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« Gas prices fall slightly | Today | Ethics complaint against Woonsocket mayor on agenda » March 24, 2008Mass. governor: 'Fix was in' on casino billBOSTON -- Gov. Deval Patrick said today that "the fix was in pretty early" against his casino gambling bill, and House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi broke a promise to allow an open floor debate that could have tweaked the proposal to satisfy critics. The governor said had DiMasi allowed amendments during last week's debate, he would have been prepared to allow slot machines at one or two of the state's four race tracks -- and even reduce the number of casinos he sought from three to two or even one -- if it would have led to overall passage of the bill. Instead, Patrick said, the speaker strangled the bill Wednesday with a committee vote that prevented amendments during the full House debate on Thursday. The measure now cannot be brought up for consideration until next year at the earliest, despite support from Patrick, key members of the Senate and a host of House members. A recent study by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce said the casinos would have created about 20,000 permanent jobs and $400 million in annual tax revenues, a portion of which would have been redirected to financially ailing cities and towns. "You know, the fix was in pretty early," said the governor, who was out of state when the bill was formally killed last week. Speaking to reporters after addressing a breakfast meeting at a downtown hotel, Patrick added: "I certainly felt like the opportunity to have an open, fact-based debate on a thoughtful, serious and popular proposal did not occur, and why it did not occur, you've got to ask the speaker about that. I can tell you that we were assured it would. And I don't believe that promise was kept." A DiMasi spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. -- The Associated Press The governor refused to speculate why DiMasi was so dead set against the bill, but he batted away the speaker's suggestion that casinos would promote a "gambling culture" in the state and lead to increased social costs such as personal bankruptcy, divorce and petty crime. "I don't buy it, I don't buy it, and I don't think the evidence is there for that," Patrick said. "I mean, Wisconsin has more casinos that any other state in America, with nearly 30 casinos, and nobody thinks of Wisconsin as having a `casino culture.' " He also dismissed one issue raised by some in the DiMasi camp, that the Patrick administration has been behind unfavorable newspaper stories about DiMasi golfing with casino backers and promoting a state computing contract on behalf of a friend who lobbied for the firm. "You know, he has a whole host of excuses, you know," the governor said of DiMasi. "First of all, those accusations are false and he knows that, by the way, he's been told that by authoritative sources. And, it's irrelevant. Look, there's going to be good days and bad days for everybody in this business in the media, due respect to all of you. It has absolutely nothing to do with the integrity of the process and the openness of the debate." Patrick said he remains opposed to a proposal to place 2,500 slot machines at each of the state's race tracks, something DiMasi now appears ready to let the House debate despite past opposition to the idea. Rep. Richard Ross, R-Wrentham, said last Wednesday he agreed to switch from supporting the casino bill to opposing it in the critical committee vote after DiMasi promised him he would allow the slot bill to come to the floor. Plainridge Racecourse, a trotting track, is in Ross's district. "There's nothing from what I have read and studied on this subject that indicates that we would get the economic upside or the job creation from slots at the tracks," the governor said. "And, by the way, there are some indications that the social costs are greater in the case of slots at the tracks. Now, in our proposal, we were prepared to compromise, if there was an opportunity to do that, to do maybe one or two of those or maybe one or two casinos, but like I said, we didn't have an opportunity to have that debate." Posted by Mike McKinney CommentsFamily Affair | March 24, 2008 12:27 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
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ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
Does Wisconsin really have 30 casinos? Wow, with a state size of 54,314 square miles, that's a whopping one casino for every 1810.5 square miles.
RI is, lessee, 1045 square miles. MA is 7838 square miles.
Anyway, we're starting to get a bad feeling about all of this sin income tax, aka "sincome tax". Mass is going for the drugs, RI has casinos that just won't quit. It's like I'm watching the classic sleaze movie The Godfather, and The Families are carving up the 'hoods, who gets what.