Casino proposal hits a rough patch
Governor is facing skeptical legislators
Governor Deval Patrick's casino proposal has begun to encounter severe turbulence on Beacon Hill, a testament to what some observers believe have been missteps by a freshman governor who is attempting to navigate an obstacle course of conflicting agendas and controversy.
The Democratic governor's financial forecasts for how three resort casinos would benefit the state have come under increasing attack. His administration has made conflicting statements on key aspects of the plan, particularly whether Patrick would support a casino in Boston. And he has not appeared to make selling his plan to the public a high priority.
Most significantly, Patrick has yet to find powerful Beacon Hill allies who are willing to stand beside him and endorse his plan. Even gambling supporters, including State Treasurer Timothy P. Cahill and both Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, have questioned his approach. Others say he is being judged unfairly.
Senator Michael W. Morrissey, a Quincy Democrat and a key Patrick ally on the gambling proposal, said "people are overreacting" to some of the governor's fumbles.
"He's taking some lumps over some rookie mistakes," he said of Patrick. "The idea is sound. If we're really going to do this, we should embrace the idea and get over it. Move ahead. Let's work together and try to get this done."
Amid mounting criticism, Patrick showed up unannounced at 9 a.m. yesterday at the office of Cahill, who has accused the governor of ignoring him and others outside his administration while formulating his casino bill, in a bid to improve relations. Among the perceived political missteps by the governor was proposing to place Cahill on a new state gaming commission to oversee casinos, without asking Cahill first.
"I appreciate the fact that the governor came in today to pledge that there would be more cooperation and more communication between the offices," Cahill said after the visit.
The treasurer said he was pleasantly surprised that the governor had dropped in and that "going forward I'm confident this process will be more collaborative."
Daniel O'Connell, Patrick's economic development secretary and chief gaming adviser, defended the governor's process for developing the casino plan and said the administration is eagerly awaiting a robust public debate and opportunity to make presentations before legislative committees.
O'Connell said the administration chose not to consult outsiders in crafting the legislation, although it did convene a task force and listen to casino proposals and arguments from casino opponents.
"It was very hard to run a process without some level of confidentiality," he said. "Without that, we would not have been able to gather information and put the facts in front of the governor. We felt it had to be a confidential process."
Patrick has estimated that three resort casinos in Western Massachusetts, Southeastern Massachusetts, and metropolitan Boston or points north would generate 20,000 jobs and $2 billion in economic activity.
Those figures were arrived at through an internal analysis of revenues reaped at other casinos, particularly those in Connecticut. Administration officials said yesterday they had assumed 15,000 slot machines statewide making $300 a day plus an unspecified number of gaming tables.
To measure how an estimated $540 million a year in annual revenues to the state would be spent, officials relied in part on a 2003 gambling impact report Cahill commissioned. "We had neither the budget nor the time nor the mandate to commission independent studies, so we gathered as much as we could from existing studies," O'Connell said.
The Massachusetts Taxpayers Association has been the most vocal critic of financial assumptions thus far, saying that the revenues will not materialize and that the governor has overpromised for the proceeds.
The bill the governor filed last week, meanwhile, has received little public support among legislators, and Patrick does not have backing of heavyweights needed to bypass House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, a chief opponent who will control the House debate and has not ruled out the possibility that it will stretch into 2009.
Senate President Therese Murray has said she supports casino gambling but has not come out strongly in favor of Patrick's bill.
Patrick's political opponents in the Republican Party who support his gambling initiative said yesterday he has stumbled in the face of legislative opposition.
"An unspectacular effort was brought to the table," said House minority leader Bradley Jones, Republican of North Reading. "If you're going to be presenting something to a friendly audience you can bring your C game. But if you're bringing it to a hostile audience, you have to be sure you're bringing your A game."
Yesterday, the House sent the governor's bill to the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, whose cochairman is also the casino bill's biggest critic, Representative Daniel Bosley, a Democrat from North Adams.
Saying he distrusts the governor's figures, Bosley has pledged to hire outside consultants to review the proposal, an approach backed by DiMasi.
"Obviously, the governor's proposal was based on an inside administration analysis without the input of the Legislature or any of the other parties," DiMasi told reporters yesterday. "We're going to do it differently."
Some analysts suggest that Patrick's strategy involves largely avoiding the Legislature and forcing lawmakers to adjust by swaying public opinion.
Rather than get bogged down in the specifics, Patrick is painting the plan in broad strokes. "It's an attempt to take his case to the people," said Paul Watanabe, a political scientist at the University of Massachusetts.
But measured against some of his other initiatives, Patrick has not made a strong case publicly. While he has made several radio appearances and hosted some press conferences, he has refrained from making high-profile trips to potential casino sites to champion the proposal, as he has with other initiatives, such as biotechnology and education.
Patrick has also relied on surrogates to carry his message. After Patrick announced the plan Sept. 17, Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, not Patrick, wrote a letter asking legislators for their support. UNITE HERE, the union that represents hotel and casino workers, has taken out 60-second radio spots supporting his plan.
Patrick said last month in an interview with WBUR-FM that there were no plans for a statewide campaign to sway public opinion. He also said he didn't expect to launch television ads.
"You'll see TV ads on life sciences before you see TV ads on casinos," he said.
Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com. 