"Fund-raisers abound as House prepares to vote on casino bill" by Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press | April 7, 2010
The timing of a handful of political fund-raising events this week is again raising questions about the nexus of politics and policy on Beacon Hill.
No, those questions were answered long ago by the stinking stench of corruption around here.
On Thursday, House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo, a Democrat, will hold a fund-raiser at a North End restaurant, while the state Democratic Party holds a major annual fund-raising dinner the same night at a hotel in downtown Boston.
And earlier Thursday, Senate President Therese Murray is planning to attend a fund-raiser for a fellow Democrat, Senator Steven Tolman of Watertown.
The flurry of events come as the House prepares to vote on a contentious casino bill and as House leaders are set to unveil a state budget plan for the next fiscal year. The Senate is expected to take up the casino issue and release its own budget plan later in the spring. Both chambers are controlled by Democrats.
The timing of the fund-raisers helps politicians pull in donations from lobbyists and others with business before the Legislature, according to Pam Wilmot, director of the government watchdog group Common Cause Massachusetts. “This is the time for fund-raisers, always around budget time,’’ she said. “Ideally, politicians would be out of the fundraising game, especially from lobbyists who are trying to get something from government.’’
When they say government they mean taxpayer loot.
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The public will not see who is giving how much to which lawmakers until well after the debates on the casino bill and the state budget will probably have concluded.
We NEVER GET TO SEE ANYTHING around here in a timely fashion!
Related: The Perils of One-Party Politics: The Ruling Party
Or anything at all, for that matter.
Under the state’s campaign finance laws, candidates for the Legislature, both incumbents and challengers, will not have to file their first campaign finance reports this year until Sept. 7, just before the primary election.....
Doesn't matter; all incumbents out, especially if this passes.
Of course, how can you not trust this guy?
House Speaker Robert DeLeo disagrees with critics who say his fund-raiser could create conflict of interest issues. (Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff/File)
Yeah, how could you doubt hi$ integrity, huh?
"DeLeo defends his fund-raising; Backers of his gambling bill donated money" by Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | April 9, 2010
With the House ready to take up his gambling legislation next week, Speaker Robert A. DeLeo collected campaign donations last night from lobbyists for the gambling industry, from union officials, and from his supporters....
The timing has raised concerns from government watchdogs, who say legislators should not be collecting donations from lobbyists who want favors.
What, writing the bills isn't enough for them?
But DeLeo strongly rejected those concerns yesterday. He said he has been holding a fund-raiser around this time for the last 22 years. “It’s become somewhat of a tradition, if you will,’’ he told reporters at the State House.
Truly, this is NAUSEATING, dear readers!!
Attendees last night included George Carney, owner of Raynham Park; Martin W. Fisher, a lobbyist for
Related: Last Race at Raynham
The speaker rejected criticism that the fund-raiser poses a potential conflict of interest, saying he should be judged by how he handles his job.
Oh, we are doing that, too, s*** bag.
“It’s a priority of mine to make sure I handle it with the utmost integrity and honesty,’’ DeLeo said, mentioning pension, ethics, and transportation bills he has shepherded through the House....
DeLeo is pushing legislation that would license two casinos in Massachusetts and 750 slot machines at the state’s four racetracks, including two in his district....
Yesterday, after discussing the bill with House members in a two-hour closed-door caucus, he predicted the bill would pass....
Oh, of that I have no doubt!
Rank-and-file lawmakers, meanwhile, are scrambling to meet tomorrow’s deadline to file amendments to the bill, which is scheduled to be debated over three days next week, beginning Tuesday....
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Oh, yeah, the amendments that will not be attached:
Casinos would be strictly forbidden from releasing pheromones into the air. Their ATMs would dispense no more than $100 a day to any one person. They would have clocks on the walls, and their workers would check the parking lots regularly for children abandoned in cars while their parents gamble.
These are some of the proposals contained in the 216 amendments House members have filed to Speaker Robert A. DeLeo’s gambling legislation, which is set for three days of debate beginning Tuesday. Members are scrambling to shape the bill in ways that range from the mundane to the bizarre. It is not clear, however, if any of the amendments will be adopted to the bill....
Some of the amendments are clearly intended to warn people of the dangers of gambling....
Representative Cory Atkins, a Concord Democrat, said she filed the amendments regulating pheromones....
Some casinos, she asserted, pump pheromones and oxygen into the halls to “make you feel really terrific while you’re gambling your life away.’’ Atkins said she has not decided whether to support the main bill....
They must have not worked on me because I hated the experience.
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