Gearing Up for the Casino Fight

We have about 60 days until the pro-slot legislators in the State House start ramping up their efforts to legalize slot machines in Massachusetts. Nothing is inevitable, but certainly this fight will be harder than it was just a year ago. Some good news -- the Speaker and Governor are at a stand-off, a fact not likely to change anytime soon.

So, I'll be spending some time in the next few days trying to get some of the information out there. Expect a few great guests to come on LeftAhead over the coming two months, as well as plenty of news to be posted on this site and at Blue Mass Group. We may even see the MSM getting in the action.

For now, I encourage readers to take a look at some of our previous guests on LeftAhead. This is by no means completely exhaustive, but a great start.

• November 27, 2007: Laura Everett, spokesperson of Mass Council of Churches and CasinoFreeMass, was the featured guest.
• December 18, 2007: Reporting live from a casino hearing at the state house (starting 30 mins in).
• February 26th, 2008: Mike, Lynne and Ryan reporting on casino news at the time, including Spectrum Report, unions as it applies to casinos and what makes for good revenue.
• March 18, 2008: Ryan's Take live from the State House at the biggest (circus) hearing of the year, when Rep. Flynn invited everyone from all the state's race track owners to casino owners across the country.
• March 25th, 2008: Lynne and Ryan reporting after we won last year's vote.
• June 3, 2008: Briefly covering the Common Cause Report that talks about the deep pockets of the casino lobby in Massachusetts (starting 27 minutes in).
• July 22, 2008: Middleboro Blogger extraordinaire Mary Tufts/Gladys Kravitz.
• April 7, 2009: Les Bernal, Executive Director of Stop Predatory Gambling and former Chief of Staff of Senator Susan Tucker's office.