Letter from AFL-CIO President Robert J. Haynes

RE: Destination Resort Casinos Labor Votes

Dear Representative,

I would like to begin with this most important point in order to advise your decision on destination resort casinos: All votes – whether they be procedural, on amendments, on substitutions, or other variations of votes on any bill relating to the future of destination resort casinos in this Commonwealth – may be considered Labor Votes. This could result in several votes impacting your record on the day you take up destination resort casinos, possibly having a drastic impact on your Labor Voting Record upon which endorsements for incumbents are based.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO has been communicating our unanimous, unwavering support for the advent of destination resort casinos in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts since November 27, 2007. On that date we sent you a letter and a detailed policy paper explaining why we were certain that destination resort casinos would be high quality economic development for the working families and communities of Massachusetts. Since November the Massachusetts AFL-CIO and our affiliate local unions have worked tirelessly to prevail upon you the obvious, clear, convincing, and overwhelming merits of destination resort casinos. Only on March 18th were we given a legitimate public forum to make our case.

Through testimony, meetings, phone calls, letters and other means we have supported our claims that construction and permanent jobs will number in the tens of thousands, and will be good, family-sustaining jobs for working people. We have supported our claims that the revenues made possible by destination resort casinos will amount in hundreds of millions of dollars to help address the litany of needs facing our Commonwealth. The case for destination resort casinos is convincingly based on meritorious arguments: unmatched sums of good jobs for working class people, substantial public revenues, the existence of extensive gaming in the Commonwealth already, and the inevitability of a Native American casino within our borders in the near future. The case against destination resort casinos has been made not based on reason or merit, but rather on politics, procedure, and insider tactics that threaten the very democratic nature of our government, and completely ignore the will of the grand majority of the public. You ought not to make a decision based on leadership pressure.

The Massachusetts AFL-CIO held a rally of 600 workers in Boston Common in advance of the important hearing on March 18th. Hundreds more workers also joined me as I testified, with numerous other labor leaders, on behalf of all the working people we represent that are hungry for the opportunities for good jobs and much-needed public revenues that destination resort casinos will make possible. Dozens of local unions submitted written testimony on behalf of their members. We wanted to believe that the Committee would not look right over our heads, ignore our reasoned case, and pursue a pre-determined political outcome that relegated all the testimony, all the letters, all the emails, all the phone calls, all the participation by citizens in the legislative process to mere exercises of futility. The Committee had a responsibility to allow for a fair process in which the merits of destination resort casinos legislation would be debated extensively and thoughtfully. On this responsibility to provide for basic democracy the Committee fell woefully short. We are urging the entire House of Representatives not to follow suit with the same rushed, unreasoned, unfounded, political approach to this critical issue.

The Committee hearing on March 18th lasted over thirteen hours; was held on the last day before an artificial “Joint Rule 10” deadline; concluded near midnight; and an Executive Session resulting in a motion to recommend an “Ought Not to Pass” on destination resort casinos occurred mere minutes after the hearing. The original deadline for a Committee vote was barely twelve hours after the hearing. Any objective observer can conclude that there was not nearly enough time to give this bill much legitimate consideration in Committee. Deadlines for Committee votes were then pushed back today because the haphazard, rushed nature of the process resulted in a procedural mistake that compromised the Committee vote on destination resort casinos. Apparently the substantive, complex, publicly supported destination resort casino legislation just had to be forced through by the arbitrary “Joint Rule 10” deadline, while dozens of other pieces of legislation that were far less prominent, far less complex, far less substantively promoted, and far less widely supported were given the courtesy of an extension.

All this is to say that the entire House of Representatives has an opportunity to resurrect this process and live up to your responsibility to fairly, democratically, inclusively, and reasonably debate an important piece of legislation and decide on the merits what is best for the working families in your district and this Commonwealth. Representatives must take the time to extensively and thoughtfully debate an issue that was filed by our Governor and has such substantial support from organized labor, municipal leaders, business leaders and, most importantly, voters.

Let us also be very clear about this point: Slot machines at race tracks are not an acceptable replacement for the economic development benefits of destination resort casinos. Slot machines at race tracks will not cut it at this point, plain and simple.

If the majority of the House of Representatives blindly follow the lead of House leadership and the Committee, one thing will become very clear: The merits of destination resort casinos will have had nothing to do with the result, and the will of the public will have had even less to do with it. The entire House of Representatives can still restore the peoples’ faith in your ability to do the right thing.

Again, the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, representing 400,000 working families from 750 local unions across Massachusetts, is giving the legislature this fair notice that we may consider every vote on destination resort casinos a Labor Vote. This very kind of issue is why working families work so hard to elect state legislators to stand with us when it matters the most. We urge you to side with so many of your constituents who yearn for the opportunities represented by destination resort casinos. Remember it was the people outside the State House who elected you. Please give this proposal a thorough debate and come down on the side of the working families who have faithfully supported you in election after election. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Robert J. Haynes
President

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