Jon Keller on the casino vote

WBZ-TV (Channel 4) political analyst Jon Keller on Gov. Deval Patrick, House Speaker Sal DiMasi and the casino vote:

The governor and other casino advocates lobbied hard for their position, using the same bag of tricks available to the speaker, everything from one-on-one meetings between legislators and a governor who could, if he chose, make their lives miserable back in their districts, to the profane strong-arm tactics of organized labor, who openly threatened to try to unseat legislators who didn’t toe their line. Nothing wrong with any of the above, that’s how it’s done. DiMasi and company just did a better job of it than Patrick et al.

No kidding. The anti-casino forces won this fight fair and square.

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6 thoughts on “Jon Keller on the casino vote”

  1. The last year has been amusing in the continued claims by casino supporters about unfair tactics because they lost, even with the tons of cash they invested.Jon Keller got this one right!

  2. Just because Keller says it doesn’t mean it’s wrong. At least, this one and only time.

  3. What is the big deal over casinos. Let the punter make his or her own decision on the matter.

  4. The Speaker was no angel in this fight. He was every bit the strong arm bully that the Governor was implied of being. The only difference was that the Speaker controls the Reps, as they try to do their jobs, on a day to day basis, while the Governor has to approach them for their votes. In the House, the Speaker is lord and master, not the Governor. Play along, or bills you’re interested in will never see the light of day. BTW, before I’m accused of being a disgruntled casino supporter, I’m not. I even see the lottery as a suckers’ game, and don’t play it.

  5. “The governor and other casino advocates lobbied hard for their position, using the same bag of tricks available to the speaker”Is this really the case? The speaker controls committee chairmanships and the like, which means he directly affects the legislators’ salaries. The speaker also has control on the effectiveness of the legislator – what bills get considered and what bills get tabled.The governor has no power to affect a legislator to this extent.

  6. steve, the casino interests including every union and casino investors spent buckets of cash. We witnessed it first hand in Middleboro with the sign holders at the Rotary and the town flooded at each and every meeting with ‘PAID’ out of towners. At one BOS meeting, an out of towner pretending to be a member of CFO called casino supporters ‘Indian Lovers.’ That he had to ask if the building was Town Hall seemed to reveal his identity.Let’s at least be honest with ourselves.

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