House dean rails against racino opposition: 'shame on the senate'

While House leaders have been publicly quiet about the gambling negotiations, the chamber’s dean remains outspoken, railing against the Senate’s and Gov. Deval Patrick’s refusal to agree to racetrack slot machines.

House Dean David Flynn said Democrats would pay a price in November if Beacon Hill does not allow “racinos,” a key hang-up of House-Senate negotiations entering their tense final stages Wednesday afternoon, with a 1:30 p.m. meeting scheduled for Speaker Robert DeLeo’s office and Senate President Therese Murray imposing a Wednesday-night deadline for resolution.

About 50 workers from Raynham Park in Taunton traveled by bus to the State House Wednesday to thank DeLeo for pushing for passage of racetrack slot machines. The workers view racinos as essential to their future employment.

Standing alongside fellow racino proponent Sen. Marc Pacheco, Flynn said, "Shame on the Senate members that have held this up."

Speaking with no microphone, his voice echoing off the walls, Flynn also took aim at Patrick: "Shame on the lack of compassion at the highest levels of government not to realize that we don't only need jobs, we need them quickly."

"This is decision time," said Pacheco, who represents the workers. "They're going to decide what happens to you."
Pacheco said he disagreed with the assertion by Senate leaders that an agreement on the gambling bill must be reached by tonight.

A senior House official also disagreed with that timetable.

During a visit to News Service office, Flynn said that in November, “Democrats in general will have to suffer the consequences because the Senate’s holding up the bill.”

Addressing the throng of track workers standing on the third floor between the House Chamber and Senate President Therese Murray's office, Flynn said, "It is almost inhumane the way you people have been treated.”

Karen Roberts, manager of Raynham Park, said track workers are "scared" about their future. "It's a tough time and you don't know what's going to happen," said Roberts.

Her husband, Chris, a clerk at the former dog track, said lawmakers should be concerned about preserving existing jobs. "Too many people are getting laid off," Chris Roberts said. "When's it going to end? What is it that we're doing that's so wrong?"

Pacheco said track workers would likely not keep their jobs if Raynham were limited to simulcasting.

“These are real jobs, real people, real families that are going to get laid off,” he said.

Pacheco also suggested that no other bill pending in this session’s final days would create 1,000 jobs, the number he said could be preserved with racetrack slots.

The primary hang-up in the high-level bargaining talks are the number of gambling licenses that should be issued, and how to deal with the House insistence on slot machines for the state's racetracks. The original House bill called for two casinos and four racinos, with licenses guaranteed to the tracks, while the Senate-passed bill allowed three casinos distributed across the state according to legislatively drawn geographic zones.
Conference reports need to be filed by 8 p.m. Friday in order to come up in time for Saturday's session, the last scheduled day of formal sessions for the year. The rule can be suspended by a two-thirds vote in each branch. The House has an informal session slated for Wednesday, with both chambers keeping Thursday through Saturday open for formals.

Murray imposed a Wednesday-night deadline for resolution of the key difference between the House and Senate gambling proposals, telling DeLeo the two sides must settle the big questions in order to give aides time to assemble the legislation.
The Wednesday-morning proposal prompted DeLeo to summon Murray and conference committee members to a 1:30 p.m. meeting. The Upper Chamber's lead conferee, Senate President Pro Tempore Stanley Rosenberg, flew late Tuesday to a national conference of state legislators in Kentucky and was planning to return Wednesday afternoon, after DeLeo's meeting.