I think this editorial in the Globe by Citizens for a Stronger Massachusetts articulates one of the problems with Greg Bialecki, Deval Patrick’s Secretary of Housing and Economic Development:
Now, in seeking to minimize his role in the gambling bill, Bialecki claimed in an interview that he was never Patrick’s “lead person’’ on casinos and instead describes himself as “the spokesperson for the administration’s position.’’ On the day that he testified, he said, he was handed “a three-page document’’ that was “prepared by others, without my input.’’
He paints a damning picture, both of his own lack of sensitivity to appearances, and of an administration that appears to be so committed to its gambling deal with legislative leaders that it would put words in the mouth of its own secretary of housing and economic development.
If Bialecki doesn’t know what’s going on with his personal finances or what’s going into the public policy he promotes, maybe he isn’t the best person for the job of secretary of housing and economic development.
Unless by “best person for the job” you mean “mouthpiece for the gambling industry”, and by “economic development” you mean “an unvetted economic policy that has never solved any state deficit, has already opened the door to political corruption here in Massachusetts, and is poised to trigger a gambling arms race to the bottom here in New England,” then… yeah. Definitely.
What exactly has this Secretary even accomplished? The Governor’s blinders are equally if not more disturbing on this issue and the lack of outcomes from EOHED.
The gambling proposals are bad public and bad fiscal policy. Even the Globe has climbed out of the tank and has the integrity to evaluate and editorialize today against predatory gambling legislation and state what has been obvious to this chorus. Bad idea!
Can we not ask his Excellence, Governor Deval L. Patrick to do the same? I may be crazy but there is still a small part of me that hopes he is a different kind of leader…….time will tell the story and the legacy.
To look really good.
If he vetoes this bill because it’s so bad, because of the lack of transparency, because of special interests, because it leaves so much room for corruption, (and because of people like Bialecki and Wagner, et al) he might actually salvage his reputation and establish a real legacy of integrity.
Especially since it’s something he himself has pushed for.
My bet, and I think it’s a pretty sure bet, is that he won’t. Patrick just wants to win this one so badly. He doesn’t care about how bad a bill it is.
Winning isn’t everything… it’s the only thing.
On another thread you linked to one of your first posts on your own blog, which I followed as you said it would give us an idea of how your activism on this issue started. Did I interpret that post correctly to indicate that you would have been open to having a resort casino in New Bedford?
…when I was still a nimby neophyte, in MY FIRST blog post, I did suggest I was open to a casino in New Bedford. That’s why I referred the commentor to my blog, and the four and a half years that it covers, as A JOURNEY.
Jeesh.
From my web stats I know that you did not venture much further.
So, the record, what you missed, is that along that journey from my first post to this one was a discovery of what casinos, slots, and the influence they wield in government – from the local to the national level – does to people. What they do to communities… political parties… you name it.
But perhaps someday you’ll buy the book.
I’ll know I’ll always be thankful for the many people who didn’t need a casino in their backyards to vocally oppose expanded gambling.