In a truly ridiculous defensive move, Rep. Brian Dempsey (committee Chairman and devoted lackey to Mr. Speaker) takes one for the pro-track team and sends out an aide to take the one for the team and deliver of the of the stupidest justifications in the all-time history of inside deals & their lame defenses. Responding to the mounting criticism that the House version of the gambling bill is a no bid gift to influential track owners, Dempsey’s office delivered the newest line from Robert Deleo’s House of Representatives in defense of their plan. From Statehouse News Service via the Boston Herald:
After racino skeptics, including Gov. Deval Patrick and Senate President Therese Murray, charged that the House plan for racetrack slot machines represented “no-bid” contracts, Rep. Brian Dempsey’s office said late last week that the House opted to avoid a “free-for-all method of licensure.”
“To adopt a free-for-all method of licensure would result in a delay in the resort casino bidding process…”
Ok, seriously…this is the best they can come up with? We can’t have a bidding process because it will result in a delay in a bidding process? For some reason, the honorable Chairman Dempsey didn’t have the guts to actually make this absurd argument himself, but it’s probably bad enough to have an anonymous aide from your office mouthing such naked senselessness. However, perhaps the sorriest thing about this is the $538,000 spent in just the first six months of 2010 by Suffolk Downs (and their crater creating owners) on a massive lobbying effort that can’t provide a better justification to the pols that are working so hard to give them with such an incredibly profitable gift. C’mon guys, get your heads in the game…fearful economic times and a Speaker with two tracks in his district is a once in a lifetime opportunity! I mean, it’s not every day that you’re right on the brink of convincing one of the richest states in the richest country in the world to give you a no bid, no due diligence, license to make money hand over fist. Apparently, $538,000 may not buy as much as it used to.
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