has spent parts of 21 days testifying in two high-profile criminal trials in Chicago.
He most recently sat as the star witness in the federal trial of Springfield power broker William Cellini.
If Cellini is convicted, the much-reviled Levine will have been central to sending some of the most prominent and back-room politicos to prison. That includes Tony Rezko, a onetime political fund-raiser to Barack Obama. Levine was the star witness in Rezko’s 2008 trial, which led to his conviction.
Levine wore a wire against Ed Vrdolyak, a onetime alderman and behind-the-scenes political force for decades. Vrdolyak ended up pleading guilty to taking part in a $1.5 million bribery scheme.
Then there’s former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, whose corruption investigation stemmed from a probe into corruption involving state boards that blossomed with Levine. Once he flipped, Levine spent years getting debriefed by various teams of federal agents and prosecutors.
“This was a massive undertaking,” said Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, of his client’s role in cooperating since 2004. “You’re talking about analyzing activities of the entire state government and having to understand who and what and how it worked and figuring out from the government’s standpoint who was culpable and who wasn’t.”
Drugs and scams
On a recent day in federal court, a quiet settled over the courtroom as Stuart Levine answered questions about his past.
It wasn’t just the drug-binge parties and snorting 10 lines of animal tranquilizer mixed with crystal meth at the Purple Hotel that stunned the courtroom.
It was an interminable list of scams that one man was able to pull off for decades.
Did he steal $6 million from one charity, keep half and never pay it back?
“Yes,” he said plainly.
Levine, wearing an ill-fitting suit and glasses, was asked if he rewarded a dying friend who entrusted him with his estate by stealing $2 million from the dead man’s children. “Yes,” he said.
He’d answer “yes” to handing out bribes to politicians, to school board members, to a postal union worker and to using his position on state boards to work kickback deals amounting to millions of dollars. Levine even admitted that once the FBI caught him and he swore to tell the truth, he initially lied about Vrdolyak. Was that because, even while under FBI scrutiny, he still wanted to secretly take part in a $1.5 million kickback scheme with Vrdolyak? Levine answered predictably: “Yes.”
“This man, every time he has ever been trusted to do anything, has lied, cheated and stolen his way through life,” Cellini’s attorney, Dan Webb told jurors last week.
Defense lawyers have repeatedly lambasted the government for pitting Levine, someone who has admitted to conning people out of millions of dollars, against defendants who aren’t accused of pocketing any money.
Webb noted Levine spent the better part of his adult life committing reprehensible crimes, then pointed to an on-screen timeline: the evidence tied to the criminal allegations against Cellini spanned just a few days in May of 2004.
“Levine is a whack-job. Okay?” Webb told them.
In his 2008 closing argument, Rezko’s attorney, Joseph Duffy, said Levine had spent decades living a double-life and fooling the world. It didn’t end when he faced natural life in prison with no possibility of parole after admitting to all of his crimes, Duffy argued.
“They are trained to suspect deception, and he conned them,” Duffy said of the government. “He got the better of them, and he got his deal.”
Levine’s deal calls for a prison term of five years, seven months.
Duffy dismissed secret recordings on which the government has built its case as equally unreliable.
“If someone is a liar and thief and a drug user and a con-man,” Duffy argued, “does it make a difference if he’s live or on Memorex?”
But there’s another side of the story, prosecutors say: there are few “choir boys” that can expose Illinois’ odorous underworld.
“Flippers like Levine, you don’t see them too often. He’s an anomaly,” said former federal prosecutor Jeff Cramer. “The government would have preferred to have put an honest man on the stand. The problem is that defendants who are on tape trying to extort money never conspire with honest men.”
But many believed he was an honest man. Levine was appointed to state boards by three different governors and served on hospital and charitable boards. He served on the Illinois Gaming Board when it famously denied Rosemont a casino license.
While abusing drugs, he served on a board that operated drug rehab centers.
Tom Rosenberg, allegedly the victim of attempted extortion in the Cellini case, said he didn’t see repeated attempted shakedowns from Levine as greed-driven. It appeared to be more for sport.
“He wanted to compromise me,” Rosenberg testified last week.
Testimony at trial showed Levine routinely schemed for kickbacks while serving on state boards, including the Teachers’ Retirement System. In 2004, when he left the board, he didn’t give the real reason: the FBI had come knocking on his door and played tapes of him secretly scheming to make kickbacks off board business.
Fellow board members, still in the dark, viewed him as a philanthropist.
“Stuart distinguished himself by his grace, self-deprecating humor, reasoned opinions, and civil debate,” fellow board members wrote in a resolution after he resigned. They also said he was “known for his sharing of time, talent, and, treasure through philanthropic endeavors that have earned him international recognition.”
Levine’s lawyer, Jeffrey Steinback, said he’s worked on rehabilitation through church, therapy, meditation and his minimum-wage job.
Levine, now divorced and millions of dollars in debt to the government and others, at times gets heckled when he’s recognized at work, Steinback said.
“Virtually anybody he was ever associated with him at that time has turned their back on him, shunned him, ignored him,” Steinback said. “He once lived in a beautiful home by a lake. There were times in this investigation where he couldn’t pay his rent, where he couldn’t pay for food. Where the only job he could get was being a public messenger.”
Steinback said Levine has endured some of the toughest and most embarrassing cross examinations without complaint.
“You would be hard-pressed to find an individual more self-effacing, more willing to be honest with himself to confront his own personal demons and try to do something about it in a positive way,” Steinback said.
Mashpee Wampanoags: Repeat a lie often enough....
and folks start to believe.....
Neighbors Plead For Information On Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Building Plans
By: Geoff Spillane
A group of homeowners and concerned residents along Great Neck Road South have reached out to the Mashpee Town Manager, Mashpee Board of Selectmen, and a former United States congressman to seek assistance in developing a two-way community dialogue with the neighboring Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
In a letter sent to Town Manager Joyce M. Mason, Stephen A. Ide of The Punkhorn Point Home Owners and Associates expressed concern about the lack of information that has been provided to neighbors regarding the tribe’s plans for its 55-acre property on Great Neck Road South.
“As abutters to the Wampanoag Tribe’s land on Great Neck Road South, we have growing concerns about the status and proposed use of their 55 acres of land and the absence of oversight to proposed developments there. As was the case with the trailers suddenly appearing, abutters weren’t notified of the huge community center which is going to be built on the tribe’s land. The news was delivered to the taxpayers via a newspaper article!,” Mr. Ide wrote in the letter.
Last month, the tribe signed a $12.7 million loan from the federal government to build a 40,000-square-foot administration building on the property. The building will house the tribe’s administrative offices, health clinic, the tribal court, a gymnasium, a library, a function hall, and a lounge for tribal elders. The project was first announced in 2010, and construction is expected to begin in spring 2012.
In the letter, the neighbors requested that there be transparency between the tribe and the community during the building process, and also inquired about the tribe’s sovereignty and how it would affect the local zoning and permitting processes. In addition, the community group expressed concern over health and safety issues including tracking of medical waste, septic system installation, gradient water flow, increased traffic, and whether there would be oversight of the project to ensure the building is constructed in compliance with state and local safety codes.
Friction between the tribe and its neighbors arose earlier this year when a cluster of blue modular buildings housing medical offices were erected on the property.
The letter was received by the board of selectmen and delivered to the tribe by Mark Forest of The Delahunt Group, a public policy consulting group led by former congressman William D. Delahunt. The tribe retained the services of The Delahunt Group earlier this year to represent its interests on the state and federal levels.
Mr. Ide said he used The Delahunt Group as an intermediary because the community group never received any formal response to several attempts to discuss its concerns about the modular buildings or trailers. He also said that any time the group reached out to tribe members, it received a vitriolic response. “There was nothing conciliatory about it. We were told that we were just guests on their land,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week, Mr. Ide stressed that he has always been a supporter of Native American rights, and that the community group only wants communication and cooperation. “We are not trying to stop anything,” he said.
The Town’s Response
At the request of Ms. Mason, Mashpee Town Counsel Patrick J. Costello reviewed the letter and provided an in-depth response to each of the questions and concerns.
The response states that the Mashpee Wampanoag is a sovereign entity, but is not completely exempt from local taxation or land use regulation unless the land is accepted into trust by the federal government, thereby becoming a reservation. An application to have several parcels of land, including the Great Neck Road South property, taken into trust by the federal government is currently pending before the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. [Except there is NO Trust Land in the original 13 Colonies. The Aquinnah have a 'settlement.' And Carcieri v Salazar prevents the BIA from acting.]
“In my opinion, the Mashpee Wampanoag Community Center Project would, at this time, not be exempt from state and local building and zoning restrictions. Accordingly, when the Tribe intends to commence construction of the project, it would have to apply for appropriate permits from the Mashpee Building Inspector and other boards and agencies, as applicable,” Mr. Costello wrote.
However, because the tribal council is a governmental agency, the project is allowed on residentially zoned land, he wrote. Mashpee zoning bylaws include a “by right” provision for government buildings.
“Generally, the [town Zoning Board of Appeals] will only become involved in the permitting process if a request for a variance from dimensional regulations was sought, which, given the large area of land available to the Tribe on the subject property for location and construction of the Community Center Project, is unlikely,” Mr. Costello write.
Addressing the concerns as to why abutters have not been notified of the planned construction, Mr. Costello cites Massachusetts laws that state that governmental buildings are allowed “as of right” in all zoning districts. Plans could, however, as a courtesy, be shared with abutters, but it is not required.
The letter also assured neighbors that septic systems, medical waste disposal, increased traffic, and emergency response issues would all be regulated and governed by applicable Massachusetts general laws and state and local public health regulations.
According to Mr. Costello, at this time no determination has been made as to whether the proposed project would be exempt from Cape Cod Commission review and approval. Paul Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission, said this is a unique situation that will have to be evaluated once plans are presented.
The Tribe’s Response
The tribe issued the following statement in response to the letter:
“The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has long enjoyed a strong government to government relationship with the Town of Mashpee, and we work hand in hand with the town to assure good communication and compliance with appropriate regulations. While the Tribe is a sovereign government with specific rights regarding the use of our land, we take pride in being a good neighbor, and it’s unfortunate that there was missed communication with Mr. Ide. We look forward to meeting with him and our neighbors.”
As of press time, the meeting between the tribe and its neighbors had not yet been scheduled.
Neighbors Plead For Information On Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Building Plans
By: Geoff Spillane
A group of homeowners and concerned residents along Great Neck Road South have reached out to the Mashpee Town Manager, Mashpee Board of Selectmen, and a former United States congressman to seek assistance in developing a two-way community dialogue with the neighboring Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
In a letter sent to Town Manager Joyce M. Mason, Stephen A. Ide of The Punkhorn Point Home Owners and Associates expressed concern about the lack of information that has been provided to neighbors regarding the tribe’s plans for its 55-acre property on Great Neck Road South.
“As abutters to the Wampanoag Tribe’s land on Great Neck Road South, we have growing concerns about the status and proposed use of their 55 acres of land and the absence of oversight to proposed developments there. As was the case with the trailers suddenly appearing, abutters weren’t notified of the huge community center which is going to be built on the tribe’s land. The news was delivered to the taxpayers via a newspaper article!,” Mr. Ide wrote in the letter.
Last month, the tribe signed a $12.7 million loan from the federal government to build a 40,000-square-foot administration building on the property. The building will house the tribe’s administrative offices, health clinic, the tribal court, a gymnasium, a library, a function hall, and a lounge for tribal elders. The project was first announced in 2010, and construction is expected to begin in spring 2012.
In the letter, the neighbors requested that there be transparency between the tribe and the community during the building process, and also inquired about the tribe’s sovereignty and how it would affect the local zoning and permitting processes. In addition, the community group expressed concern over health and safety issues including tracking of medical waste, septic system installation, gradient water flow, increased traffic, and whether there would be oversight of the project to ensure the building is constructed in compliance with state and local safety codes.
Friction between the tribe and its neighbors arose earlier this year when a cluster of blue modular buildings housing medical offices were erected on the property.
The letter was received by the board of selectmen and delivered to the tribe by Mark Forest of The Delahunt Group, a public policy consulting group led by former congressman William D. Delahunt. The tribe retained the services of The Delahunt Group earlier this year to represent its interests on the state and federal levels.
Mr. Ide said he used The Delahunt Group as an intermediary because the community group never received any formal response to several attempts to discuss its concerns about the modular buildings or trailers. He also said that any time the group reached out to tribe members, it received a vitriolic response. “There was nothing conciliatory about it. We were told that we were just guests on their land,” he said.
In an interview earlier this week, Mr. Ide stressed that he has always been a supporter of Native American rights, and that the community group only wants communication and cooperation. “We are not trying to stop anything,” he said.
The Town’s Response
At the request of Ms. Mason, Mashpee Town Counsel Patrick J. Costello reviewed the letter and provided an in-depth response to each of the questions and concerns.
The response states that the Mashpee Wampanoag is a sovereign entity, but is not completely exempt from local taxation or land use regulation unless the land is accepted into trust by the federal government, thereby becoming a reservation. An application to have several parcels of land, including the Great Neck Road South property, taken into trust by the federal government is currently pending before the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. [Except there is NO Trust Land in the original 13 Colonies. The Aquinnah have a 'settlement.' And Carcieri v Salazar prevents the BIA from acting.]
“In my opinion, the Mashpee Wampanoag Community Center Project would, at this time, not be exempt from state and local building and zoning restrictions. Accordingly, when the Tribe intends to commence construction of the project, it would have to apply for appropriate permits from the Mashpee Building Inspector and other boards and agencies, as applicable,” Mr. Costello wrote.
However, because the tribal council is a governmental agency, the project is allowed on residentially zoned land, he wrote. Mashpee zoning bylaws include a “by right” provision for government buildings.
“Generally, the [town Zoning Board of Appeals] will only become involved in the permitting process if a request for a variance from dimensional regulations was sought, which, given the large area of land available to the Tribe on the subject property for location and construction of the Community Center Project, is unlikely,” Mr. Costello write.
Addressing the concerns as to why abutters have not been notified of the planned construction, Mr. Costello cites Massachusetts laws that state that governmental buildings are allowed “as of right” in all zoning districts. Plans could, however, as a courtesy, be shared with abutters, but it is not required.
The letter also assured neighbors that septic systems, medical waste disposal, increased traffic, and emergency response issues would all be regulated and governed by applicable Massachusetts general laws and state and local public health regulations.
According to Mr. Costello, at this time no determination has been made as to whether the proposed project would be exempt from Cape Cod Commission review and approval. Paul Niedzwiecki, executive director of the Cape Cod Commission, said this is a unique situation that will have to be evaluated once plans are presented.
The Tribe’s Response
The tribe issued the following statement in response to the letter:
“The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has long enjoyed a strong government to government relationship with the Town of Mashpee, and we work hand in hand with the town to assure good communication and compliance with appropriate regulations. While the Tribe is a sovereign government with specific rights regarding the use of our land, we take pride in being a good neighbor, and it’s unfortunate that there was missed communication with Mr. Ide. We look forward to meeting with him and our neighbors.”
As of press time, the meeting between the tribe and its neighbors had not yet been scheduled.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Massachusetts: Hypocrisy is Thy Middle Name
Fall River City Councilor Leo Pelletier indicted on illegal gambling charges
Pelletier: "I didn't do anything wrong"
Herald News Staff Reports
BOSTON — Fall River City Councilor Leo Pelletier, the owner of two Internet cafés, and his corporation were indicted Thursday on charges of operating an illegal slot parlor.
Three other individuals have also been indicted on gaming charges in connection with operations out of “Leo’s Place” Internet cafés in Fall River and Fairhaven, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley.
“These cyber cafés are really cyber scams with no posted odds, minimum odds, or guarantee of payouts for consumers,” Coakley said. “We allege that the defendants attempted to skirt the laws by operating nothing more than an illegal, unregulated slot parlor with no protections for consumers.” [And state regulated Slot Barns will be something different?]
Pelletier, 66, was indicted by a Special Statewide Grand Jury on charges of organizing or promoting gambling services, operating an illegal lottery, allowing lotteries in a building, and the sale and advertising of lottery tickets. Pelletier allegedly operated two “Leo’s Place” Internet cafés through his corporation New England Internet Cafés, LLC (NEIC). The corporation faces these same charges.
"We're going to have to deal with it," Pelletier said. "I have lawyers. They feel they (the attorney general's office) are absolutely wrong. Whether ot nor it's 12 days before an election, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't do anything wrong." [Curious timing! How long ago was this in the papers?]
Indictments were also returned against Ron Sevigny, 66, of Fall River; Linda Pelletier, 57, of Spring Hill, Florida; and Donald Greenidge, 52, of Shoreham, New York. All three are charged with one count each of organizing or promoting gambling services, and operating an illegal lottery. Linda Pelletier was also charged with the sale and advertising of lottery tickets.
Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to run or promote a gambling operation. The current gambling law in this case points to the existence of an illegal “lottery.” The definition of a lottery includes a payment to play, a prize, and some element of chance.
In February, the Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into “Leo’s Place” locations in Fairhaven and Fall River. Evidence gathered during the course of the investigation demonstrates that patrons of these Internet cafés were paying nearly exclusively for the right to gamble. Authorities allege that patrons were not, as suggested by the operators, simply paying for Internet time and playing a free sweepstakes. Investigators also allege that, “no purchase required” opportunities were of no legal significance and gambling was the only clear purpose for these cafés. Both locations ceased operations in the wake of the AG’s investigation.
All four defendants are expected to be arraigned in Bristol County Superior Court at a future date. These charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Thursday’s actions by the Attorney General’s Office are a direct result of complaints regarding alleged unlawful gambling operations that have recently opened for business across the Commonwealth. While these businesses purport to sell goods or services, such as Internet access or phone cards, the Attorney General’s investigation found that those sales were a pretext for unlawful and unregulated lotteries, online slot parlors, sweepstakes, and similar gambling. The AG’s office issued permanent civil regulations in June under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act that bans the operation of so called “Internet Cafés” and other establishments across the Commonwealth. Those that violate the law may be subject to injunctions, civil penalties and other relief under the Consumer Protection Act.
In July, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and AG Coakley filed legislation that further enhances the criminal penalties for illegal gambling at “cyber cafés” throughout Massachusetts. The proposed legislation establishes a new crime for conducting or promoting an unauthorized sweepstakes that is executed through the use of the entertaining display of an electronic machine. The new crime would carry a penalty of up to $250,000 per offending machine and/or imprisonment of up to 15 years in the state prison.
The Attorney General’s investigations into various Internet cafés throughout the Commonwealth remains active and ongoing.
Pelletier: "I didn't do anything wrong"
Herald News Staff Reports
BOSTON — Fall River City Councilor Leo Pelletier, the owner of two Internet cafés, and his corporation were indicted Thursday on charges of operating an illegal slot parlor.
Three other individuals have also been indicted on gaming charges in connection with operations out of “Leo’s Place” Internet cafés in Fall River and Fairhaven, according to Attorney General Martha Coakley.
“These cyber cafés are really cyber scams with no posted odds, minimum odds, or guarantee of payouts for consumers,” Coakley said. “We allege that the defendants attempted to skirt the laws by operating nothing more than an illegal, unregulated slot parlor with no protections for consumers.” [And state regulated Slot Barns will be something different?]
Pelletier, 66, was indicted by a Special Statewide Grand Jury on charges of organizing or promoting gambling services, operating an illegal lottery, allowing lotteries in a building, and the sale and advertising of lottery tickets. Pelletier allegedly operated two “Leo’s Place” Internet cafés through his corporation New England Internet Cafés, LLC (NEIC). The corporation faces these same charges.
"We're going to have to deal with it," Pelletier said. "I have lawyers. They feel they (the attorney general's office) are absolutely wrong. Whether ot nor it's 12 days before an election, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't do anything wrong." [Curious timing! How long ago was this in the papers?]
Indictments were also returned against Ron Sevigny, 66, of Fall River; Linda Pelletier, 57, of Spring Hill, Florida; and Donald Greenidge, 52, of Shoreham, New York. All three are charged with one count each of organizing or promoting gambling services, and operating an illegal lottery. Linda Pelletier was also charged with the sale and advertising of lottery tickets.
Under Massachusetts law, it is illegal to run or promote a gambling operation. The current gambling law in this case points to the existence of an illegal “lottery.” The definition of a lottery includes a payment to play, a prize, and some element of chance.
In February, the Attorney General’s Office began an investigation into “Leo’s Place” locations in Fairhaven and Fall River. Evidence gathered during the course of the investigation demonstrates that patrons of these Internet cafés were paying nearly exclusively for the right to gamble. Authorities allege that patrons were not, as suggested by the operators, simply paying for Internet time and playing a free sweepstakes. Investigators also allege that, “no purchase required” opportunities were of no legal significance and gambling was the only clear purpose for these cafés. Both locations ceased operations in the wake of the AG’s investigation.
All four defendants are expected to be arraigned in Bristol County Superior Court at a future date. These charges are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Thursday’s actions by the Attorney General’s Office are a direct result of complaints regarding alleged unlawful gambling operations that have recently opened for business across the Commonwealth. While these businesses purport to sell goods or services, such as Internet access or phone cards, the Attorney General’s investigation found that those sales were a pretext for unlawful and unregulated lotteries, online slot parlors, sweepstakes, and similar gambling. The AG’s office issued permanent civil regulations in June under the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act that bans the operation of so called “Internet Cafés” and other establishments across the Commonwealth. Those that violate the law may be subject to injunctions, civil penalties and other relief under the Consumer Protection Act.
In July, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and AG Coakley filed legislation that further enhances the criminal penalties for illegal gambling at “cyber cafés” throughout Massachusetts. The proposed legislation establishes a new crime for conducting or promoting an unauthorized sweepstakes that is executed through the use of the entertaining display of an electronic machine. The new crime would carry a penalty of up to $250,000 per offending machine and/or imprisonment of up to 15 years in the state prison.
The Attorney General’s investigations into various Internet cafés throughout the Commonwealth remains active and ongoing.
Governor "Slot Barns" Dodges Leadership
Lacking any sincere moral compass, Governor "Slot Barns" may not have to voice an opinion, any moral leadership or voice his opposition to the community degradation his Folly will produce.
In spite of lofty rhetoric, how convenient?
And just maybe, this will all be settle via another backroom deal.
Not to worry. With or without "Happy Hours," FREE ALCOHOL offered at the proposed Slot Barns will fill our streets and highways with enough drunks to keep local police, courts and jails busy.
Gov. Patrick mum on casino "happy hour" plan
By Associated Press
Gov. Deval Patrick is keeping mum about whether he supports or opposes a Senate amendment that could ease restrictions on "happy hour" in Massachusetts.
Patrick said "I don’t have a point of view on that yet," when asked Monday about the amendment, which was included in the Senate version of a bill to license three casinos and a single slots parlor in the state.
The amendment would give all of the state’s bars and restaurants the same ability as casinos to offer free or discounted drinks to customers.
Patrick may ultimately not have to weigh in on the amendment, which was not included in the House version of the bill.
It’s unclear if the amendment will survive the process of reconciling both bills into a single piece of legislation
In spite of lofty rhetoric, how convenient?
And just maybe, this will all be settle via another backroom deal.
Not to worry. With or without "Happy Hours," FREE ALCOHOL offered at the proposed Slot Barns will fill our streets and highways with enough drunks to keep local police, courts and jails busy.
Gov. Patrick mum on casino "happy hour" plan
By Associated Press
Gov. Deval Patrick is keeping mum about whether he supports or opposes a Senate amendment that could ease restrictions on "happy hour" in Massachusetts.
Patrick said "I don’t have a point of view on that yet," when asked Monday about the amendment, which was included in the Senate version of a bill to license three casinos and a single slots parlor in the state.
The amendment would give all of the state’s bars and restaurants the same ability as casinos to offer free or discounted drinks to customers.
Patrick may ultimately not have to weigh in on the amendment, which was not included in the House version of the bill.
It’s unclear if the amendment will survive the process of reconciling both bills into a single piece of legislation
Massachusetts: Legislators Invite Highway Carnage
In another effort to genuflect to the Gambling Industry, Senator Hedlund who happens to have the potential of personally benefiting from return of "Happy Hour," proposed a misguided amendment, instead of prohibiting FREE ALCOHOL.
Backroom deals, secret meetings and foolhardy decisions have guided this one.
Public perception is of widespread corruption because of deals such as this that also jeopardizes public safety in the rush to please the Industry.
This was preceded by skirting the smoking ban, among numerous other provisions contained in the flawed legislation that clearly, few legislators have taken time to read.
Dukakis recalls Happy Hour ban, guarantees more deaths if it’s reinstituted
By Andy Metzger / State House News Service
Happy Hour, when bars temporarily discount alcoholic drinks or give them out for free, has been banned in Massachusetts since December 1984, but House and Senate leaders will soon determine whether to reinstitute the policy, or one like it, as part of the casino bill.
The Happy Hour amendment was introduced this month by Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) who said it would put bars and restaurants on even competitive footing with the casinos, which will be allowed to give free drinks to patrons under expanded gambling proposals approved by the House and Senate.
If Beacon Hill passes the casino bill with the amendment it will weaken a regulation put in place more than 25 years ago. The beginning of the end of Happy Hour occurred in the parking lot of a Braintree mall on the hot, dry, night of Sept. 9, 1983, according to press reports.
On that Friday night, Kathleen Barry, 20, of Weymouth, met her friends at Ground Round, where they had won free pitchers of beer in a “name that tune” game, according to a Boston Herald story and George McCarthy, then chairman of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
After leaving the bar, Barry and a friend climbed on top of another friend’s 1975 Chevrolet sedan for a joy-ride around the King’s Plaza parking lot in Braintree, according to a Boston Herald account. Barry fell under the car and was dragged 50 feet, breaking her neck, arms and legs. The driver had consumed at least seven beers, according to the ABCC.
People on the South Shore were outraged about Barry’s death but the bar had broken no rules, and the local licensing board let it off with no violations, McCarthy said.
At that time, it was common for bars to offer bargain barrel drink specials and pitchers of beer as prizes for bar games, said Dan Matthews, who was then an associate ABCC commissioner, and is now a selectman in Needham.
After the public outcry, McCarthy held meetings, calling the restaurant’s waitresses as witnesses, to determine what led to the fatal incident.
“The kids wouldn’t have gotten drunk if they hadn’t won pitchers of beer,” McCarthy said in a recent interview. When he asked the representative from Ground Round to end the beer pitcher prizes, he was told, “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll have to think about that,” McCarthy said.
So McCarthy, the former mayor of Everett, decided to look into banning discount drinks and drink prizes statewide through the ABCC.
McCarthy found support in Gov. Michael Dukakis, who had appointed him to the commission.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, drunk driving was an epidemic killing scores of people throughout the country every day.
According to a 2001 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 32,000 people died in drunk driving accidents in 1982. In Massachusetts, drunk driving was the “trigger” for at least two-thirds of all deaths on the highways, according to a special commission report in 1974.
The safety hazard had touched the Dukakis home, as well. In 1973, Dukakis’ brother Stelian was killed in a hit-and-run accident while he was riding his bike through Brookline.
But just as galvanizing for Dukakis was a drunk driving crash in Hyde Park that killed a family of four on Christmas Eve, just before his January inauguration, he told the News Service in an email.
“Another senseless tragedy because we weren’t taking drunk driving seriously,” Dukakis wrote.
The Happy Hour ban was not the only alcohol regulation enacted under Dukakis. In 1984, right around the same time happy hours were banned, the state legislature raised the drinking age from 20 to 21 and Dukakis launched a designated driver campaign.
Dukakis said his administration’s tack on drinking, which included stiffer penalties for drunk drivers, had measurably improved safety on the roads.
“Right after my inauguration in 1983 we launched one of the toughest drunk driving prevention and enforcement efforts in the country and cut the alcohol-related fatality rate on the commonwealth’s highways in half in eighteen months,” Dukakis said. “I guarantee you that if happy hours are restored, dozens of people will be killed or maimed on our highways because of it.”
During a series of ABCC hearings around the state before the ban, McCarthy said he was struck by the support from bar owners to enact a stricter regulation.
“Once the movement got started, the bars were saying, ‘Look it, we only do it because the guys up the street do it,” McCarthy said.
On Nov. 21, 1984, Dukakis approved a new ABCC regulation that banned bars from giving out free drinks, selling more than two drinks at a time to one person, offering discounted drinks or offering them as prizes.
Massachusetts was the first state to ban happy hours, but McCarthy said some 20 other states followed the example and he was “surprised as the devil” to see the State House is considering reversing the ban.
In the time since, the Metro Boston bar business has flourished.
A year before the regulations went into effect, a bar called Grendel’s Den opened in Harvard Square. In a twist on Happy Hour, Grendel’s gave away an all-you-can-eat appetizer buffet for anyone who ordered a drink from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In 2000, the promotion changed to a half-off discount on menu items for anyone who orders a drink.
“We needed to do something to promote a new bar,” said Kari Kuelzer, whose parents opened the bar.
Kuelzer said that if Happy Hour was re-established, bars might abandon the live music, food and big-screen TVs as a means to draw customers and instead engage in a “price war.”
“It really doesn’t hurt business to have some rules in place,” Kuelzer said.
In an interview, State Treasurer Steve Grossman, who oversees the ABCC, deferred to lawmakers to decide whether to overrule the regulation, but said “they need to know the history of those ’84 rules and regulations.”
Though Hedlund sponsored the bill, he said he would “prefer not to” have a Happy Hour at his establishment, Four Square, in Weymouth.
Barkeeps might have been glad to see Happy Hour go, but some customers were less pleased.
“I don’t like it,” a customer at Street Lights bar in South Boston told the New York Times [NYT] the last night before the ban went into effect, during a $5 all-you-can-drink discount.
Backroom deals, secret meetings and foolhardy decisions have guided this one.
Public perception is of widespread corruption because of deals such as this that also jeopardizes public safety in the rush to please the Industry.
This was preceded by skirting the smoking ban, among numerous other provisions contained in the flawed legislation that clearly, few legislators have taken time to read.
Dukakis recalls Happy Hour ban, guarantees more deaths if it’s reinstituted
By Andy Metzger / State House News Service
Happy Hour, when bars temporarily discount alcoholic drinks or give them out for free, has been banned in Massachusetts since December 1984, but House and Senate leaders will soon determine whether to reinstitute the policy, or one like it, as part of the casino bill.
The Happy Hour amendment was introduced this month by Sen. Robert Hedlund (R-Weymouth) who said it would put bars and restaurants on even competitive footing with the casinos, which will be allowed to give free drinks to patrons under expanded gambling proposals approved by the House and Senate.
If Beacon Hill passes the casino bill with the amendment it will weaken a regulation put in place more than 25 years ago. The beginning of the end of Happy Hour occurred in the parking lot of a Braintree mall on the hot, dry, night of Sept. 9, 1983, according to press reports.
On that Friday night, Kathleen Barry, 20, of Weymouth, met her friends at Ground Round, where they had won free pitchers of beer in a “name that tune” game, according to a Boston Herald story and George McCarthy, then chairman of the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.
After leaving the bar, Barry and a friend climbed on top of another friend’s 1975 Chevrolet sedan for a joy-ride around the King’s Plaza parking lot in Braintree, according to a Boston Herald account. Barry fell under the car and was dragged 50 feet, breaking her neck, arms and legs. The driver had consumed at least seven beers, according to the ABCC.
People on the South Shore were outraged about Barry’s death but the bar had broken no rules, and the local licensing board let it off with no violations, McCarthy said.
At that time, it was common for bars to offer bargain barrel drink specials and pitchers of beer as prizes for bar games, said Dan Matthews, who was then an associate ABCC commissioner, and is now a selectman in Needham.
After the public outcry, McCarthy held meetings, calling the restaurant’s waitresses as witnesses, to determine what led to the fatal incident.
“The kids wouldn’t have gotten drunk if they hadn’t won pitchers of beer,” McCarthy said in a recent interview. When he asked the representative from Ground Round to end the beer pitcher prizes, he was told, “Well, I’ll tell you, I’ll have to think about that,” McCarthy said.
So McCarthy, the former mayor of Everett, decided to look into banning discount drinks and drink prizes statewide through the ABCC.
McCarthy found support in Gov. Michael Dukakis, who had appointed him to the commission.
Through the 1970s and 1980s, drunk driving was an epidemic killing scores of people throughout the country every day.
According to a 2001 report by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 32,000 people died in drunk driving accidents in 1982. In Massachusetts, drunk driving was the “trigger” for at least two-thirds of all deaths on the highways, according to a special commission report in 1974.
The safety hazard had touched the Dukakis home, as well. In 1973, Dukakis’ brother Stelian was killed in a hit-and-run accident while he was riding his bike through Brookline.
But just as galvanizing for Dukakis was a drunk driving crash in Hyde Park that killed a family of four on Christmas Eve, just before his January inauguration, he told the News Service in an email.
“Another senseless tragedy because we weren’t taking drunk driving seriously,” Dukakis wrote.
The Happy Hour ban was not the only alcohol regulation enacted under Dukakis. In 1984, right around the same time happy hours were banned, the state legislature raised the drinking age from 20 to 21 and Dukakis launched a designated driver campaign.
Dukakis said his administration’s tack on drinking, which included stiffer penalties for drunk drivers, had measurably improved safety on the roads.
“Right after my inauguration in 1983 we launched one of the toughest drunk driving prevention and enforcement efforts in the country and cut the alcohol-related fatality rate on the commonwealth’s highways in half in eighteen months,” Dukakis said. “I guarantee you that if happy hours are restored, dozens of people will be killed or maimed on our highways because of it.”
During a series of ABCC hearings around the state before the ban, McCarthy said he was struck by the support from bar owners to enact a stricter regulation.
“Once the movement got started, the bars were saying, ‘Look it, we only do it because the guys up the street do it,” McCarthy said.
On Nov. 21, 1984, Dukakis approved a new ABCC regulation that banned bars from giving out free drinks, selling more than two drinks at a time to one person, offering discounted drinks or offering them as prizes.
Massachusetts was the first state to ban happy hours, but McCarthy said some 20 other states followed the example and he was “surprised as the devil” to see the State House is considering reversing the ban.
In the time since, the Metro Boston bar business has flourished.
A year before the regulations went into effect, a bar called Grendel’s Den opened in Harvard Square. In a twist on Happy Hour, Grendel’s gave away an all-you-can-eat appetizer buffet for anyone who ordered a drink from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In 2000, the promotion changed to a half-off discount on menu items for anyone who orders a drink.
“We needed to do something to promote a new bar,” said Kari Kuelzer, whose parents opened the bar.
Kuelzer said that if Happy Hour was re-established, bars might abandon the live music, food and big-screen TVs as a means to draw customers and instead engage in a “price war.”
“It really doesn’t hurt business to have some rules in place,” Kuelzer said.
In an interview, State Treasurer Steve Grossman, who oversees the ABCC, deferred to lawmakers to decide whether to overrule the regulation, but said “they need to know the history of those ’84 rules and regulations.”
Though Hedlund sponsored the bill, he said he would “prefer not to” have a Happy Hour at his establishment, Four Square, in Weymouth.
Barkeeps might have been glad to see Happy Hour go, but some customers were less pleased.
“I don’t like it,” a customer at Street Lights bar in South Boston told the New York Times [NYT] the last night before the ban went into effect, during a $5 all-you-can-drink discount.
Massachusetts: Rushin' roulette
Rushin' roulette
It’s hard to know what the right metaphor is to capture all the absurd gyrations and policymaking-on-the-run that have characterized the mad dash to casinos and slots. Sometimes it seems a balloon is the right image, with every effort to squeeze some sense into this thing merely causing another area of the casino balloon to bulge toward the breaking point. Or maybe it’s the sweater metaphor, where each tug at a knot in the knitting only unravels things a little more.
First was earmarking a cut of the house’s take to programs that try to stop compulsive gamblers from betting away the keys to the family car. (With compulsive gamblers responsible for as much as third of all casino revenues, it would present a problem for all the revenue and jobs projections if these programs were wildly effective, but that’s probably not a worry.) Then came the effort to protect existing concert venues, theaters, and other cultural institutions that are likely to take a hit when Donnie and Marie roll in for a week on a casino hall stage.
Now on tap are questions surrounding what’s on tap. The casino bill would allow gambling halls to hand out free or reduced-price drinks. The Senate included language in its version of the bill that would level the playing field by having any such provisions apply to all licensed establishments statewide. In other words, gone would be the nearly three-decade-old state ban on “happy hours.” CommonWealth’s Paul McMorrow, in his Boston Globe column last week, explained how the “happy hour” amendment was yet another effort to try to patch up a problem that casinos will cause -- in this case the hit to the local restaurant and bar economy.
“Happy hours” have been banned in Massachusetts since 1984 -- and, it turns out, with good reason. State House News Service reporter Andy Metzger recounts in graphic detail the bad old days of happy hours in the Bay State. With drunk driving fatalities piling up faster than empties in the Red Sox clubhouse, the story that finally did in happy hour involved a group of young people who got plastered on a September 1983 afternoon at a Braintree bar. One of them, a 20-year-old woman, ended up riding on top of a car through a parking lot. She fell under the car and was dragged 50 feet, sustaining fatal injuries, according to the SHNS story. The driver of the car had downed at least seven beers, according to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. “I guarantee you that if happy hours are restored, dozens of people will be killed or maimed on our highways because of it,” former Gov. Michael Dukakis, who signed the ban in 1984, told Metzger.
Allowing the statewide happy hour ban to be lifted would defy any sound public policy rationale -- such a proposal would never be under serious consideration on its own merits. Pulling the Senate amendment from the final bill, however, would put restaurants and bars at a further disadvantage. The amendment sponsor, Sen. Robert Hedlund, who claims he’s only interested in maintaining an even playing field for local businesses (including, presumably, the Braintree restaurant he is part owner of), said his first choice would be to ban free drinks from casinos, an idea that fell flat with his colleagues. That would seem to be the policy that makes the most sense. But good sense is not necessarily what’s carrying the day in this debate. Taking free drinks off the table would mean casinos have to rely on patrons who are in their right mind, and that, apparently, is the last thing the gambling moguls and their State House sponsors want.
--MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
Speaking of casinos, Greg Bialecki, the state’s top economic development official, bought stock last year in two casino companies while he was pushing for expanded gambling here. Bialecki sold the stocks last week following questions about the investments from the Globe.
It’s hard to know what the right metaphor is to capture all the absurd gyrations and policymaking-on-the-run that have characterized the mad dash to casinos and slots. Sometimes it seems a balloon is the right image, with every effort to squeeze some sense into this thing merely causing another area of the casino balloon to bulge toward the breaking point. Or maybe it’s the sweater metaphor, where each tug at a knot in the knitting only unravels things a little more.
First was earmarking a cut of the house’s take to programs that try to stop compulsive gamblers from betting away the keys to the family car. (With compulsive gamblers responsible for as much as third of all casino revenues, it would present a problem for all the revenue and jobs projections if these programs were wildly effective, but that’s probably not a worry.) Then came the effort to protect existing concert venues, theaters, and other cultural institutions that are likely to take a hit when Donnie and Marie roll in for a week on a casino hall stage.
Now on tap are questions surrounding what’s on tap. The casino bill would allow gambling halls to hand out free or reduced-price drinks. The Senate included language in its version of the bill that would level the playing field by having any such provisions apply to all licensed establishments statewide. In other words, gone would be the nearly three-decade-old state ban on “happy hours.” CommonWealth’s Paul McMorrow, in his Boston Globe column last week, explained how the “happy hour” amendment was yet another effort to try to patch up a problem that casinos will cause -- in this case the hit to the local restaurant and bar economy.
“Happy hours” have been banned in Massachusetts since 1984 -- and, it turns out, with good reason. State House News Service reporter Andy Metzger recounts in graphic detail the bad old days of happy hours in the Bay State. With drunk driving fatalities piling up faster than empties in the Red Sox clubhouse, the story that finally did in happy hour involved a group of young people who got plastered on a September 1983 afternoon at a Braintree bar. One of them, a 20-year-old woman, ended up riding on top of a car through a parking lot. She fell under the car and was dragged 50 feet, sustaining fatal injuries, according to the SHNS story. The driver of the car had downed at least seven beers, according to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. “I guarantee you that if happy hours are restored, dozens of people will be killed or maimed on our highways because of it,” former Gov. Michael Dukakis, who signed the ban in 1984, told Metzger.
Allowing the statewide happy hour ban to be lifted would defy any sound public policy rationale -- such a proposal would never be under serious consideration on its own merits. Pulling the Senate amendment from the final bill, however, would put restaurants and bars at a further disadvantage. The amendment sponsor, Sen. Robert Hedlund, who claims he’s only interested in maintaining an even playing field for local businesses (including, presumably, the Braintree restaurant he is part owner of), said his first choice would be to ban free drinks from casinos, an idea that fell flat with his colleagues. That would seem to be the policy that makes the most sense. But good sense is not necessarily what’s carrying the day in this debate. Taking free drinks off the table would mean casinos have to rely on patrons who are in their right mind, and that, apparently, is the last thing the gambling moguls and their State House sponsors want.
--MICHAEL JONAS
BEACON HILL
Speaking of casinos, Greg Bialecki, the state’s top economic development official, bought stock last year in two casino companies while he was pushing for expanded gambling here. Bialecki sold the stocks last week following questions about the investments from the Globe.
Massachusetts: Conference Committee Named
Flanagan named to conference committee to reconcile casino bills
By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
BOSTON — State Sen. Jennifer L. Flanagan, D-Leominster, is one of three members named today to the joint House and Senate conference committee charged with resolving differences between House and Senate versions of a casino gambling bill.
Also named to the committee today was Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Sen. Richard J. Ross, R-Wrentham.
State Rep. Paul K. Frost, R-Auburn; Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee; and Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, D-Haverhill were named last week as the House delegates.
Expanded gambling supporters have said they are hoping the Legislature enacts a bill allowing three casinos and a slot machine resort before the Legislature ends formal sessions for the year in mid-November.
By John J. Monahan TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
BOSTON — State Sen. Jennifer L. Flanagan, D-Leominster, is one of three members named today to the joint House and Senate conference committee charged with resolving differences between House and Senate versions of a casino gambling bill.
Also named to the committee today was Sen. Stanley C. Rosenberg, D-Amherst, and Sen. Richard J. Ross, R-Wrentham.
State Rep. Paul K. Frost, R-Auburn; Rep. Joseph F. Wagner, D-Chicopee; and Rep. Brian S. Dempsey, D-Haverhill were named last week as the House delegates.
Expanded gambling supporters have said they are hoping the Legislature enacts a bill allowing three casinos and a slot machine resort before the Legislature ends formal sessions for the year in mid-November.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Massachusetts: Cozy Relationship Exposes Rotten Onion
Casino opponent blasts `cozy relationship’ between state officials and gaming industry
By Todd Wallack , Globe Staff
A prominent casino opponent sharply criticized the “cozy relationship” between state officials and the gaming industry following a report in The Globe today that Governor Deval Patrick’s top economic development aide bought stock in two Las Vegas gaming companies last year.
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, president of Citizens for a Stronger Massachusetts, said “the cozy relationship between our elected and appointed officials, casino bosses, and their hired guns is deeply troubling, and today’s Boston Globe expose just peels back another layer of this rotten onion.”
“The more we learn about the insider dealing that shrouds this entire issue, the more red flags it should wave for all of us, including legislators and the Governor,” Harshbarger said.
The Globe reported today that Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, held more than $17,000 stock last year in Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., both of which have expressed interest in building casinos in Massachusetts.
Bialecki said the stocks were bought by a financial advisor in August 2010 without his knowledge. When he later learned of the purchases, Bialecki said, he did not think the holdings posed a problem because he didn’t pick the stocks ; they accounted for only a small percentage of his portfolio; and he doesn’t expect to award any of the casino licenses. Bialecki sold the stocks last week after the Globe questioned him about the investments.
The House and Senate have approved legislation to allow casinos in the state, but must still agree on a compromise bill to send to Patrick for final approval.
By Todd Wallack , Globe Staff
A prominent casino opponent sharply criticized the “cozy relationship” between state officials and the gaming industry following a report in The Globe today that Governor Deval Patrick’s top economic development aide bought stock in two Las Vegas gaming companies last year.
Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, president of Citizens for a Stronger Massachusetts, said “the cozy relationship between our elected and appointed officials, casino bosses, and their hired guns is deeply troubling, and today’s Boston Globe expose just peels back another layer of this rotten onion.”
“The more we learn about the insider dealing that shrouds this entire issue, the more red flags it should wave for all of us, including legislators and the Governor,” Harshbarger said.
The Globe reported today that Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, held more than $17,000 stock last year in Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., both of which have expressed interest in building casinos in Massachusetts.
Bialecki said the stocks were bought by a financial advisor in August 2010 without his knowledge. When he later learned of the purchases, Bialecki said, he did not think the holdings posed a problem because he didn’t pick the stocks ; they accounted for only a small percentage of his portfolio; and he doesn’t expect to award any of the casino licenses. Bialecki sold the stocks last week after the Globe questioned him about the investments.
The House and Senate have approved legislation to allow casinos in the state, but must still agree on a compromise bill to send to Patrick for final approval.
Massachusetts: Doesn't Pass the Smell Test
Trusted adviser to Governor "Slot Barns" Patrick and Perennial Casino Cheerleader holding casino stock and failing to disclose?
Governor "Slot Barns" Patrick accepting Gambling Industry campaign contributions until he gets caught? Promising an INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS until re-elected.....meeting with Native Americans and promising a Freetown Slot Barn.....promising a Foxborough Slot Barn....
http://wampaleaks.blogspot.com/
And then there's Doug Rubin...... the Ropes and Gray connection.... and much else.
Surrounded by scandals, indictments, corruption and cronyism, backroom deals, sleazy promises abound.
The process smells.
State economic chief's casino holdings raising questions
By Todd Wallack Globe Staff
Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, said he sold his stock in the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynns Resorts Ltd. last week after conflict of interest inquiries by The Globe.
The state’s top economic development official, who has pushed lawmakers to legalize gaming and touted the economic benefits of resort casinos, bought stock in two Las Vegas gaming companies last year, according to financial disclosure records filed with the State Ethics Commission.
Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, said he held more than $17,000 in stock in Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., both of which have expressed interest in building casinos in Massachusetts and together spent more than $1 million lobbying the issue. Bialecki said he sold the stock last week after The Globe raised questions about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
In an interview, Bialecki said his financial adviser bought the shares on his behalf, without his knowledge, and he only learned of the purchases when he filled out his annual financial disclosure form May 1.
At the time, Bialecki said, he did not believe the investments created the appearance of a conflict because he had not selected the stocks; his role in setting gaming policies was limited; and the shares represented only a tiny portion of his financial holdings, worth more than $1 million.
“I made a decision myself,’’ said Bialecki, a commercial real estate lawyer before joining the administration in another post in 2007. “The better thing for me to have done would have been to talk to other people in the administration.’’
Kimberly Haberlin, spokeswoman for Governor Deval Patrick, said the governor expects officials to adhere to state ethics laws. Bialecki, she said, acted with “an abundance of caution’’ by selling the stock well before the administration would have to implement a gaming law. The House and Senate recently passed different casino bills, and must still negotiate and pass compromise legislation to send to Patrick for final approval.
Massachusetts law prohibits public employees from acting in a manner which would cause a reasonable person to conclude they were unduly influenced by outside ties. They can avoid that problem by filing a separate disclosure form explaining the situation to dispel the appearance of a conflict. Bialecki did not file such a form.
“He absolutely needed to file,’’ said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, an advocacy group that supports strong ethics rules.
David Giannotti, a spokesman for the Ethics Commission, declined to comment on whether Bialecki’s actions violated the law.
Regardless, said ethics specialists, government officials should avoid any appearance of conflicts - or risk undermining public confidence by raising suspicions about their motives. Frank Anechiarico, a professor of government and law at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., said many government officials go beyond legal requirements to ensure they avoid even the hint of impropriety, such as putting investments in blind trusts.
Even though Bialecki eventually sold the gaming company stock, “his credibility is going to be seriously undercut,’’ Anechiarico said.
Bialecki, named economic development secretary in 2009, has championed the economic benefits of casino gambling and its potential to create thousands of jobs. [Except he could provide no solid economic information when a group of opponents met with him.]
Three days after Bialecki said he learned of his stock in Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, he testified before a legislative hearing on legalizing casino gambling.
Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands are considered among the contenders to build casinos in the state. Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said the company has explored opportunities to build an “unparalleled gaming and entertainment complex’’ in Massachusetts. Through a subsidiary, Wynn has spent nearly $700,000 lobbying here since 2009, according to state records.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese confirmed last week that his company remains interested in building a casino in Massachusetts. The firm has spent nearly $400,000 lobbying here since 2009.
“Gaming is an entertainment option that is being safely enjoyed by over a million Massachusetts residents every year in Connecticut and other New England states,’’ Bialecki told the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies May 4. “Any well-crafted proposal would make those entertainment options available here in Massachusetts.’’
Bialecki downplayed his role in shaping the casino debate. He said the legislation is similar to the governor’s original proposal in 2007, when he had no part in gambling policies. In addition, he said, the legislation would likely create an independent gaming commission and he does not anticipate any role deciding which companies receive licenses. “The primary role I was playing was to be the person who articulated the administration’s positions,’’ Bialecki said. “I had little or no role in policy-making on the bill.’’
Bialecki, 51, said he originally set up an investment account in March 2010 for a financial adviser to manage without his involvement. He said the adviser bought the casino shares in August 2010 and sold the stock last week for $17,100, when Bialecki liquidated the account. The value of the casino shares increased by more than $5,000, but not enough to offset losses from other components of the portfolio, Bialecki said.
Bialecki said he plans to discuss with his adviser how to handle his investments to avoid similar issues in the future.
Several observers said Bialecki’s decision to hold gaming stocks as the state considered legalizing casinos could be potentially embarrassing to the administration, giving ammunition to gambling critics and potentially affecting the legislation.
“It’s not appropriate politically in that it’s going to create a problem for the governor,’’ said Marty Linsky, a longtime instructor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and chief secretary under former Governor William Weld.
“You don’t want to put your boss in a position where, because of your actions he has to hold a press conference and explain something that is a diversion from his agenda. It doesn’t make good political sense.’’
Governor "Slot Barns" Patrick accepting Gambling Industry campaign contributions until he gets caught? Promising an INDEPENDENT COST ANALYSIS until re-elected.....meeting with Native Americans and promising a Freetown Slot Barn.....promising a Foxborough Slot Barn....
http://wampaleaks.blogspot.com/
And then there's Doug Rubin...... the Ropes and Gray connection.... and much else.
Surrounded by scandals, indictments, corruption and cronyism, backroom deals, sleazy promises abound.
The process smells.
State economic chief's casino holdings raising questions
By Todd Wallack Globe Staff
Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, said he sold his stock in the Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynns Resorts Ltd. last week after conflict of interest inquiries by The Globe.
The state’s top economic development official, who has pushed lawmakers to legalize gaming and touted the economic benefits of resort casinos, bought stock in two Las Vegas gaming companies last year, according to financial disclosure records filed with the State Ethics Commission.
Gregory Bialecki, secretary of housing and economic development, said he held more than $17,000 in stock in Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd., both of which have expressed interest in building casinos in Massachusetts and together spent more than $1 million lobbying the issue. Bialecki said he sold the stock last week after The Globe raised questions about the appearance of a conflict of interest.
In an interview, Bialecki said his financial adviser bought the shares on his behalf, without his knowledge, and he only learned of the purchases when he filled out his annual financial disclosure form May 1.
At the time, Bialecki said, he did not believe the investments created the appearance of a conflict because he had not selected the stocks; his role in setting gaming policies was limited; and the shares represented only a tiny portion of his financial holdings, worth more than $1 million.
“I made a decision myself,’’ said Bialecki, a commercial real estate lawyer before joining the administration in another post in 2007. “The better thing for me to have done would have been to talk to other people in the administration.’’
Kimberly Haberlin, spokeswoman for Governor Deval Patrick, said the governor expects officials to adhere to state ethics laws. Bialecki, she said, acted with “an abundance of caution’’ by selling the stock well before the administration would have to implement a gaming law. The House and Senate recently passed different casino bills, and must still negotiate and pass compromise legislation to send to Patrick for final approval.
Massachusetts law prohibits public employees from acting in a manner which would cause a reasonable person to conclude they were unduly influenced by outside ties. They can avoid that problem by filing a separate disclosure form explaining the situation to dispel the appearance of a conflict. Bialecki did not file such a form.
“He absolutely needed to file,’’ said Pam Wilmot, executive director of Common Cause Massachusetts, an advocacy group that supports strong ethics rules.
David Giannotti, a spokesman for the Ethics Commission, declined to comment on whether Bialecki’s actions violated the law.
Regardless, said ethics specialists, government officials should avoid any appearance of conflicts - or risk undermining public confidence by raising suspicions about their motives. Frank Anechiarico, a professor of government and law at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y., said many government officials go beyond legal requirements to ensure they avoid even the hint of impropriety, such as putting investments in blind trusts.
Even though Bialecki eventually sold the gaming company stock, “his credibility is going to be seriously undercut,’’ Anechiarico said.
Bialecki, named economic development secretary in 2009, has championed the economic benefits of casino gambling and its potential to create thousands of jobs. [Except he could provide no solid economic information when a group of opponents met with him.]
Three days after Bialecki said he learned of his stock in Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, he testified before a legislative hearing on legalizing casino gambling.
Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands are considered among the contenders to build casinos in the state. Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver said the company has explored opportunities to build an “unparalleled gaming and entertainment complex’’ in Massachusetts. Through a subsidiary, Wynn has spent nearly $700,000 lobbying here since 2009, according to state records.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. spokesman Ron Reese confirmed last week that his company remains interested in building a casino in Massachusetts. The firm has spent nearly $400,000 lobbying here since 2009.
“Gaming is an entertainment option that is being safely enjoyed by over a million Massachusetts residents every year in Connecticut and other New England states,’’ Bialecki told the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies May 4. “Any well-crafted proposal would make those entertainment options available here in Massachusetts.’’
Bialecki downplayed his role in shaping the casino debate. He said the legislation is similar to the governor’s original proposal in 2007, when he had no part in gambling policies. In addition, he said, the legislation would likely create an independent gaming commission and he does not anticipate any role deciding which companies receive licenses. “The primary role I was playing was to be the person who articulated the administration’s positions,’’ Bialecki said. “I had little or no role in policy-making on the bill.’’
Bialecki, 51, said he originally set up an investment account in March 2010 for a financial adviser to manage without his involvement. He said the adviser bought the casino shares in August 2010 and sold the stock last week for $17,100, when Bialecki liquidated the account. The value of the casino shares increased by more than $5,000, but not enough to offset losses from other components of the portfolio, Bialecki said.
Bialecki said he plans to discuss with his adviser how to handle his investments to avoid similar issues in the future.
Several observers said Bialecki’s decision to hold gaming stocks as the state considered legalizing casinos could be potentially embarrassing to the administration, giving ammunition to gambling critics and potentially affecting the legislation.
“It’s not appropriate politically in that it’s going to create a problem for the governor,’’ said Marty Linsky, a longtime instructor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and chief secretary under former Governor William Weld.
“You don’t want to put your boss in a position where, because of your actions he has to hold a press conference and explain something that is a diversion from his agenda. It doesn’t make good political sense.’’
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Oregon: Gambling Addict to Prison for $1.6 Million Theft
Ponzi scheme fed Portland man's gambling addiction, but guilt got the better of him
By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian
Jonathan D. Kendig had a gambling problem.
From the video games of the Oregon Lottery to the card tables of Spirit Mountain Casino, he lost big bucks. So much, the government would later allege, he launched a one-man Ponzi scheme to cover his losses and keep the money flowing.
"It's like any addiction," said Kendig's lawyer, Robert C. "Bob" Weaver Jr. "It's like crack. ... It takes over your life."
From 2004 to 2009, the Southeast Portland mortgage man held himself out as a senior loan officer who was soliciting short-term loans for people who owned real estate. He promised big returns and paid back a little as "interest."
But the loans were a fiction. Kendig reached into the pockets of his friend Howard Zidell and ultimately drained the retirement accounts of three elderly people.
Then, wracked with guilt, he confessed everything.
Kendig lost his job, surrendered his licenses to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and landed today in Portland's federal courthouse to face the music.
U.S. District Judge Garr M. King sentenced Kendig to two years in prison and three years of post-prison supervision. King also ordered him to back back the money he stole: $1,611,598.
-- Bryan Denson
By Bryan Denson, The Oregonian
Jonathan D. Kendig had a gambling problem.
From the video games of the Oregon Lottery to the card tables of Spirit Mountain Casino, he lost big bucks. So much, the government would later allege, he launched a one-man Ponzi scheme to cover his losses and keep the money flowing.
"It's like any addiction," said Kendig's lawyer, Robert C. "Bob" Weaver Jr. "It's like crack. ... It takes over your life."
From 2004 to 2009, the Southeast Portland mortgage man held himself out as a senior loan officer who was soliciting short-term loans for people who owned real estate. He promised big returns and paid back a little as "interest."
But the loans were a fiction. Kendig reached into the pockets of his friend Howard Zidell and ultimately drained the retirement accounts of three elderly people.
Then, wracked with guilt, he confessed everything.
Kendig lost his job, surrendered his licenses to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and landed today in Portland's federal courthouse to face the music.
U.S. District Judge Garr M. King sentenced Kendig to two years in prison and three years of post-prison supervision. King also ordered him to back back the money he stole: $1,611,598.
-- Bryan Denson
"Casino" Bailout in Maryland?
When states become partners in Predatory Gambling --
Advisory council meets to discuss state of Delaware's gambling industry
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DOVER, Del. — State lottery officials are getting an update from the operators of Delaware's three casinos on the health of the state's gambling industry.
Casino officials have said for months that they are struggling to turn a profit from slot machines and table games. Among the factors they have cited are high licensing fees paid to the state, the poor economy and competition from casinos in neighboring states.
Officials were to find out whether conditions have improved from the casinos' perspective at Tuesday's meeting of the state Video Lottery Advisory Council at Dover Downs.
State officials have indicated that they are willing to meet with casino operators to discuss possible options in revising revenue-sharing agreements.
The council is expected to finalize its recommendations in a report next month.
Advisory council meets to discuss state of Delaware's gambling industry
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DOVER, Del. — State lottery officials are getting an update from the operators of Delaware's three casinos on the health of the state's gambling industry.
Casino officials have said for months that they are struggling to turn a profit from slot machines and table games. Among the factors they have cited are high licensing fees paid to the state, the poor economy and competition from casinos in neighboring states.
Officials were to find out whether conditions have improved from the casinos' perspective at Tuesday's meeting of the state Video Lottery Advisory Council at Dover Downs.
State officials have indicated that they are willing to meet with casino operators to discuss possible options in revising revenue-sharing agreements.
The council is expected to finalize its recommendations in a report next month.
Pennsylvania: Food Fight Over Mitigation Funds
Control of casino funds key issue in Montgomery County commissioners race
By Jeremy Roebuck
Inquirer Staff Writer
For a political race to control Montgomery County's future, the election contest between commissioner candidates Bruce L. Castor Jr. and State Rep. Josh Shapiro has become strangely fixated on a set of votes in the past.
The scuffle over who will control the local share of profits from the soon-to-open Valley Forge Resort Casino and who is to blame for the current arrangement - which takes the county's share and deposits it into a state-controlled account - sparked over the weekend the most contentious back-and-forth between the candidates since the start of the race.
Shapiro, a Democratic state legislator who represents the Abington area, condemned Castor for letting partisan bickering get in the way of doing what's right for the county.
Castor, meanwhile, blamed Shapiro for casting a vote in 2009 that he says took control of the money away from local officials.
As is often the case in politics, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Since casinos opened in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Delaware Counties, each has paid a 2 percent share of all profits from slots and table games to local governments to mitigate the impact of the gaming halls in the area. However, under state gaming laws, Montgomery County's share for Valley Forge - set to open in the spring - has been slated for diversion into state-controlled entities.
Originally, the county's local share was to be funneled into an entity run out of the Governor's Office, the Department of Community and Economic Development. A 2009 revision to gambling laws changed that, directing the money to another agency - the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Montgomery County officials have called on their 23-member delegation in Harrisburg to change that law to give them direct access, like all the other neighboring counties with casinos.
Amid this background, Shapiro introduced a series of amendments last week that would hand control of the local share of revenue to county commissioners. He maintained he "led the fight" in 2009 against the bill that changed how the money was distributed.
But according to transcripts of the legislative record, Shapiro, while outspoken on his opposition to gambling, never spoke on the House floor for or against the distribution of the Valley Forge local share.
When pressed on the issue Monday, Shapiro reiterated his "no" vote on the overall bill, while defending another vote in support of the specific amendment that moved control of the local share from the Governor's Office to the CFA - a bipartisan panel made up of gubernatorial and legislative appointees.
"To characterize any of my votes as being anti-Montgomery County is not only wrong, it's a lie," he said.
Castor, meanwhile, has publicly insisted that Shapiro voted to take the money away from commissioners. But no version of the law ever gave Montgomery County complete control of the Valley Forge local share.
When confronted with the distinction, the incumbent commissioner argued that DCED approval for how the funds are spent gave local officials more say than the setup with the CFA, a body prone to become bogged down in partisan debate.
Castor has also challenged Shapiro's current amendments to give the local share directly to the county. The idea, he says, was his first and one Shapiro once described as "laughable."
In truth, a Shapiro campaign representative was specifically talking about Castor's proposal to use the local share to fund improvements to Route 422 when he was quoted using the term "laughable."
The estimated $1.5 million the county is expected to receive annually from hosting the Valley Forge casino would hardly cover a fraction of the total $800 million price tag for fixing the highway, the representative argued.
(Castor maintains he meant the money could be used to pay debt service on public bonds for highway improvement.)
"It sounds to me like the guy got caught flat-footed and is spinning to get his way out of a tight situation," Castor said Monday.
In many ways, the issue - based in bureaucratic intricacies and political machinations in Harrisburg well off the radar of the average local voter - is an odd one to take such prominence in the debate.
But it is one of the few issues with direct county impact on which both candidates have a crystallized record - Shapiro for his votes in Harrisburg, Castor for his statements. What's more, each candidate points to the matter as indicative of why his opponent would be wrong for county leadership.
From the start of the campaign, Castor has painted Shapiro as a tax-happy Democrat. The 2009 gaming vote is just another example of his wrongheaded fiscal decision-making, Castor said.
"We support the efforts of our entire legislative delegation in Harrisburg in making sure Montgomery County receives its fair share of casino revenues so that the next administration . . . can undo the financial damage created by the borrow-and-spend policies of the past four years," Castor's campaign said in a statement Monday.
For his part, Shapiro has criticized Castor's often contentious relationship with his colleagues. Arguing with Shapiro over who voted for what and when, even though both agree on the changes the legislator proposed to state gaming law, is only the latest example.
"Instead of embracing an idea that's good for Montgomery County, Bruce has resorted to what he does best," Shapiro said. "Bickering."
By Jeremy Roebuck
Inquirer Staff Writer
For a political race to control Montgomery County's future, the election contest between commissioner candidates Bruce L. Castor Jr. and State Rep. Josh Shapiro has become strangely fixated on a set of votes in the past.
The scuffle over who will control the local share of profits from the soon-to-open Valley Forge Resort Casino and who is to blame for the current arrangement - which takes the county's share and deposits it into a state-controlled account - sparked over the weekend the most contentious back-and-forth between the candidates since the start of the race.
Shapiro, a Democratic state legislator who represents the Abington area, condemned Castor for letting partisan bickering get in the way of doing what's right for the county.
Castor, meanwhile, blamed Shapiro for casting a vote in 2009 that he says took control of the money away from local officials.
As is often the case in politics, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Since casinos opened in Philadelphia, Bucks, and Delaware Counties, each has paid a 2 percent share of all profits from slots and table games to local governments to mitigate the impact of the gaming halls in the area. However, under state gaming laws, Montgomery County's share for Valley Forge - set to open in the spring - has been slated for diversion into state-controlled entities.
Originally, the county's local share was to be funneled into an entity run out of the Governor's Office, the Department of Community and Economic Development. A 2009 revision to gambling laws changed that, directing the money to another agency - the Commonwealth Financing Authority.
Montgomery County officials have called on their 23-member delegation in Harrisburg to change that law to give them direct access, like all the other neighboring counties with casinos.
Amid this background, Shapiro introduced a series of amendments last week that would hand control of the local share of revenue to county commissioners. He maintained he "led the fight" in 2009 against the bill that changed how the money was distributed.
But according to transcripts of the legislative record, Shapiro, while outspoken on his opposition to gambling, never spoke on the House floor for or against the distribution of the Valley Forge local share.
When pressed on the issue Monday, Shapiro reiterated his "no" vote on the overall bill, while defending another vote in support of the specific amendment that moved control of the local share from the Governor's Office to the CFA - a bipartisan panel made up of gubernatorial and legislative appointees.
"To characterize any of my votes as being anti-Montgomery County is not only wrong, it's a lie," he said.
Castor, meanwhile, has publicly insisted that Shapiro voted to take the money away from commissioners. But no version of the law ever gave Montgomery County complete control of the Valley Forge local share.
When confronted with the distinction, the incumbent commissioner argued that DCED approval for how the funds are spent gave local officials more say than the setup with the CFA, a body prone to become bogged down in partisan debate.
Castor has also challenged Shapiro's current amendments to give the local share directly to the county. The idea, he says, was his first and one Shapiro once described as "laughable."
In truth, a Shapiro campaign representative was specifically talking about Castor's proposal to use the local share to fund improvements to Route 422 when he was quoted using the term "laughable."
The estimated $1.5 million the county is expected to receive annually from hosting the Valley Forge casino would hardly cover a fraction of the total $800 million price tag for fixing the highway, the representative argued.
(Castor maintains he meant the money could be used to pay debt service on public bonds for highway improvement.)
"It sounds to me like the guy got caught flat-footed and is spinning to get his way out of a tight situation," Castor said Monday.
In many ways, the issue - based in bureaucratic intricacies and political machinations in Harrisburg well off the radar of the average local voter - is an odd one to take such prominence in the debate.
But it is one of the few issues with direct county impact on which both candidates have a crystallized record - Shapiro for his votes in Harrisburg, Castor for his statements. What's more, each candidate points to the matter as indicative of why his opponent would be wrong for county leadership.
From the start of the campaign, Castor has painted Shapiro as a tax-happy Democrat. The 2009 gaming vote is just another example of his wrongheaded fiscal decision-making, Castor said.
"We support the efforts of our entire legislative delegation in Harrisburg in making sure Montgomery County receives its fair share of casino revenues so that the next administration . . . can undo the financial damage created by the borrow-and-spend policies of the past four years," Castor's campaign said in a statement Monday.
For his part, Shapiro has criticized Castor's often contentious relationship with his colleagues. Arguing with Shapiro over who voted for what and when, even though both agree on the changes the legislator proposed to state gaming law, is only the latest example.
"Instead of embracing an idea that's good for Montgomery County, Bruce has resorted to what he does best," Shapiro said. "Bickering."
Where is Mrs. Jones when you need her?
We were inspired to go out sloshing through the slush and rain knocking on doors telling people of Deval Patrick and his messages of "Take a chance on hope". Patrick spoke of, our schools, our highways and how "we all have a responsibility to help pay for them." Who understood this to mean casinos? Instead of making the hard decision to share in the pain in hard times, we would be asked to throw the hardest hit, the most desperate under the bus to save those that know better from having a tax increase?
In his inaugural address Deval Patrick proclaimed, "For a very long time now we have been told that government is bad, that it exists only to serve the powerful and well-connected, that its job is not important enough to be done by anyone competent, let alone committed, and that all of us are on our own. Today we join together in common cause to lay that fallacy to rest, and to extend a great movement based on shared responsibility from the corner office to the corner of your block and back again." But here he is ready to sign into law a bill that would the largest transfer of wealth from the least powerful to the well-connected. Other than signing the predatory gambling/happy hour bill, what have you done today to make you feel proud?
The words will fade, and the pain and devastation will be Deval's legacy. There have been numerous reports that bringing in casinos will cause long term job losses and decline in revenue. An article in today's Boston Globe claims that Deval was given such a report done by the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank in 2007. In 10 years, when this goes south, he will not be able to claim he did not understand the risk when signing this bill.
"So if you messed up down the street in fron of Mrs. Jones, she would, as we used to say, go upside your head, as if you were hers. And then she'd call home, so you'd get it twice. Wonderful characters in that neighborhood. People who looked out for each other." - Deval Patrick
Please send a message to the Deval Patrick that Mrs. Jones would not be happy with closed door deals, special interest provisions and HAPPY HOUR. If he signs this bill, it will be clear to all in the future that slot parlors did not bring the promised jobs and revenue, but instead brought misery and cast a shadow on a government that chose to offer up it's citizens for profit to the predators. -Sue Kennedy, Administrative Assistant
ACT NOW
Email, write, fax or phone the Governor
Governor Deval Patrick
State House Room 208
Boston, 02133
Fax your letter to 617-727-9725
Phone his office at 617-725-4995
Go to his website at mass.gov to Email him.
Letting casino wolves run wild
Letting casino wolves run wild
I am a strong supporter of Gov. Deval Patrick, but I think he's facing a big mistake with the casino-gambling bill now headed toward a conference committee at the State House.
While many courageous legislators (Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Sen. Susan Fargo, Sen. Kenneth Donnelly, Sen. Barry Finegold, Sen. Karen Spilka and others) fought against this bill, it passed both chambers in recent days. United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts (www.uss-mass.org) has found the following:
n The gambling bill put tens of millions of dollars at the disposal of the Gaming Commission without any accountability to taxpayers.
n The bill takes away the rights of voters in Boston, Worcester and Springfield to vote on whether to approve locating a casino in their own communities.
n Only 33 percent of the revenue will be spent as local aid to cities and towns, compared to the 68 percent to local aid from the Massachusetts Lottery.
n The Lottery will suffer losses with expanded gambling, which means reduced local aid to cities and towns.
n Moody's Investor Service has recently reported that revenue projections, by proponents, have been over-inflated and are unlikely to occur.
n Massachusetts residents would have to wager and lose an additional billion dollars per year to reach the revenue projections that have been "promised" with this proposal.
n Casinos are cannibalistic and jobs will be lost.
It's not too late to halt this sellout to a predatory industry. Massachusetts can recover without lowering our standards. In our hearts, we all understand how concentrating wealth leads to the erosion of real community when the super-rich wind up controlling our politics.
Gov. Patrick, please stop this bill. Don't let these wolves into our Commonwealth.
PAUL GAUDET
Lowell
I am a strong supporter of Gov. Deval Patrick, but I think he's facing a big mistake with the casino-gambling bill now headed toward a conference committee at the State House.
While many courageous legislators (Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Sen. Susan Fargo, Sen. Kenneth Donnelly, Sen. Barry Finegold, Sen. Karen Spilka and others) fought against this bill, it passed both chambers in recent days. United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts (www.uss-mass.org) has found the following:
n The gambling bill put tens of millions of dollars at the disposal of the Gaming Commission without any accountability to taxpayers.
n The bill takes away the rights of voters in Boston, Worcester and Springfield to vote on whether to approve locating a casino in their own communities.
n Only 33 percent of the revenue will be spent as local aid to cities and towns, compared to the 68 percent to local aid from the Massachusetts Lottery.
n The Lottery will suffer losses with expanded gambling, which means reduced local aid to cities and towns.
n Moody's Investor Service has recently reported that revenue projections, by proponents, have been over-inflated and are unlikely to occur.
n Massachusetts residents would have to wager and lose an additional billion dollars per year to reach the revenue projections that have been "promised" with this proposal.
n Casinos are cannibalistic and jobs will be lost.
It's not too late to halt this sellout to a predatory industry. Massachusetts can recover without lowering our standards. In our hearts, we all understand how concentrating wealth leads to the erosion of real community when the super-rich wind up controlling our politics.
Gov. Patrick, please stop this bill. Don't let these wolves into our Commonwealth.
PAUL GAUDET
Lowell
Idaho Gambling Addict Disbarred, Sent to Prison
Rick Bergesen will spend at least 3 years in prison, pay $153,000 to victims
Judge to ex-attorney: Gambling addiction, bipolar disorder ‘not an excuse’ for exploiting clients
By Katy Moeller
Before he was sentenced for felony grand theft Wednesday morning, former Boise defense attorney Rick Bergesen spoke tearfully about what he’d done.
“I’d like to say how very sorry I am to my victims. They didn’t deserve to be treated the way I treated them,” he said.
He apologized to his family and said he takes full responsibility for his actions.
“Ever since it became clear to me what I had done, I have felt extreme remorse and sadness,” he said.
Bergesen was sentenced to 10 years in prison, three fixed. He was given 182 days credit for time served. He will pay $153,753.48 in restitution to two former clients.
In November, the 47-year-old defense attorney was charged with felony grand theft and felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Bergesen was the defense attorney for Joy L. Cassidy, a 75-year-old Boise woman who was accused of using condiments to damage library materials in a drop box at the Ada Community Library. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor malicious injury to property in January.
Prosecutors say Bergesen took advantage of Cassidy’s fear of going to prison, taking more than $150,000 from her for a case that most attorneys would have charged no more than a few thousand dollars to handle.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Bergesen pleaded guilty to grand theft — he admitting taking a $1,100 retainer from a client after his license was suspended — and the other felony charge was dropped.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Medema praised the actions of a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for alerting the Idaho State Bar to irregularly large withdrawals by Cassidy. Medema said Cassidy wrote a $50,000 check, then a $102,000 check about a week later. He said that employee prevented Cassidy from losing all of her savings.
Bergesen’s attorney, Layne Davis, said the case was one of the most difficult he’d ever handled because of its complexity. He offered up an explanation for Bergesen’s “atrocious conduct against a couple of his clients.”
Bergesen is a pathological gambler, addicted to gambling his whole adult life, Davis said. The former attorney also suffers from bipolar disorder, which had been “untreated or mistreated,” Davis said.
Judge Richard Greenwood, accepted the plea agreement but said that when a member of the bar violates a client’s trust in the way Bergesen did, “it brings disrepute to the entire profession.”
He said Bergesen’s gambling and mental problems may explain his actions — but it is “certainly not an excuse for the conduct.”
Judge to ex-attorney: Gambling addiction, bipolar disorder ‘not an excuse’ for exploiting clients
By Katy Moeller
Before he was sentenced for felony grand theft Wednesday morning, former Boise defense attorney Rick Bergesen spoke tearfully about what he’d done.
“I’d like to say how very sorry I am to my victims. They didn’t deserve to be treated the way I treated them,” he said.
He apologized to his family and said he takes full responsibility for his actions.
“Ever since it became clear to me what I had done, I have felt extreme remorse and sadness,” he said.
Bergesen was sentenced to 10 years in prison, three fixed. He was given 182 days credit for time served. He will pay $153,753.48 in restitution to two former clients.
In November, the 47-year-old defense attorney was charged with felony grand theft and felony exploitation of a vulnerable adult.
Bergesen was the defense attorney for Joy L. Cassidy, a 75-year-old Boise woman who was accused of using condiments to damage library materials in a drop box at the Ada Community Library. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor malicious injury to property in January.
Prosecutors say Bergesen took advantage of Cassidy’s fear of going to prison, taking more than $150,000 from her for a case that most attorneys would have charged no more than a few thousand dollars to handle.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Bergesen pleaded guilty to grand theft — he admitting taking a $1,100 retainer from a client after his license was suspended — and the other felony charge was dropped.
At Wednesday’s sentencing, Ada County Deputy Prosecutor Jonathan Medema praised the actions of a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney for alerting the Idaho State Bar to irregularly large withdrawals by Cassidy. Medema said Cassidy wrote a $50,000 check, then a $102,000 check about a week later. He said that employee prevented Cassidy from losing all of her savings.
Bergesen’s attorney, Layne Davis, said the case was one of the most difficult he’d ever handled because of its complexity. He offered up an explanation for Bergesen’s “atrocious conduct against a couple of his clients.”
Bergesen is a pathological gambler, addicted to gambling his whole adult life, Davis said. The former attorney also suffers from bipolar disorder, which had been “untreated or mistreated,” Davis said.
Judge Richard Greenwood, accepted the plea agreement but said that when a member of the bar violates a client’s trust in the way Bergesen did, “it brings disrepute to the entire profession.”
He said Bergesen’s gambling and mental problems may explain his actions — but it is “certainly not an excuse for the conduct.”
Wisconsin Gambling Addict Steals
Debra Gear of Appleton accused of $300,000 in thefts from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans
Written by The Post-Crescent
APPLETON — Police say an Appleton woman who described herself as a gambling addict stole more than $300,000 from her employer during a near two-year period.
Debra J. Gear, 47, was charged last week in Outagamie County Court with three felony counts of theft. She will make her first court appearance Nov. 1.
An Appleton credit union representative went to police in May after noticing suspicious account activity.
Gear, who was an employee of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, fraudulently added claims to insured accounts and had checks drafted to a relative. Gear had legal access to the relative's account and would later transfer that money back to her account, the criminal complaint says.
Gear told police she had a gambling addiction and began to steal when she could no longer keep up with bills. The thefts took place from July 2009 through May 21, 2011.
Each count carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and $25,000 fine.
Written by The Post-Crescent
APPLETON — Police say an Appleton woman who described herself as a gambling addict stole more than $300,000 from her employer during a near two-year period.
Debra J. Gear, 47, was charged last week in Outagamie County Court with three felony counts of theft. She will make her first court appearance Nov. 1.
An Appleton credit union representative went to police in May after noticing suspicious account activity.
Gear, who was an employee of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, fraudulently added claims to insured accounts and had checks drafted to a relative. Gear had legal access to the relative's account and would later transfer that money back to her account, the criminal complaint says.
Gear told police she had a gambling addiction and began to steal when she could no longer keep up with bills. The thefts took place from July 2009 through May 21, 2011.
Each count carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence and $25,000 fine.
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