As I suspected, the list of meetings published in today’s Herald was just to show the meetings with gambling interests. BMG has gotten its mitts on the complete list of meetings* held by the “Gambling/Gaming Internal Study Group Members.” Here it is. The shorthand: DP=Governor Patrick; O’C=Housing/Economic Development Secretary Dan O’Connell; McG=Stan McGee (O’Connell’s policy guy); Bigby=Health and Human Services Secretary JudyAnn Bigby; Coughlin=the now-famous ex-Undersecretary of Economic Development Bob Coughlin; others are assorted staffers.
| Date | Admin folks | Outside folks | Pro or anti |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1/23 | O’C | Scott Harshbarger | anti |
| 3/6 | O’C, McG | Rep. Reinstein | pro |
| 3/12 | DP, O’C | Anti: Sen. Tucker & Resor; Rep. Bosley, Rodrigues, Sanchez, Balser, L’Italien. Pro: Sen. Menard & Morrissey; Rep. Petruccelli, Reinstein, Wallace | both |
| 3/30 | O’C, McG | Mike Ferriter & Father Richard McGowan | ? |
| 4/5 | O’C, McG | Dennis Murphy and Anthony Abdelahad (Trump casinos) | pro |
| 4/6 | O’C, McG | Glenn Marshall and others from Wampanoag tribe; Quinn & Norris | pro |
| 4/10 | McG, A.Kim | Charles Petitti (Holyoke casino) | pro |
| 5/1 | O’C, McG | Dr. Clyde Barrow (UMass-Dartmouth) | pro |
| 5/10 | O’C, McG | Aquinnah Wampanoags | pro |
| 5/21 | O’C, McG | Sheldon Adelson (LA Sands) | pro |
| 5/25 | McG | Kathryn Wheaton (Nipmuc nation) | pro |
| 5/29 | O’C, McG | ex-Sen. Tom Norton | ? |
| 5/29 | O’C, Bigby, McG, others | Howard J. Shaffer (Division on Addictions, Harvard Med.) & Kathy Scanlan (Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling) | ? |
| 6/19 | O’C, McG | Chuck Andre, others from N.E. Horsemen’s Ben. & Prot. Ass’n | pro |
| 6/28 | O’C, McG, Flynn | Sen. Stan Rosenberg | ? |
| 7/5 | O’C | Suffolk Downs folks | pro |
| 7/10 | DP, O’C | Sen. Tucker | anti |
| 7/16 | O’C, McG | Charlie Sarkis, others incl. Mayor Tom Ambrosino, re Wonderland | pro |
| 7/16 | O’C, McG | Louis Ciarlone, IBEW loc. 123 | ? |
| 7/16 | Bigby, Botticelli | MA Council of Churches, MA Family Inst, MA Catholic Conference, Coalition Against Legalized Gambling | anti |
| 7/18 | O’C, McG | Geoff Beckwith, John Robertson (Mass. Municipal Ass’n) | ? |
| 7/20 | Bigby | People from gambling treatment services | ? |
| 7/23 | Bigby | People from MA Soc. for Prevention of Cruelty to Children; MA Ass’n of Older Adults; Samaritans; MA Public Health Ass’n | ? |
| 7/23 | O’C, McG | Scott Harshbarger | anti |
| 7/23 | O’C, Coughlin, McG | Tom Butters, Tim Flaherty re gaming ship | pro |
| 7/23 | McG, other staffers | Christine Dorchak & Carey Theil, Grey2K | anti |
| 7/23 | O’C | Sen. Scott Brown, local officials, re Plainridge racecourse | pro |
If you can shed any light on these meetings, especially the ones I had to classify with a “?” owing to my lack of knowing who the people were or where they stand on the issue, please do so in the comments. Looks to me like the study group did a reasonable job of canvassing all sides of the issue, though one thing that appears to be missing is any meetings with outside economic experts. If all the revenue and jobs numbers came either from die-hard proponents or opponents, that would be less than (Pareto) optimal.
* The list has the following disclaimer at the end: “This chronology does not include all gaming-related meetings taken within the offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor — only those meetings of which Secretary O’Connell’s office is aware.”
Very, very, very pro. The only annoyance he'll have is the fact that he can't deliver one to NB with this plan.
Deval's basic plan probably came from Barrow.
Good job getting the list. I suspected the Herald was botching the truth there somewhere (it's just expected now). But yeah, I'm not thrilled with the idea that experts were not brought in. I'd like to have seen some of the people who wrote some of the pieces in this site for Frontline (there's pro and anti folks) get a call. Seems like there's enough academic stuff to really dive into with outside help.
the Herald story doesn’t claim to be giving a complete list. It was just to show that numerous meetings had occurred with powerful casino interests, which they did.
Looking at this list, and all we know, I think it's clear that Patrick came to the basic yes or no decision very quickly. Most of his time was spent developing the actual proposal.
To me, this is one of those classic cases of political hubris in which an official believes, despite all past experiences, that somehow he can make a proven bad idea work.
I'm no friend of Deval's — and I won't lie, I never really was — but I have no idea where his hubris could come from. He hasn't won any major votes, or weathered any real storms. He got 55% of the vote. As much as I disagree with him, I can't imagine Deval thinks he can make magic happen where nobody else can.
Frankly, I think Deval didn't acknowledge the challenge of governing this state while campaigning, and once in he sees what really awaits him. He disappeared during the budget process, and didn't come out with anything particularly groundbreaking (oooh…corporate loopholes!)
Deval put down a big bet before realyl looking at his hole cards. Now he knows that the cards suck, but he can't take back the bet. So he's trying to stack the deck.
… has going for him is that this generates revenue (maybe) without a tax increase (although the increased revenue will be gotten from a tax).
It’s a sort of hubris that applies to all sorts of politicians.
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In a way, it’s the same as Romney’s “fool-proof” death penalty idea. Somehow we convince ourselves that we’re smarter than everyone.
Sen. Stan Rosenberg has historically voted against every casino bill, but has said publicly that he’s not wholesale against casinos and just voted against each bill on the merits of the individual bill. I doubt he came to his meeting with a point of view already.
Geoff Beckwith is, of course, the head of the Mass. Municipal Association. John Robertson is his cherry-sheet (local-aid) maven.
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This was not a conversation about the general wisdom of casinos, pro or con (not something the MMA has a position on I suspect). It was about mitigating impacts and divvying up the spoils.
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That doesn’t mean the decision was made by July, just that the option was being aggressively fleshed out by O’Connell, presumably with Patrick’s blessing.
And the IBEW – Therese’s Boyos – were they there for the neon sign conession? I’m surprised they got their own day, when the LWV and MSPCC Goo-Goo’s all had to share.
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Wait. No, I’m not surprised after all.