Left In Lowell

In all the disagreements with our Governor about casinos, while questioning the Governor’s rigor in studying them, I have never had to question his politics on the matter.

Until now.

Governor Patrick has crossed a line he told us he would never cross. First, cherry-picking facts to support a conclusion. Second, playing to the politics of fear to push his agenda.

Last Friday, I was driving and listening to WBUR. So I heard a news item at the top of the hour that chilled me. Governor Patrick had made some statements about the legislature needing to move forward on his casino proposal. The reasons that he gave? That the casinos were going to come anyway, and the state might as well have control over the process.

Both are downright stretching the real facts, if not complete fabrications. And they play to a politics of fear and threat, something I never thought this Governor would do. I was shocked to hear these quotes attributed to him. I meant to write about it on Friday, but with friends coming for the weekend, and the fact that blog traffic is better at the beginning of the week, I held off until today. But I am no less angry or disappointed than I was when I heard the words coming out of my car radio.

Let’s talk about the first part, that casinos are coming anyways. I suppose you could say that this phrase more resembles “weasel words” and not outright lying, as Class II casinos could be built. But if they haven’t been already, it’s highly unlikely. Why? Because we have not legalized Class III gambling in Massachusetts. Without Class III (slots, in particular), no one would build a resort-style casino. Slots are the king of resort casinos, the big money maker (or money sinker, if you’re a casino-goer). We don’t see Bingo Resort Casinos because that would be a bad business decision. Bingo doesn’t suck in enough money. And secondarily, there is a threat that one tribe, the Mashpee Wampanoags, might use an existing law regarding charity “casino nights” to force their way into the federal process and acquire a Class III casino, even under current law. But the answer isn’t to legalize Class III even further.

Because the second part of that statement, that the state will have control, is even more of a lie. You see, it’s a binary situation - once Class III (slots) are legalized, there’s more than one process available to Native American tribes who want to start a resort casino. One is to go through the state. The other is to go through the federal process, bypassing the state and its restrictions, and taxes, entirely.

Once Class III is legalized, all bets - so to speak - are off. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if all the parties interested in state-licensed casinos who are promising all this good tax revenue to the state jump ship from that process and start going through the federal one instead, once they get the law changed. For one, the Governor’s current proposal is for a 27% tax on profits from the casinos that are licensed by it. Would you, a business person, opt for a 27% tax rate on your profits when you could shed that and go through the federal process? Patrick claims to be able to control that, but there’s no evidence that the federal process can be denied once Class III slots are legal.

Patrick is using pressure regarding the Wampanoag situation to put his casino proposal forward. According to this article, the Mashpee Wampanoags are trying to weasel in a Class III casino using that existing charity law (bold mine).

Tribes are limited to operating gambling that is currently legal in the state. Since casino gambling is not allowed in Massachusetts, it was believed that the Mashpee Wampanoags would be limited to so-called “class II” gambling, which is a step below a full-fledged casino.

But the tribe in its application asserts that it has the right to build a full casino, with “class III” gambling, including slot machines. The argument is that because the state allows “casino nights” for charitable purposes, that opens the door for a casino.

And the federal government agrees.

“If it’s allowed within the state, the tribes would be allowed to offer similar games, but they wouldn’t be subject to the length of time, such as a one-night only,” said Gary Garrison, spokesman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Wouldn’t the best way to stop a tribe from doing this be to pass a law making Class III illegal even for charitable purposes? And by extension, if a law specifically allowing only charities to have casino nights opens up the federal process for tribes to gain Class III casinos, doesn’t it stand to reason no amount of restriction in the state laws will limit the federal options for future casinos? It appears that no law that Patrick could propose specifying that all casinos be licensed through the state ever takes the federal casino license process off the table. So, in the second part of his statement, about how the state can control the process…he’s lying to us. Or maybe he’s lying to himself.

I know that being disappointed in your leaders is par for the course in politics. I just thought this time might be a little different. Patrick has decided to hang his hat on bringing casinos to Massachusetts, ignoring large swaths of objective information, and using fear and lies to accomplish it. But it’s this last part that I may not be able to forgive.