Thursday, September 10, 2009

SHNS Needs to get Facts Straight

From today's State House News Service:
STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 10, 2009……Less than four months before a voter-approved ban on dog racing is scheduled to wipe out 1,300 jobs at racetracks and affiliated businesses, lawmakers on Thursday pleaded with their colleagues to permit dog racing for two more years or allow tracks to continue wagering without a live product.
According to whom? There aren't anywhere near 1,300 jobs in the racetrack industry in Massachusetts. Not even close. I'd be shocked if there were 300 jobs in the industry at this point.

So who's propagating these lies and distortions?
Reps. David Flynn and James Fagan and Sens. Joan Menard, Thomas Kennedy and Marc Pacheco, all of whom represent the area around Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park, said that 1,300 workers face unemployment come January, when the dog racing ban takes effect.
My question for the Reps and Senators, where the heck have you been while the dog track industry has been telling its workers not to accept state help and training to get new jobs? It would be awfully hard for the industry and its political supporters to be crying foul if sad stories of workers weren't at stake, right?

Bottom line: the people of this state voted, by a sizable margin, to get rid of the dog track industry. The people who supported that ballot initiative were beyond reasonable for the workers in the industry, by creating a 14 month gap before the bill would take effect, leaving plenty of time for people to find new work. Funding was also put aside for retraining, but that retraining was largely refused, because the industry thought it would hurt their efforts in thwarting the will of the voters. Maybe if Pacheco, Flynn and Friends were a little more worried about the workers and less about the industry's stakeholders, there would be no worries about the jobs anymore.

5 comments:

Middleboro Remembers said...

SHNS biased?

Flashing across the site, was the advertising banner for O'Neill and Associates.

For those who don't get the connection, O'Neill lobbies for Mohegan Sun.

On August 19, they reported:

"That was 2,000 jobs," Haddad said.

Impartial? Think Not!

The Rhode Island legislature extended racing dates that the Governor then vetoed. Racing proponents claimed 225 jobs were at risk. Twin River laid off 27 -
9 full-time employees and 18 part-time workers.

Can we stick to the facts and not the mushroom cloud of expanding numbers?

betsy d said...

What are the real numbers and why aren't we getting them?

My senator is Pacheco my rep is Flynn.


Give me a brake!

Ryan said...

I linked to "real" 06 numbers. There are *surely* less jobs now than there were then -- and there weren't half the numbers they claim then, either. A good estimate of the numbers then was around 400-500. A good estimate now is probably 300-400.

Anonymous said...

The real numbers are available but don't make for the heart rending sad stories.

The Boston Globe story that described seniors who had nothing else to do with their time except watch racing may have been touching, but left me tempted to offer a list of 'things to do' like - ever try a museum, the aquarium, the BPL, the art museum, mentor a child to read, pick up some litter, offer to help a neighbor who can't afford something-food,shopping, help a shut-in, attend hearings at the statehouse, take a course.

OMG! The list would fill volumes!

The Fall of Rome had more to do with a focus on shallow pursuits of entertainment. History repets itself.

Anonymous said...

Immediately after the November vote, Senator Pacheco blamed voters in affluent suburbs for the success of the ballot question. Affluent suburbs? Not by a long shot! Even Senate President Therese Murray known for her "cha ching" gesture has a district that voted to get rid of greyhound racing.
I'm thinking that some elected officials need to look at the votes in their districts.
SNHS is calling attention to itself and its bias that anyone who is watching has noticed.

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