Failure to win delay cost Patrick on casino vote

Even with Capuano as emissary, governor couldn't convince DiMasi

As parishioners left church services and tourists stopped for pastries in the North End last Sunday afternoon, US Representative Michael E. Capuano paid a visit to House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi's home there on a serious mission: persuading the speaker to delay a House vote on Governor Deval Patrick's casino legislation.

Patrick had asked Capuano to serve as an emissary in talks with DiMasi after realizing that his plan for three resort casinos was doomed, unless he could buy some time and make significant changes.

But ultimately, even with Capuano's extraordinary role as intermediary between a governor and speaker, Patrick was unable to come to terms with DiMasi, a staunch casino opponent. Similarly, Patrick failed to cut deals with some pro-gambling players in the debate who could have helped him, including racetrack owners and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe.

Some State House lawmakers and observers say failing to win a postponement may have been a crucial mistake for the governor, who had publicly painted himself into a corner by trying to force a vote quickly, pressuring House members with criticism about the "cost of inaction."

After two days of intense, behind-the-scenes discussions with Capuano as the broker, the private talks broke off. As expected, the House killed Patrick's plan for three resort casinos on Thursday.

Capuano, who is close to both leaders, was called in only after several direct meetings the previous week between Patrick and DiMasi also failed to find common ground. "I was simply trying to do what I could to make sure the heat of this issue didn't interfere in the future working relationship of my two good friends," Capuano said in an interview, insisting he had no position on casinos.

Surprisingly, given his increasingly strong public rhetoric against gambling, DiMasi said he was open to a compromise on the delay. The speaker had major conditions, however: He would only hold up the vote if Patrick asked publicly for more time, made it clear that the speaker was not shutting off debate, and admitted that DiMasi had sufficient votes in the House to kill the legislation.

Capuano continued the negotiations at the State House on Monday, shuttling along the 50 feet that separate DiMasi and Patrick's offices.

But Patrick was unwilling to yield to DiMasi's terms. By 7:30 that night, the eve of the much-anticipated committee hearings on the casino bill, any hope of a deal had collapsed. Capuano walked out of the speaker's office, looked at the locked door to the governor's office, and left the building.

It was not the only would-be deal that could have helped Patrick.

Patrick also declined to come to terms with the Mashpee Wampanoag Indian tribe, which last month discussed an agreement that would have given the tribe a lock on a casino in Middleborough for the tribe's support of Patrick's legislation, according to a person involved in the discussions.

The Mashpee wanted Patrick to support the tribe's plan to open a casino in Middleborough under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and to allow the tribe to operate without competition from other casinos in Southeastern Massachusetts.

The tribe discussed paying the state about 20 percent of its slot revenues, and immediately throwing its support behind Patrick's plan to license two other casinos in Greater Boston and Western Massachusetts.

Administration officials considered the Mashpee proposal at a Feb. 25 meeting at the State House, but an administration official said Friday that with the casino legislation uncertain, they were reluctant to cut a quick deal with the tribe that they may have protracted negotiations with over the next couple of years.

Without any reconciliation with DiMasi and without the backing of the Mashpee tribe, the governor's administration was finally forced to look elsewhere for support. As Patrick rallied to win the support of the House committee reviewing his bill, administration officials sought to win over at least one of the state's racetracks.

In several last-minute discussions, administration officials began signaling they were more open to installing slot machines at the racetracks, even though the governor for months had been adamantly opposed to the idea.

After 13 hours of testimony, the outcome of the committee vote hinged largely on Representative Richard Ross, a Wrentham Republican who was considering switching his allegiance on casinos from Patrick to DiMasi. Ross, who Tuesday night told the Globe he was certain he would stick with the governor, was by Wednesday suddenly dashing around the hallways of the State House, visibly shaken as he was caught between two powerful political forces.

At about 11 Wednesday morning, he approached Representative Brad Hill, an Ipswich Republican, in a hallway between the offices of the governor and the speaker.

"I don't know what to do," he said.

"Go talk to Jones-y," Hill told him, referring to House minority leader Bradley Jones.

Ross sprinted off in that direction.

Ross said he spent hours on the phone with Gary Piontkowski, president of the Plainridge harness track in Plainville, a town neighboring Wrentham. Piontkowski was trying to persuade Ross to abandon the governor. The track owner opposed Patrick's legislation because the administration had decided to freeze out racetracks from slot machines, instead focusing only on "resort destination casinos."

Realizing that Ross was speaking extensively with Piontkowski, administration officials started trying to woo Piontkowski themselves, according to the track owner. Doug Rubin, the governor's chief of staff, and Daniel O'Connell, a cabinet secretary and chief gaming adviser, called Piontkowski and argued that the legislation should be allowed to come out of the committee with a positive vote, because it could be amended on the House floor to include slot machines for the racetracks. Even if that amendment failed, they told him, he would have an ideal location for a resort casino.

But Piontkowski said it was too late. "I'm thinking, 'Where have you guys been for eight months?' " Piontkowski said. "For eight months we couldn't get a sniff to get it amended. Had this program been inclusive, we could have done something."

Finally, Ross went to meet with several top administration officials at 3:30 Wednesday afternoon - just a half hour before the deadline for casting his vote. He told them he would side with the governor, as long as the administration would support slots at the tracks regardless of the outcome of the casino legislation.

The governor would not agree, and at that point, Patrick realized that Ross had flipped to a "no" vote and his proposal was certainly dead.

In his final public statement on the issue, Patrick held a 10-minute press conference in his office Wednesday night after the negative committee vote, criticizing the House leadership for not conducting a fair debate.

On Thursday, after the full House resoundingly defeated Patrick's legislation, 108 to 46, DiMasi strongly declared victory.

While his remaining allies in the state's unions stuck it out and said they would continue to fight, Patrick was not available for comment Thursday. He had already left the state and went to New York on undisclosed personal business that aides declined to discuss.

Sean Murphy of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Matt Viser can be reached at maviser@globe.com.