The Probation Department Must Go to Patrick, Now

The Probation Department scandal is casting a dark force on government, but darker still is the fact that Representative Charles Murphy -- one of the most powerful Democrats in state government -- is doubling down, insisting there's no wrongdoing within the legislature, when all evidence points to the contrary. Representative Murphy is not helping himself here:

“Is there any evidence to suggest that jobs are for sale?’’ said Murphy. “Did Paul Ware say in his report that any legislator got money for jobs? The answer is no. He didn’t. It is not there. He says there is a statistical probability of something like that, a chance. That’s not evidence. And he was very clear to state that.’’

Emphasis mine. Ware's report is absolutely devastating to the credibility of our Government in Massachusetts -- and it certainly calls into question many legislators in the state legislature.

Ware, in his investigation, also pursued the Spotlight finding that probation was beset with a "pay to play mentality" in which scores of job seekers made contributions to legislators in apparent hopes of favored treatment. Ware said he could not prove that individual politicians got jobs for people directly in exchange for campaign contributions, which could violate state and federal bribe statutes. But he said statistical evidence shows that legislators tried much harder to get jobs for people who gave them campaign contributions. Ware said his job was to investigate problems in probation, leaving it to others to probe whether legislators broke the law, too.

It gets worse.

The special counsel makes it clear that O'Brien, a protege of former House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran, was supporting legislators' job candidates in exchange for a bigger probation budget. O'Brien's political aides methodically kept track of legislators' favored candidates for jobs, showing that legislative leaders received by far the most patronage hires, Ware found.

Terrifyingly, it gets even worse.

Ware found that O'Brien's patronage machine was so extensive that some legislators rated their people on a scale of one to four, often giving the highest rating to people who were also campaign contributors. On one "Sponsor List" compiled for O'Brien, Ware found that 62 percent of the legislator-backed candidates got probation jobs -- if they also gave money. But only 25 percent of sponsored candidates who did not give money got probation jobs.

The legitimacy of our very state government is in peril with the Ware Report. With all due respect to Representative Murphy, the House leadership is the last body that should be making decisions about the probation department. This is especially true when Representative Petrolati is #3 on the House Totem Pole. This is a man who is so deeply embroiled in this entire scandal that he was not only compelled to testify about it (after holding out for a lengthy period of time), but he actually refused to answer any questions when finally questioned.

While Governor Patrick recognized the probation department as a "rogue agency," Representative Murphy "pushed back strongly" against the report. Who do we want making the decisions about how this agency is ran?

The fact of the matter is Governor Patrick is the only person in state government who has demonstrated the political courage and trust necessary to tackle the reforms this agency needs, and placing the agency under the executive branch will at least ensure someone is accountable for its actions and the way it is run. The leadership in the House and Senate must recognize that if trust is to be given to our state government, it cannot delay or somehow try to hold out. Too many of its members are potentially involved.

Late to the Game: Ex-Chief Pleading Guilty

Like cheese and wine, Mulder and Skully and peanut butter and jelly, casinos and criminal activity just go together. Today's story about ex-Wampanoag chief Glenn Marshall is no exception. It made Gladys's holidays - and I dare say Dan Kennedy has a thing or two to say about it.

Suffice it to say, I'm not quite so sure how long the Wampanoag's are going to want to hold onto that land they planned to use for the casino - because between the economy and all this Glenn Marshall stuff (illegal contributions to get the tribe federal status included), it's just not in the decks anymore.

You Don't Want a New Speaker

I'm with Charley. Speaker DiMasi has proven crucial in marriage equality, health care and in defeating casinos. In recent months, he's shown a great willingness to work with the administration - closing loopholes, securing money for roads and bridges and passing a fantastic renewable energy bill. Is he perfect? No. But he's proven to be the most progressive Speaker of the House in my memory - by a wide margin.

As Charley says, the three guys trying to line up to get next in line aren't going to be as good on the issues. Most of them are pro-casino and none of them have done as much on the critical issues Massachusetts is advancing. More worrisome is the lengths to which they're going to secure next-in-line status: the favors they're doling out doesn't exactly inspire confidence in these tough economic times.

The Good News? The Globe loves pushing the angle that DiMasi will be gone. It sells newspapers. However, like many media-driven stories, often times if the media says it enough, it can become true. There's blood in the water and none of it helps Speaker DiMasi get passed the sharks. If DiMasi does get ousted, expect Massachusetts to take one step back before we can go three steps forward.

Casino Corruption: Mohegan Sun's Worse Than We Thought

At Tuesday's casino hearing on Beacon Hill, Senator Montigney, co-chair of the committee, kept grilling the Mohegan Sun representatives, as well as several others, on the fact that Connecticutt's Mohegan Sun, one of the largest and most successful casinos in the world, has paid out more money toward a few executives at the top than the entire 1,700-person tribe.

It is the kind of bonanza that was supposed to be prohibited by the federal
Indian Gaming Act when it was passed 20 years ago, say some US senators and federal regulators.

But the Mohegan Sun investors - led by Sol Kerzner and Len Wolman - found legal ways around provisions intended to make sure most casino benefits went primarily to tribes. And those loopholes remain open after a massive lobbying blitz by the $25 billion Indian gaming industry.

Worse yet, many of the Wampanoags in the tribe persuing the Middleborough location have raised concerns that Mohegan Sun's problems would only continue in Massachusetts.

And some Mashpee Wampanoag tribal members say they are suspicious about the deal their leaders have struck with the same investors in Middleborough - a deal they have not been shown. Documents filed with the tribe's pending federal application for reservation status at the site do not disclose financial terms.

"They don't let us see anything," said Michelle Fernandes, a member of the tribe. "It's a big secret."

Of course, this is only a new ingredient added to the corruption already brewing in Massachusetts over the Wampanoag casino - something the FBI has already been investigating, years before a shovel will ever hit the ground.

It also fits right in with Mohegan's efforts in Wisconsin, which have resulted in at least one top executive, Dennis Troha, being charged by the FBI for circumventing campaign finance law.

The former developer of Kenosha's proposed $808 million casino project was indicted Thursday on federal charges for allegedly funneling $100,000 in improper campaign contributions to Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who has final approval over Indian gaming in the state.

Dennis Troha, 60, of Kenosha, Wis., was charged with one count of fraud and one count of making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Attorney's office in Milwaukee said.

If convicted, he could face up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The indictment alleges Troha used family members and businesses he controlled to send money to Doyle's campaign during the 2002 and 2006 campaigns. Troha would lend money to the family members, who would then write checks to Doyle's campaign, allowing Troha to circumvent the $10,000 cap on political donations by individuals. The money was only repaid early this year after federal investigators began looking into the case, the indictment said. (Dan Gibbard, "U.S. Indicts Wisonsin Casino Figure, Chicago Tribune, 3/01/07.)

Transparency was Senator Montigney's chief concern and reason for skepticism over casinos. He wasn't interested in supporting any casino proposal if there's room for corruption. However, no matter how anyone slices it, there's absolutely, positively no way to regulate tribal casinos at the state level: we'd be dependent on the federal government to protect the Bay State's interests - and given the powerful casino lobby at D.C., the saying "fat chance," comes to mind.

Given that the only leverage this state has over the casino lobby is the fact that we ban all Class-Three types of gambling, Massachusetts lawmakers should be even more skeptical than Senator Montigney when it comes to casinos and preventing corruption. Simply put, this state will have no way of regulating a tribal casino if we allow the construction of a single, legal and traditional slot machine, as that would open up the process for the Wampanoags to put their Middleborough land in federal trust to garner approval for a Class Three, Mega-Resort facility.

As reported in the second link on this blog, at the Boston Globe, the Wampanoags have already came to an agreement with these very same Mohegan Sun developers, the slimiest of the slimeballs around. When it comes to casinos and corruption, the two, unfortunately, go hand in hand. The question posed to Massachusetts residents should be if these are the kinds of headlines people here want to read for the rest of their lives. Not only will casinos be bad for the economy and bad for communities, but they're going to set a terrible trend for corruption at Beacon Hill, the likes of which have never been seen before.

Extra Credit Reading Assignment: Casinos clearly haven't done anything to improve the efficacy of Atlantic City's government, where five of the last nine mayors have been indicted and the city is now hiring an "Integrity Officer." Anyone know if Governor Patrick is going to hire any of them as part of his mitigation plans?