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Patrick raises possibility of casino bill veto

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 22, 2010 03:21 PM

By Noah Bierman and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

Governor Deval Patrick said today that the House and Senate need to send him a gambling expansion bill that he can back or one that has a veto-proof margin of support, but he stopped short of threatening to veto a bill that's not to his liking.

Audio: Governor Patrick speaks about casino bill

"As they work through their differences, they also know they're going to have to either get something to me that I can support or they're going to have to send something to me with a veto-proof margin," he said.

"Now, we're not at the point of threatening veto because they're not at the point of agreement," he immediately added.

Patrick commented as a stalemate continued between the House and Senate over the bill, with no conference committee negotiations scheduled for today, even as the clock ticks down toward the end of the legislative session next week.

Speaking with reporters by telephone from Kuwait, where he arrived after a visit with the troops in Iraq, Patrick said that probably the "biggest sticking point" in the gambling legislation is the House's desire to place slot machines at the state's racetracks, an idea he opposes.

"My position on that has not changed. I've told them before individually and I've said it publicly," he said. "Nobody's given me anything to change my mind."

But he emphasized that "the first order of business is for the Senate and House to try to find their way across some of those differences. I am not the holdup."

House and Senate negotiators will not meet today to discuss a gambling expansion bill, despite overtures from the Senate, said Senator Stanley Rosenberg, one of the negotiators.

The gambling debate has consumed the Legislature for several weeks and appears to be squeezing out meaningful action on all other issues as the session winds down to its mandatory finale on July 31.

"I did everything but get down on one knee and beg" for a meeting with the House, Rosenberg said this morning.

With the two sides at loggerheads, gambling opponents, who are hoping they have glimpsed an opening, issued a press release this morning urging lawmakers to drop the issue entirely.

"It's well past time for the speaker and Senate president to stop this greed-driven secret soap opera and focus on producing other bills which will have a positive impact on our Commonwealth. We all know other, meaningful priorities are being held up and are in danger because of this greed- and power-driven casino ego contest," Kathleen Conley Norbut, president of United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts, said in a statement.

Rosenberg said House negotiators did not want to meet because they are still awaiting a Senate response to their latest proposal. Rosenberg said he planned to discuss the proposal – which authorizes three casinos as well as slot machines at two racetracks -- this afternoon with Senate President Therese Murray during the Senate’s formal lawmaking session. The Senate, as well as Governor Patrick, oppose allowing slot machines at racetracks while House Speaker Robert A. DeLeo supports it.

A House spokesman declined to comment this morning and Representative Brian Dempsey, whom Rosenberg spoke with about negotiations, could not immediately be reached.

"I am ever the optimist," Rosenberg said. "Every passing day, it will be harder to get it done and get it done properly. But it can and will be done if we can stay at the table and make our compromises."

The Globe reports today that the House reported an impasse Wednesday night, while Rosenberg said his side was still considering the House proposal.

Former attorney general Scott Harshbarger said in the statement issued by United to Stop Slots that people would much rather see health care costs and economic development addressed.

"Those and other bills are far more important than the special interest bonanza for casino investors, which will only hurt our state," he said.

"We hope legislators stay focused on producing bills that will really help small business, grow our economy in a meaningful way and bring in sustained revenue without hurting the most vulnerable," he said.