When the facts scare people - attack!

The decline of the fourth estate is evident everywhere. Lack of investigative reporting, tabloid/gossip and other garbage presented as news.

It is a hot and hazy mid-August day in western Massachusetts and the news must be slow. So, the Republican newspaper printed this article which attempts to fan speculation, rumor and undermine the work the western MA casino task force. A rather long article to show that some officials in one town don't like it that some officials in another town donated money to an anti-casino group.

There is a problem with the quality of reporting (by a talented writer, I might add) because it serves to muddle the different layers of committees and individual actions of the people identified in the article (which editor prompted the reporter to pursue this "sensational" angle for an article?). The failure to clarify the roles of different committees and separate professional and personal actions is a disservice to the readers, the participants in the process and the region. In the case of Monson officials, no stipends are received for service.

So, let me clarify what the article failed to accomplish. There is a local casino study committee (LCSC) in the town of Monson established about 1 1/2 years ago, which I chair. This committee has been inactive over the past year following preliminary research and a report to the town of the results of a questionnaire to residents. The LCSC is scheduled to meet again in September for updates on proposed legislation. There has not been a compelling reason to meet following the vote in the House to procedurally defeat slots, which are not legal in the Commonwealth and all the buzz about a mega-casino in an abutting town is speculation at this point. There may be more to discuss as the Legislature takes action in the fall.

There is a Western MA Casino Task Force (WMCAT), comprised of 15 communities that has studied the potential impacts on the region for almost two years. The WMCAT wrote a letter to legislators listing the concerns, dated July 23, 2009 and I have posted it downthread. The task force has received technical assistance from Pioneer Valley Planning Commission and has no position on slots/casinos beyond advocating for the region. The Republican devoted more space reporting the gossip in today's article than the groundbreaking work of the task force.

The Monson Board of Selectmen has stated as a board that they are neutral on the issue.

Some Palmer Town Councilors and the paid liaison for Northeast Realty also an elected official, are pro-casino. That's their personal right, I have no comment on their position. I have no comment on the position of other Town Councilors or Selectboard members in the region who have a personal opinion on the issue either. I certainly hope they have studied the issue thoroughly and have an idea of where they stand as well as a clear understanding of the potential impacts on their community. The Palmer Town Council has not taken a vote to endorse or oppose a casino in their community to the best of my knowledge. OK, so, what? My opinion of the Palmer Town Council's position on casinos is not any more newsworthy than their opinion of the Monson Board of Selectmen's position on casinos. The remarks and in fact, the entire article is a distraction from the real issues, which are the potential impacts and advocating for appropriate mitigation should the Legislature legalize the electronic gambling devices, known as slots.

Personally, after 15 years of research on the issues of gambling, addiction, public health, municipal and environmental impacts, I am opposed to slots/casinos. Philosophically, I concur with Walter Chronkite that funding government from gambling is "cynical". Politically, I agree with the resolution against predatory slot gambling passed at the Democratic State Convention. Economically, I support small businesses and deplore welfare for corporations that take from the working and middle class.

Personally, I plan to exercise my right to free speech on this issue, including funding organizations that oppose expanded gambling and electronic gambling devices, engineered to keep users "playing to extinction" (slots). I plan to exercise my right to free speech to debate the issue, not roll around in the muck of ad hominen distractions with those who would seek to shy from the serious matters at hand.


Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich -- something for nothing.
Author: George Bernard Shaw

Monson forum

There is a rather ridiculous on-line forum in greater Springfield area hosted by the regional newspaper and I am having a discussion with a gentleman that I recall being very concerned about his taxes and the condition of roads in our community. So, the previous post was in response to his asking about why I posted the link to the Reuters article. Then he replied with this:

Yes I was joking but only about the tickets covering revenue.

Middleborough is one of the other communities that is in the mix for hosting a casino. They recently completed a very thorough study of the potential impact of a casino in their town. I think the results are just as biased as many of the anti-casino research you are citing, but I also believe it adds a little balance to the conversation.

http://www.middleborough.com/General/Impact%20and%20Mitigation%20Report.pdf

Feel free to visit the above link and see that while there are potential negatives to a casino placement for both the host community and the surrounding cities and towns, there are also some very real and very important benefits.

I am only going to address one of your most direct attacks on a casino placement in Palmer. You state that in CT the student population in the surrounding communities jumped enormously after the opening of the casinos. What you fail to refer to is the very rural character of both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun's communities. Being remote, the casino had to look far outside the local community to staff. As a result overtime folks that were employed in the casinos moved closer to both reduce their commutes and improve their quality of life. Your comments make no mention of the tax base impact this had or the reasoning for it's occurrence. Once again it's not a complete argument only designed to put fear into people's lives where non-need be. In Palmer conversely the infrastructure will and population density will make the likelihood of a huge influx of new students substantially lower than in CT.

The rest of your post is more of the same fear-mongering and distortions of fact. Read the Middleborough report and I think you can see that the gains will out weigh the costs.

Finally as I said in my first post, if Palmer and the local communities aren't savvy enough to make arrangements before the placement that protect them in a meaningful way from increased costs associated with the Casino then they will get what comes.

I know that means we should have faith in our elected officials, but since none of them are capable of a balanced discussion of this issue on either side that won't likely happen. If I were a Monson Select Board member, I would be forcing my way to the table to insure that my voice was heard constructively and supporting the casino if in fact it was developed responsibly by all parties.

So, it was imperative that I responded with this:

I just came home from a two hour meeting of the regional casino task force (WMCAT) comprised of 15 towns in the Quaboag region that includes people who personally have differing opinions on the casino issue. We have worked together for almost two years (no I don't get paid) to identify the concerns for mitigation to the towns in the region should expanded gambling/gaming become legal in Massachusetts. We finalized a letter listing 23 areas of concern.Your reply to my post indicates that you are not interested in discussing the issue and have made up your mind. I responded to you because I had found you previously open minded.

The Spectrum Gaming (casino industry experts) report commissioned by Governor Patrick to review his pro-posal for three resort casinos leans bias towards casinos, and the State of CT study is from the state's department of revenue. Your accusation that my post is "fear mongering and distortions of fact" is false.

"If I were a Monson Select Board member"

If you were a Monson Selectman, you would know that increased population particularly with children to educate, has a net negative impact on the town budget. Spectrum Gaming featured one town, of the 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth, in their report and it was Monson. I wrote the study that they published highlighting the fiscal impacts on education. You can find it at www.mass.gov(search Spectrum Gaming report).

If you read the link that I posted from the state of CT citing their documented revenues/expenses and impacts on the communities you would perhaps understand what was being posted. I am surprised to learn, as someone concerned about their tax dollars, that you have not done more research on this issue.

Fortunately for the taxpayers the "town" has been trying to protect it's financial interests through WMCAT and other initiatives.

I read the Middleborough study when it was released. Their Selectboard negotiated a lousy deal for 7 million dollars with criminals, in secret.

Citizen Committee

What makes Massachusetts different than many of the states that have legalized slots and class III casinos? Are we smarter, dumber, more wizened or just too stuck in our Yankee ways to go the way of the majority of states that have legalized predatory gambling? I don't know the answer. I just know that we have citizens who are willing to think about the issue, have the skills to research the issue and separate the corporate marketing messages from data.

Tonight the Palmer Citizens Committee chaired by a pro-casino resident will report their findings to the Town Council. I have included some excerpts from the findings on fiscal impacts on education that mirror the report that I generated and was published by Spectrum Gaming, commissioned by Governor Patrick. The sub committees are comprised of a mixture of pro/anti and agnostic casino residents. The feelings of the members really do not matter however, because the bottom line is there is never adequate mitigation for slot parlors and casinos.

Contingency Plan(2.) for Palmer School System should Casino
become reality (based on 2008 costs):
1. New Elementary School with a capacity of 1,000
- Estimated construction cost: $ 40,000,000.00
2. New Middle School or High School with a capacity of 1,000
- Estimated construction cost: $ 40,000,000.00 - $100,000,000.00.
3. Each additional student entering the Palmer School System will add $10,804.00
(2007 budgetary $’s) to the annual school budget
4. Faculty competent in various foreign language(s) to teach in the E.L.L. program.
Should this program have to be expanded as much as some of the Ct. surrounding
towns to the casinos where as many as 29 foreign languages are utilized to teach(3.),
the estimated cost would be:
$ 58,000.00 (per teacher/year @ current compensation rate) for 29 additional
Teachers (1 language/teacher) would represent $ 1,682,000.00/year in additional
teacher salaries on an annual basis.
Dr. Fournier: Additional comments:
Risk of Losing Grant-in-Aid: If the casino becomes reality, it may jeopardize
Palmer’s standing in the way of grant-in-aid from the state as we will no longer be
considered needy and thus lose that funding.

Lack of State and Federal Aid for New School Construction:
Should Palmer be required to build new schools to accommodate anticipated
enrollment increases due to the casino impact, there is no current funding available
through the state like there was in the early 1990’s when Palmer built a new high
school and elementary school with 77% state funding. It is now based on a formula
of approximately 60% state funding when available. The Stimulus package that
was just passed by Congress calls for funding “repairs and improvements” to existing
structures. There is no funding budgeted for “new construction” at this time.
Mitigation Funding not anticipated from the State: If the casino becomes reality with
its associated impacts on the education system in Palmer, then Fournier doubts very
much that the state will come through with mitigation funding for our education
system.

Mohegan Sun should bare the burden: If the casino becomes reality with its
associated impacts on the education system in Palmer, then Fournier believes it is the developer who should be responsible for the mitigation funding. It should not fall back on the Town of Palmer.

Or our backs either!

Need I tell you - part deux "Philly Mobsters"

We have Marshall and Troha on the corruption stage along with Anthony Nicodemo the reputed Philly mobster with the Middleborough, Mohegan Sun and Borgata/Atlantic City casino operations respectively.

However, 2009 has ushered in a new era in Massachusetts. The Governor's Task Force on Ethics has returned it's recommendations. It is great to see this step at the beginning of the second half of the Patrick Administration's tenure. We have come a long way since the ridiculous drapes and Caddy controversy, through the quagmire of the three -casino proposal, to ethics reform. Well done.

I am even hopeful that there will be a rake dragged through the prolific (aka bloated) number of six figure incomes of "public servants" in the Commonwealth, as we get hit with cuts to local aid....nah.

Maybe Congress (you know that batch of multi-millionaires - with the exception of a few, who enjoy lucrative benefits, pensions and outside contracts) will really work for the American people as recently stated,

"The most immediate task for the new Congress will be helping struggling families hurt by the ailing economy,"

by Congressman Olver (D-Amherst) and forego the 2.8% pay hike they granted themselves during this recession that is hammering working people....wanna bet?