From today’s Globe:
Crosby, who disclosed that he knew about Lohnes’s ownership of the land for roughly a year before revealing their relationship in August, said he is confident that he could be unbiased in deciding whether to approve the land deal between Lohnes and Wynn. But Crosby said he withdrew to preserve public trust in the casino selection process, especially after gambling commission investigators raised concerns that Lohnes was working with “hidden ownership.”
The Globe reported last month that a federal grand jury and other agencies are investigating whether Charles A. Lightbody, a Revere businessman with a long criminal record, is a secret partner with Lohnes and had boasted that he could make up to $18 million from selling the land to Wynn.
(emphasis added – cute bastard. Crosby was never gonna disclose the relationship. But his undisclosed former business partner/owner of Everett Casino land had hidden illegal wise guy partner. Basically Crosby was caught, IMHO)
Get all this.
Listen folks, from my limited life experience I can count on very few things. But one thing I can always count on. Never trust a guy who constantly tells you how honest he is.
Another thing is don’t trust the naive schmucks who believe the bullshit.
Now this Harvard-I’m-smarter-and-better-than-you-so-rules-don’t-apply-to-me has destroyed the integrity of this multimillion dollar commission.
If he’s telling the truth then what the fuck did he expect to happen? According to Crosby he is like George Constanza on Seinfeld when he drove his dead fiances’ parents out to his house that didn’t exist on Long Island. George knew it wasn’t gonna end well. He knew the whole time that at some point he was going to have to come clean. But he let the charade continue.
I tend to think he was even more smarmy than that if not down right crooked. He never intended to disclose.
The man has to resign and resign pronto. The applications have to be re-audited. Steve Crosby did to the Casino Commission what Annie Dookan did to the crime lab. He contaminated it to a point where it cannot be trusted.
Oh, and Crosby played college football with Joe O’Donnell, the Suffolk Downs Guy.
What if Doug Flutie was the Chairman and Gerard Phelan had an application in. Talk about appearances.
So there you have it. The most honest guy in the state (just ask him) is heading up the Caesar’s wife of Caesar’s wives commissions and had this hidden relationship.
If we let him stay then the expression isn’t “fuck him” it’s “fuck me”.
When did Everett first get mentioned?
What goes on in the inner workings of the Commission that can and cannot help applicants?
Did Crosby do anything that on its face appeared harmless but really helped an applicant? One with whom there is an appearance of conflict?
And this guy withdraws from just the Everett vote. Huh? But he votes on Revere? He shouldn’t be voting on anything in the eastern region.
Wait a second, he should be tossed from the job. Guilty of either the less nefarious but equally damaging George Constanza like insult put upon the tax payers or guilty of being a fucking crook who tried to sneak something by us.
Or
Just an a-hole who loves the spotlight so much he tried to hide a blemish that would have taken away his narcissistic opportunity to be “a player” again. TV and newspapers. Crosby needs the drug of celebrity.
Now this thing will probably play out with the fist paragraph of his obituary describing him as “the disgraced former head of the Mass Casino Commission”.
Time for him to go. That’s your job Deval.
APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE! APPEARANCE!
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There are grumblings out there that BMG has gotten boring and predictable. Not really worth checking everyday but rather occasionally or if you’re tied to a campaign de-tuti.
Is this bastion of younger new thinking progressives too uptight?
BMG doesn’t link to their metrics like they use to but I would bet on the whole readership has gone significantly down,
Election cycles provide big bumps so last few months don’t count when considering mayor’s race.
And this bullshit about the blog being highjacked by the same posters is a red herring.
People read what they want and disregard the rest, Lida lie Lida de la la da da Lida lie.
so I checked. It’s been pretty consistent over the last couple of years. No huge upswing (except right around election days), but no big drop-off either. I’m not worried – there is going to be plenty of good stuff to write about over the next year or so.
typically somewhere between 2,000 and 3,500 readers a day on weekdays; less on weekends; more (sometimes a lot more) around elections.
You’re welcome. 😉
Unless we’re missing something, Crosby should be canned immediately. It’s probably inevitable that the commission got tainted, but he sure accelerated the process.
Re: BMG, I think the main problem is the Wild West atmosphere. I get that the community wants it that way, but it does cause problems, and almost certainly alienates more casual posters. We’re left with blowhards like me.
And I recognize that this is probably not fixable. It would take a full-time editor/moderator.
Regarding the “Wild West Atmosphere”, I’d say we’re somewhere around Syracuse … maybe not on the East Coast, but a LONG way from the “Arizona Territory”.
With the exception of one or perhaps two participants, the exchanges here strike me as mostly civil and even friendly. Again with the exception of one or perhaps two participants, I’d thoroughly enjoy a chance to hang out and share a few glasses of wine or beer.
If we did so in some public place outside Boston, I’d probably bring my cigar, though. 🙂
I’m so close to finally coming back home permanently I can taste it. Hope to be drinking liberally with all y’all soon as we change this commonwealth!
I’m not sure there is that much to this. The chair of the Gaming Commission knows someone who owns land on one of the casino sites. He disclosed the information once he realized it. His level of involvement with the person is that he considers him “a friend and has socialized with him and his family five to 10 times over the past two decades”. Crosby will recuse himself from the vetting of the Everett process. Crosby is one of five persons who will vote on the casinos.
Sure, you can make that sound really, really bad, but this is a relatively small state and people know each other, particularly at similar demographic levels. I doubt that any community could do business if socializing with someone 5 to 10 times in two decades is the standard for not being able to participate in a decision-making process.
I think that’s not correct, which is part of why this is so problematic. From the Globe story:
Why did he wait so long? Was he always planning to disclose, or as EB3 suggests did his hand get forced by details about the financing leaking out? It just looks terrible.
the “confident that he could be unbiased” part a window, perhaps, into what he was thinking during that year.
It’s also telling that among the connectorati there’s probably nothing unusual about a regulator being so cozy with a regulated.
Were you to draw 5 people at random in the Commonwealth, do you think one of them would be a former business partner of a developer seeking approval? What are the odds?
The Globe story says he knew for a year, but disclosed it in August. That’s a significant gap.
It also just raises questions. If you know a guy well enough to know what property he owns, you might know other things about him. (Like whether he deals with shady people.)
My guess, he got wind that the guy was under investigation, and then decided to disclose. But he should have disclosed the land ownership conflict sooner.
You’re right that this might be relatively small, and he acted promptly based on what he knew and when. But if so let’s hear Mr. Crosby account for that.
The other point I missed is that he had been business partners with Lohnes in the 80’s. That’s a little more than friends who see each other 5-10 times in 2 decades.
absolutely.
I’m 21 and when I was a few years younger I almost tricked myself into being a republican the liberals I knew were such weenies
this is what makes BMG worth reading
Over 18 months ago, Bruce Stebbins sought and received an opinion from the State Ethics Commission regarding his business, personal and political relationships with the City of Springfield.
The Ethics Commission ruled that according to their standards his two-term service as a City Councillor, former City Economic Development Director and colleague of many in the region with financial and political interests in casinos was not a violation. Including being a tour-guide for casino business executives visiting Springfield.
It was reported way back then (a couple of months before Crosby stated he knew about his BFF’s involvement in the Everett/Wynn deal) that the MGC would hold itself to a higher standard.
Phffffffffffffffffff!
The question as to whether Stebbins should recuse himself based on the “higher standard regulation,” was not definitively answered to my knowledge and something that would be normally addressed at this time as MGM is poised to have it suitability hearing.
With the Chairman’s volcanic disclosure one wonders if this board can ever regain its credibility.
but he’s also a solid, professional guy who knows government.
Stebbins graduated from the high school where I teach, though long before I ever taught there. He served in the Reagan White House, though I don’t hold that against him. He served on the East Longmeadow High School, and later, HLD notes, as a Springfield city councilor.
so what can we guess the other four commissioners are thinking and saying about the chairman’s late in the game (golly, this don’t look good) disclosure in the privacy of their boudoirs?
NSA do tell!
Commissioner Stebbins followed well established protocol.
Commissioner Crosby had knowledge of Stebbins’ actions.
Commissioner Crosby chose to not take appropriate actions regarding his own conflicts of interest.
Governor Patrick endorsed Stan McGee for MGC executive director.
Governor Patrick appointed Commissioner Crosby.
Governor Patrick has access to great resources for background checks and information about policy, personnel and potential appointees; including staff that recommended to him in 2007 that he/they should independently verify the 3 casino proposal. Which he did not.
Governor Patrick endorses casinos except for NIMBY and posh Martha’s Vineyard.
Governor Patrick endorses Tribal gambling for Wampanoag but not Aquinnah. In fact, he has the AG sue the Aquinnah.
Higher standards or double standards?
I was adding information about Bruce Stebbins, not making an argument. Pillow talk in your word, not an argument. When I argue with you, I promise, you’ll know it.
Patrick’s appointments have never been all that great. It started with the incompetent people he appointed at the beginning of his administration for, what was it, chief of staff and communications? He and his staff have been so sloppy or sloppy that there are state appointments that were never made or never made on time. How many Republican appointees to state boards, for example, the Holyoke Soldier’s Home, still remain in place?
I think that there is a rather large misunderstanding or interpretation of my posts.
I posted about Commissioner Stebbins “appropriate” actions in contrast to Chairman Crosby’s actions.
Not only did I post that Stebbins followed appropriate protocol, but his actions had to be known and observed by the chairman…..during a time frame that overlaps with what we have been told is Crosby’s awareness of the Everett situation. So, one would logically consider that Crosby has awareness of COI disclosure protocols.
I do not believe I wrote anything disparaging about you, Stebbins or even Crosby (that is not in the public realm.) If anything, I finger-pointed at Governor Patrick and stated Stebbins did the right thing.
“Pillow talk” had nothing argumentative in the post whatsoever. In fact, it was light-hearted banter.
I re-read what I wrote and don’t understand your reaction at all. I am sorry you seem to have been offended. It seems that we agree on the matters at hand.
“Professionalism and Fact Pattern” is simply a list of events and actions.
Thank you.
I guess I took what you were saying the wrong way. I took what you said as sarcasm.
Mea culpa.
For what it’s worth, I had the same ambiguity. I like and look forward to the commentary of each of you, and so I was surprised by this.
I appreciate the clarification from each of you.
when I’m trying to be funny (pillow talk). But, I’m a great appreciator of wit and humor! I suck at art, too. But, I am a great appreciator of creativity in many forms.
There is an aspect of the long-drawn out casino drama that reminds me of what I imagine soap operas or reality shows are like (are they the same thing?)……though, I never watch them.
I mean who could’ve scripted Crosby, Patrick and DeLeo being outed as NIMBY?
COI revelations on the nine-yard line – flag on the play. Penalty?
I can’t think of a single Greek tragedy or Shakespearean play with as many Acts, scenes, plots and sub-plots that have plots….not to mention the characters.
before my first shot of caffeine.
About the site?
The reason we don’t link to them any more is that there is no easy way to do it through Google Analytics so far as we know. We used to use StatCounter but they changed their policies as I recall. Anyway, as David says there hasn’t been much change: about 1.2-1.3 million unique readers per year, as Google defines the term, for the past year or two.
Not too shabby! 😉
I’ve been using Google Script to automate the export of Adwords info for my job. I wonder if you could do the same and automate an export of the past 7, 30, 365 days to a google spreadsheet then embed that here on site.
http://analytics.blogspot.com/2012/08/automate-google-analytics-reporting.html
I save my good material for my show at Kowloon. In 2014 I’m making the move to Giggles, I can feel it. I know a guy.