Revere residents said “no, thanks,” to a proposed slots parlor in their burg yesterday, but they don’t have the last word. The Revere special election ballot question was nonbinding but state voters will also have their say on November 8.
But even if Question 1 is approved – and right now it looks like more lemons coming up on the screen – all it does is allow the state Gaming Commission to license a second slots parlor in the state. The idea that the commission would go ahead and approve another facility looks like a longshot.
The slots question has gone quietly under the radar, especially in comparison to the cacophony from the referenda on the charter school cap and legalizing adult use of marijuana. The man behind the slots plan, Eugene McCain, has eschewed any public profile until recently, content with letting the clock run down with as little discussion, and therefore opposition, as possible.
McCain quietly reached agreements on buying a trailer park near the old Suffolk Downs, where residents had earlier approved a casino before being passed over by the Gaming Commission in favor of the Wynn Resorts casino in Everett. Wynn has also been getting out the word about its opposition to the proposal.
McCain testified last spring before a skeptical Revere City Council but placed more of his focus on his development background and ancestral history (he claims lineage going back to the early settlers in Plymouth) than on the one-armed bandits that would pop up where dogs used to run.
Revere officials tried to thwart his attempt to hold yesterday’s special election until after the statewide vote, claiming it would cost the city $50,000 to $75,000 on a question that could be moot after November 8. But McCain, hoping to send a message to the bigger pool of voters, got a court to agree to the special election. With a 2-1 defeat, though, that may not have been McCain’s best move.
With a new WBUR/MassINC Polling Group survey showing similar sentiment statewide, the rejection by Revere voters will likely tell the wider electorate don’t even think of doing it here.
“Revere residents know how to separate a good idea from a bad idea,” Mayor Brian Arrigo, a staunch opponent to the proposal, said in a statement after the vote.
But McCain, who moved to Revere from Thailand to orchestrate the campaign and the development, is pushing forward. He’s running an ad touting the fact Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, the only operating slot parlor in the state, will return $88 million in revenue to Massachusetts this year. The ad says voters can expect at least that much more from a Revere casino and maybe more, given McCain’s proposal is for 2,500 machines, twice the number of slots that Plainfield has.
McCain is passing off the loss as a victory based on lies and sounds like he’ll be countering the message over the next 20 days.
“Someone spent a very large amount of money in the last five days on a misinformation campaign,” he told the Globe.
JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
A legislative committee held a hearing on House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s resolution to create a commission to review state ethics laws. It seems likely the measure could pass out of committee and be enacted during informal legislative sessions. (Associated Press)
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg cuts ties with Wells Fargo, at least temporarily. (State House News)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Gloucester police Detective Sgt. Sean Conners will keep his job and face disciplinary action, but no one is saying what the disciplinary action will be or what he did to deserve it. (Gloucester Times)
Framingham residents at a Special Town Meeting approved a $243,000 settlement with the Boys and Girls Club to terminate a lease at a shuttered town building but not before questioning why officials allowed the organization to go 18 months without paying rent and still have delinquent utility bills. (MetroWest Daily News)
ELECTIONS
With the final presidential debate tonight in Las Vegas, the Globe reviews the fact that the two prior debates have “accelerated Donald Trump’s self-destruction.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren says Trump’s claim that the election is rigged is the whining of a sore loser. (Washington Post) President Obama labels Trump a “whiner” as well. (New York Times)
Is Trump’s decision to limit paid advertising costing him? (New York Times)
Hillary Clinton has been vague about any rules she would set forth concerning lobbyists working in her administration. (Boston Globe)
Robert Sullivan breaks down the demographic divides that are shaping the presidential contest. (America)
Attorney General Maura Healey calls Curt Schilling, who is making noise about taking on Elizabeth Warren, “TrumpLite.” (MassLive) A Springfield Republican editorial says a Schilling candidacy would be good news for Democrats.
A new WBUR poll on the ballot questions indicates opponents of the charter school initiative and backers of marijuana legalization are both gaining strength. Opponents of the slots question and backers of the measure banning small animal cages hold commanding leads.
Charter schools have increased their enrollment of English language learners in recent years, according to a new Pioneer Institute study. (Boston Herald) Support for charter schools among Democrats has fallen considerably as a partisan divide emerges on the issue. (Boston Globe)
Dueling charter views: Tom Birmingham and Mark Roosevelt, the Democratic co-authors of the 1993 Education Reform Act that brought charter schools to Massachusetts, pen an op-ed supporting the ballot question to allow charter school expansion. Boston Mayor Marty Walsh authors an op-ed urging a “no” vote. (Boston Globe)
The Massachusetts High Technology Council is gearing up to raise money for a legal challenge to the “millionaires’ tax” before it gets to the 2018 state ballot. (Boston Globe)
Do as I say… The state’s alcohol industry is pouring money into the campaign to defeat marijuana legalization, as a new poll shows the pro-legalization side with a hefty lead. (Boston Globe) The Democratic candidate for governor in Utah pushes for marijuana legalization hours after his wife is arrested for having two pounds of pot in their home. (Governing) Cardinal Sean O’Malley speaks out against the legalization question. (Boston Globe)
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority is poised to land a 1,000-room hotel next door without any public subsidy — quite a turnaround from a year ago when a center expansion was called off and the hotel idea was canned. (Boston Globe)
The New Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce is considering rebranding itself as SouthCoast Chamber of Commerce. But the plan is drawing protests from its Fall River counterpart, where officials say the name belongs to both after a failed merger attempt a decade ago. (Herald News)
The gender gap in pay for CEOs of nonprofits is closing. (Chronicle of Philanthropy)
EDUCATION
Budget cuts have decimated already-reduced middle school sports programs in Brockton. (The Enterprise)
In its never-ending quest to come up with new lists, U.S. News & World Report has the rankings of the top 10 colleges and universities that have the biggest percentage of alumni donors. Williams, Wellesley, and Amherst colleges all make it on the short list but Harvard University, with the biggest endowment of all, does not.
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
The Health Policy Commission solicits advice from a panel of experts on what to do about skyrocketing drug prices. (CommonWealth) The commission also hears from Lauren Taylor, the author of a book suggesting US spending on health care isn’t yielding the desired results because the country isn’t funding social services that would make a real difference. (CommonWealth)
Big pharma is spending big in California in a bid to block a ballot question that would require state agencies to secure the same discounts that VA facilities receive. The VA approach was also raised at the Health Policy Commission hearings on cost trends. (Governing)
Researchers at MIT have come up with what they claim is an anti-aging pill. (Greater Boston)
TRANSPORTATION
The MBTA has entered into a consulting agreement that will pay McKinsey nearly $1 million to explore further privatization options across the system. (Boston Globe)
The Obama administration plans to propose a rule that would require airlines to refund baggage fees when luggage doesn’t arrive on time. (NPR)
ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT
The Environmental Protection Agency rejects concerns raised by General Electric and orders the company to dispose of PCBs from the Housatonic River out of state. (Berkshire Eagle)
NASA scientists say September was the hottest month ever recorded, paving the way for 2016 to be the hottest year ever. (Time)
A pilot program in Scituate where a wind turbine was shut down during certain hours at night resulted in a 65 percent reduction in noise complaints. (Patriot Ledger)
MEDIA
MinnPost, the successful nonprofit news outlet in Minnesota, prepares for a changing of the guard. (Nieman Journalism Lab)
The New York Times has appointed A.G. Sulzberger deputy publisher, grooming the 36-year-old son of the current publisher to take over as the fifth generation of the family to lead the Gray Lady.
How did the 1993 Education Reform Act come about? In 1978 a court case was brought on behalf of students in certain property-poor communities who alleged that the school finance system violated the education clause of the Massachusetts Constitution. After FIFTEEN YEARS of the case going through the court system…with one entire generation of Massachusetts school children attending underfunded public schools…the court AGREED. That’s how the 1993 Education Reform Act came about…that’s why the Foundation Budget was established…the state’s mechanism distributing aid to local public school districts. Then it took seven years for the state to double its financial commitment to local public school districts from 1993 to 2000. So this is how the state of Massachusetts addressed public education funding: a 1978 court case on behalf of students in property-poor communities spent 15 years working its way through the court system, the court finally ruled in their favor, the state legislature passed and the governor signed the 1993 Education Reform Act that THEN it took SEVEN YEARS for the state’s funding for public education to double. So TWENTY-TWO YEARS after the court case was first filed Massachusetts met its obligation to public education first identified in a 1978 court case and addressed in law in 1993. In 2010 the Massachusetts Business Alliance for Education released a report, “School Funding Reality: A Bargain Not Kept How is the Foundation Budget Working?” finding “Over the 17 years since the Education Reform Act passed, there has been virtually no equalization in spending or state aid between rich districts and poor.” Last year the “Foundation Budget Review Commission Final Report” was released finding a massive shortfall in state aid to public education exceeding $1 billion in areas including English language learners, low income and special education. The conversation should be let’s adequately fund public education now…right now. The charter school debate distracts from that conversation. VOTE NO on Question 2.
How much have charter schools increased their enrollment of English language learners in recent years according to a new Pioneer Institute study? Not much…not much at all: “…in 2009 Boston charters enrolled on 2% of students who were still learning the English language compared with the district’s 19%” and now “Enrollment in city charters is now 14% compared to 30% in the public school system, the study found.” That’s after a 2010 state law was passed to address the problem. And yet, the Boston Herald headline is: “Study: Charter schools boost English-language learner rolls.” You can’t make this charter school stuff up. VOTE NO on Question 2.
Regarding the budget cuts decimating sports programs in Brockton, the City’s schools will lose $4,352,901 to charter schools this year. VOTE NO on Question 2.
There is no “partisan divide” on charter schools. Massachusetts public schools are underfunded by more than $1 billion…a state authorized report…authorized directly from the 1993 Education Reform Act…says so. It’s an “information divide.” The more you know about public schools funding and how charter schools drain public schools funding then it’s easy to VOTE NO on Question 2.