Senate President Therese Murray and AG Martha Coakley

Dear President Murray and Attorney General Martha Coakley:

I am writing to you to express my deepest concern for the actions recently reported in the Boston Herald regarding discussions to develop gaming regulations and regulatory structure. How are these meetings not being conducted openly with hearings and input from the public? How are we, the voters of the Commonwealth, expected to believe that any real reform has occurred on Beacon Hill when it is clear that the will of leadership is to bring expanded gambling and with it increased corruption, money laundering, DUI, family disruption, addiction, bankruptcy, environmental impact and other burdens upon municipalities, while conducting discussions behind closed doors? Will the hearings in the fall be a kangaroo court? Will you pressure legislators to do your bidding despite the fact that most have voted, "no" to expanded gambling/slots in the past? Will you use the considerable power of your position to get casinos by letting legislators know that their district may not fare in future budgets if they oppose your position? Do you commit to allow this to truly be a vote of conscience as you have told your senators?

I have studied the issues of gambling for 15 years as Mental Health Counselor and an elected official in an small rural community in a region of a proposed class III casino. I am aghast at your support for this industry! Do we need this?

Yes, some jobs will be created and relatively insignificant revenue will be generated for your budget. The misery and costs of mitigation exceed any gain.

I challenge you to due diligence and perform a cost-benefit analysis before voting on expanded gambling to approve slots in Massachusetts. Develop a blue ribbon commission to study the pros and cons for Massachusetts in the "new world order" aka the current economy, with a balanced if not neutral panel of residents. Include budgets that will account for the AG's expenses and expansion with a new regulatory branch of government, district attorneys and court costs, education and health care for new low income residents that may work part-time at a slot/casino and comprehensive regional mitigation costs. Do you plan to protect the regions where a slot/casino might be sited or have the state take the revenues and starve the host region like they have done in CT? There is not enough profit to have it both ways, which will it be?

Ms. Coakley, every AG before you has opposed slots in the Commonwealth. Your silence on this issue is not lost upon many of us who are the active core of the Democratic party. We voted at the convention to oppose predatory slots - you were there.

As women leaders, I expected much more from both of you in the arena of judgment, morality (yes, inviting crime and addiction is a moral issue) and concern for the most vulnerable in society. Have you not considered the impact upon children and young adults to be immersed in a gambling culture?

You are making a grave mistake and I implore you to change your tactics and your stance.

Sincerely,


Kathleen Conley Norbut
Monson