Mar 6, 2008 8:18 pm US/Eastern
Patrick's Casino Gambling Plan Gets Mixed Reviews
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Gov. Deval Patrick has received mixed reviews on his plans to bring casino gambling to Massachusetts.
An independent report is backing Patrick's claims that three casinos could generate up to $429 million in tax revenue but the report found fewer jobs would be created.
It estimates about 21,000 permanent positions and about 11,500 temporary construction jobs would be created.
The study commissioned by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce lands right in the middle of an increasingly heated debate on Beacon Hill over casinos.
How will this report affect the political situation up there?
If the facts in this report are widely accepted, and if the casino debate centers on the facts, it should be a boost for the governor's plan.
A couple of problems -- the report is already being questioned, and the casino battle is about politics as much as facts.
While Paul Guzzi and his chamber of commerce team may prefer to be aloof fact-finders, their casino study lands smack in the middle of an increasingly-bitter Beacon Hill donnybrook over casino truth, fiction, and politics.
House Speaker Sal Dimasi sharply rebuked Patrick this week for peddling inflated estimates of the construction jobs casinos would generate.
On Thursday, Patrick was eager to put the onus back on Dimasi and other casino opponents.
"This has never been about competing estimates. There's no doubt that three billion dollars facilities are going to create a lot of construction jobs, a lot of permanent jobs at good wages and new economic activity," Patrick said. "And as I've said before, if the Legislature has a better idea how to deliver those kinds of jobs to that portion of the workforce and revenue for transportation and property tax reduction, I'm open to it."
Dimasi wouldn't comment on the chamber report Thursday afternoon, but his right-hand man, Economic Development Committee Chairman Dan Bosley, raised questions about the credibility of its projected casino benefits, a sure sign that the anti-casino leadership has no intention of backing down.
And apparently, neither does the governor.
"What I do expect and what I think is fair to ask is for an open and complete debate," Patrick said. "And I have been assured that by the speaker, and I intend to hold him to it."
A major hearing on the casino plan is set for March 18, and Thursday's events are just the latest round in a mounting crescendo of political lobbying leading up to it.
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