Middleboro selectman Steve McKinnon made a motion to remove Marsha Brunelle as BOS chairman over what he considered to be an ethics breach. Brunelle had chaired a meeting that concerned an assessment of the IT department – which is run by her husband Roger. McKinnon felt that Brunelle should have recused herself. Chairman Brunelle was unapologetic and said she would contact the Ethics Commission for a decision. The motion to remove her as chairman failed with a 2-2 tie. Rullo and McKinnon voted for removal – Duphily and Spataro voting against.
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Unbelievably, an amendment to the motion that simply asked Brunelle to recuse herself from any discussions involving the IT department also failed 2-2 with the same selectmen voting for/against. To me this is a clear conflict of interest – but view the video and decide for yourself.
I’d be interested in what others think on this. It is simply unbelievable to me that any public official would fail to recuse themselves when their spouse is so closely related to the discussion at hand. It is even more incredible that two other officials – Spataro and Duphily – would support it. At the very least there is a huge appearance of conflict of interest. Since his re-election, I’ve been impressed with Spataro’s performance. I’m disappointed with his vote on this and hope it doesn’t presage a return of the old Steve.
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FinCom’s original attempt to streamline IT, improve it’s services, and reduce cost has been ruined. First their proposal was gutted and transformed into something that wouldn’t achieve the original goals. FinCom proposed a town wide assessment. The BOS and town manager turned it into a half-measure that only looked at the school department and general government and created the appearance that they were trying to protect the IT director. As a town, we have taken something simple and sensible and turned it into something ineffective that (at least) has an appearance of conflict of interest.
Senator Marc Pacheco came to the Middleboro Board of Selectmen meeting on 3/8/2010 to answer charges that his legislation was intentionally leaving Middleboro out of the running for a casino. Pacheco went so far as to say that anyone who says such a thing is lying.
Strong words.
Here are my issues with Pacheco. He was a total no-show during Casino Summer ’07. Many of us called, emailed, and sent letters and got nothing but canned responses when what we needed was leadership. His appearance now seems like an election year attempt to do damage control. He still has not clearly stated his position on a Middleboro sovereign indian casino – which makes me think he’s against it.
Pacheco is unapologetically pro-gambling – which is fine. At one point he stated that expanded gambling in Massachusetts would produce $1B a year in revenue. A wild number that far exceeds even what Governor Patrick was floating in 2008 for his three casino plan. Patrick’s numbers were heavily criticized as being overly optimistic – by a factor of two according to an MTA study.
If Pacheco came to Middleboro and said, “I’m pro-gambling and fully support a sovereign indian casino in for these reasons …..” I wouldn’t like it but I’d respect it. Rep. Tom Calter came here – stood in front of both CFO and the Middleboro BOS and stated his position relative to a sovereign indian Middleboro casino in clear and direct terms. That makes me want to vote for Calter whereas Pacheco’s appearance accomplished the opposite. Sure if he’s going up against a teabagger, this lifelong liberal Democrat will probably vote for him. But I may cross party lines for the first time since the horrible Gingrich years if there is a reasonable opponent. That could all change if he addresses this question in unequivocal terms: Do you support a sovereign indian casino in Middleboro?
My last issue, or at least the last one I feel like mentioning is his verbosity. He was here to say – “My legislation does NOT omit Middleboro from possible casino locations despite what some people and some newspapers have said”. He took almost 40 minutes to say something that could have been said in less than 5. I seriously doubt anyone is going to get through all 4 videos due to the unengaging and repetitive monologue Pacheco subjected the BOS to. I know that sounds mean but it’s true. I have a newfound respect for the BOS’s patience and above all their ability to stay awake after seeing this.
And my real last issue was his answer to a question by resident Mike Solimini. Solomini asked why states with a lot of casinos like Nevada and Florida have higher foreclosure rates than Massachusetts. Pacheco answered “They would have a higher foreclosure rate for they’re much larger”. Clearly he was confusing “rate” with “quantity”. This was a simple, clearly stated question that Pacheco failed to understand and answer. Boo hiss. At 3:30 of part four is a question about donations from gambling interests from Allin Frawley followed by Solimini’s question.
Mr. Pacheco – you should do a podcast with me. It would really up your Internet street cred and give you an unscripted forum to show your stuff and address this issue directly.
From the Middleboro Board of Selectmen meeting of 2/22/2010 – town manager Charles Cristello reads the draft of a letter to the Mashpee Wampanoag. The letter is prompted by reports that the tribe has been fishing around the Freetown/Fall River area for a new casino location. It’s pretty common knowledge that the sovereign casino in Middleboro is doubtful at best and most likely impossible. It is also obvious to most that the amount of infrastructure required for the Middleboro location makes the project a non-starter.
The tone of the letter is more forceful than past communications which have been mostly fawning and ineffectual. In a subsequent post I will include video of the BOS and public discussion.
Middleboro Selectman Al Rullo asks an intelligent question – about our expectation of further monies from a state compact. He received a bit of a non-answer. So far Rullo has been working hard, seems quite bright, and appears to be determined to learn what he doesn’t already know.
I don’t expect he’ll be rubber-stamping anything with this project – which bodes well for the town. Up until this election, the BOS were scary-unwilling to question this project. I’m sure that many expected that I’d automatically oppose Rullo because he’s pro-casino. Not so. So long as he doesn’t do anything dumb, I’ll support him. For a definition of “dumb” see “casino project so far”.
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