It's time to fold on slots, Deval Patrick

Gov. Patrick says 'nay' to casinos for now

by Howie Carr
DNN Staff - EXCLUSIVE!
Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010

Since when is Deval Patrick against set-asides and preferences for certain privileged classes of people?

Hey, Deval, your moonbat pals put all these dog trainers out of work with their stupid vote on the 2008 referendum question. The people at Raynham have been deprived, through no fault of their own, of equal opportunity. This is about fairness. Think of this bill as affirmative action...

We want our slots, dammit.

This is a jobs bill, Governor - not just for the unions, but for crime reporters. Always remember the three rules about life at the State House. Nothing on the level. Everything is a deal. No deal too small.

There seems to be a lot of confusion out there, starting with the number of tracks. There are three of them left, now that Suffolk and Wonderland are merged, or whatever. And Suffolk wants a casino.

So are the hacks really going through all these hoops for George Carney of Raynham? And Gary Piantowski, the titan of trotters?

Let’s face it - this legislation is not about revenue, which will be minimal, or economic development, which will be even more miniscule.

No, there’s something else going on here, and I would guess that anyone who’s not directly involved in the sneaky stuff really wants to know what it is - am I right, Sal DiMasi?

For instance, I’m somewhat skeptical that Senate President Terry Murray can’t flip two votes in the Senate so that the Legislature can override the governor’s veto. The day will never come in Massachusetts when you can’t buy two solons on the cheap.

I understand why Murray wants to keep this piece of, uh, legislation at arm’s length. But I can’t figure out Deval’s game. Is he really worried that if he signs off on slots that the moonbats will defect en masse to Jill Stein? I guess when you can’t crack that big 38 percent ceiling in the polls, you can’t afford to lose even a few trustafarians Nov. 2.

He can’t make the gambling-is-bad argument. To say you’re for casinos but against racinos is like saying you’re for Scotch but against gin.

But you know the Legislature will be coming back to fix this. The pinky-ring thugs of Big Labor were knuckling Deval, and now they’ll be arm-twisting the solons. The trades have gotten so bloated for so long on Big Deal money they can’t believe those halcyon days are never coming back. They aren’t, but the pipedream of a big casino payday lives on.

Don’t kill the job, Deval. Theirs, or mine - covering future corruption trials in federal court.

Do the right thing, Governor. Give ‘em their slots and then let the chips, as it were, fall where they may. And you - I’ll see you around the courthouse, Deval.

Gov. Patrick, above, shows facial anger after
a reporter asked him why he chose to kill thousand
of Bay State jobs by vetoing the casino bill.

Donnie Howie Mike Bill