Casino Capitalism, Anyone?

Thank you Bumpkin, for posting the vids of Chairman Bond discussing the guilty plea and his perception of what it may mean for the continued enforceability of the IGA as a contract between the Town of Middleboro and the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe. I remain bemused at Chariman Bond's willingness to set aside Mr. Marshall's concealment of a rape conviction, and lying to a government body as "personal" matters, completely separate from and non-indicative of how Mr. Marshall might discharge a public trust, or how he might interpret "good faith," but I digress.

I received something interesting in the mail today, a letter from StopPredatoryGambling.Their focus is combatting the proliferation of aggressive advertising for state lottery product. In it, Mr. Les Bernal, their Executive Director, made some interesting observations: "in the midst of a global economic crisis, plummeting pension values, unaffordable health care, high food costs, and millions of American families facing foreclosure ::Fiferstone raises hand:: --state government...continues to agressively advertise predatory lottery products."

In our case, we might substitute -"our chairman of the Board of Selectmen continues to state his faith in the revenue potential of a predatory gambling enterprise."

Mr. Bernal goes on to say, "This is not about whether people can gamble, or about people playing poker on Friday nights...It is about the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit [that] has become the preferred method for governments to raise money for public services." Remember that stewardship thing? I think may have mentioned it...

Mr. Bernal's letter also made another interesting and fairly disturbing point. There are unsettling similarities between the present addiction of governments (large and small) to gambling proceeds as a revenue source, and the feeding frenzy that preceded the subprime mortgage meltdown. "AIG and Lehman Brothers executives were part of what has been recently called "casino capitalism", using predatory practices and financial gimmicks to promote an illusion of free money, at the expense of unsuspecting Americans." Speaking of the subprime mortgage mess, and casinos, and capitalism, and meltdown, Nevada currently has the highest foreclosure rate in the country. Las Vegas, long the glittering jewel in the crown of the U.S. casino industry, and a real-estate success story, now has an astonishing 48% of mortages on single-family houses in its metropolitan area underwater (the owner owes more than the house is worth). By contrast the national average for single family houses in which the owner owes more than the house is worth, is 18%. That's definitely good, but certainly it's better than something approaching "1 in 2."

As Mr. Bernal says, "Why would anyone think a government run like a casino {or for the benefit of of a casino, for that matter} is going to turn out any better?"--emphasis mine

Given the recent revelations about incomes earned by tribal leaders, and Mr. Marshall's antics leading up to federal recognition, some of the things that I'm annoyed [read mad as hell] about are:

1. The lack of contingency in the IGA. Any agreement of the magnitude of the IGA should have had a contingency spelled out explicitly within it, as a matter of course. What happens if, for whatever reason, the agreed-upon enterprise does not go forward? Most divorce and separation agreements (the effective ones, anyway) have a contingency of some kind. For example, what happens to monies set aside for college education for a dependent child if, for whatever reason, that child does not attend college? What do the parties agree to do in that event? Last summer (after the meeting at which the vote was taken and the IGA signed) I pointed out to Mr. Bond that it appeared to me that the agreement lacked a contingency, and I wondered if that might be a problem. Now Mr. Bond has articulated publicly that this could be a problem, or at the very least, that the town may now be running more risk than it factored into its calculus when it decided to accept the proffered annual mitigation payment and enter into the agreement in the first place (gosh, that sounds depressingly familiar).

I feel sorry for the people who grudgingly supported the casino idea because they thought it was "better than low income housing." Given the fact that there is no contingency in the IGA, and the fact that the land is owned by a private entity (Trading Cove at Mashpee is an equity partnership and is definitely not the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe) , which has a perfect right to dispose of the property as and how it sees fit. Those who sought to prevent the use of the land for low-income housing by voting in favor of signing the IGA may very well find that the land on Precinct street is ultimately used for exactly that which they sought to prevent with their vote at the TMFH. If such a thing comes to pass, those folks have my condolences, and I will welcome my new neighbors to the neighborhood. After all, it's just a short walk from my house.

2. The concept that we can now negotiate the mitigation upward, to what it should have been in the first place. I'm sorry, but no amount of money will offset the damage this thing will do to us if it is "successful." Conversely, no figure anyone chooses to write on a piece of paper will actually translate into money in the town's bank account if the enterprise fails to succeed because there are too many others of its kind in existence already, it is too similar to the all the others in all important respects, and if the others are overleveraged, and resort to cannibalizing each other in a grim effort to stay alive in a shrinking economy. In short, if Middleboro builds it, who's to say anyone will come? Gamblers seem to be staying away from the enhanced, hyperthyroid Connecticuit casinos in droves. Lurk on Indianz.com and check out the reservation casino news from Indian Country - in three words, it's not good. I also wonder what will happen to Michigan's 20 and counting casinos (and their deep-pockets financial backers) when the auto industry finally collapses. I wonder how they, and the state, are going to fare? Probably not well.

3. The continued reliance upon legal experts enmeshed with the gambling industry. Nuf said. I think we ought not to draw from the same poisoned well whence was drawn the water for the first batch of Kool-Aid. At the very least, we need a second opinion, from someone prepared to advocate on behalf of the town, and preferably someone who has some expertise in civil and criminal liability exposure connected with financial malfeasance. I agree with Bumpkin that that no one in our town government is guilty of wrongdoing, but again, what is the risk and exposure to the town and its officers, given the antics of the former tribal chairman and any other tribal officers that he may name? Middleboro needs a legal advocate who can effectively gauge that risk. I'm not convinced that Mr. Whittlesey is thus equipped.

4. The continued silence of the current Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Leadership. Ms. Andrews, you have some explaining to do, most of all to the members of the tribe. But by all means, maintain your silence. What is it that a spokesperson does, again? Mr. Hendricks, why are Ms. Bingham and her son Steven not reinstated to full tribal rights and priviledges immediately? Has the tribe not spoken on this matter, and was she not right after all?

In my very humble opinion, it's time to stake the "magical casino" vampire for the final time, bury it, and then sow salt on the ground where we've buried it. There's some land on Precinct street where such a healing ceremony might be carried out, but we'll have to get permission from the property owner first. I'm definitely in favor of job creation and economic development. I was out of work most of this past summer, and in November my husband was laid off after 15 years at the same place of business. However, neither he, nor I, believe in the tooth fairy anymore. We never believed in the casino fairy either, not even when he stood before us in the High School auditorium, and promised us that anyone needing a job would find one at the Resort-Bingo-hall.

I firmly believe that we're not going to achieve economic development for Middleboro by revisiting our now-soured deal with the devil. If we do that we'll have no one but ourselves to blame. Ms. Bingham no longer needs to try to tell us exactly what sort of people we're dealing with. Now we know. The disgraced former tribal chairperson has convicted himself out of his own rascally mouth rather than face a jury of his peers. He will cooperate fully or do serious time. He will tell the federal investigators everything, and omit nothing.

The casino fairy and his magical enterprise were a fever-dream. It's time to wake up. We have to give up the idea that any one enterprise will rescue us in one fell swoop, from the effects of decades-long crisis management and shortsightedness. By all means, we should hope and pray for the best, but the hard, cold reality is that we must arrive at a consensus on how we want our town to propsper, and then be willing to work hard, together, to achieve that common purpose.

To continue to believe in this "easy money" fairy-tale of a mega-destination-resort-whatever (whether reservation or commercial) or that the legalization of class III gambling will cause the Town of Middleboro"get well" fiscally, is to sow the wind. If we continue selfishly and destructively to prey on the weakness of others for our own profit, we will reap what we sow. ...the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

I may not believe in the tooth fairy, and I'm definitely much too old for Santa Claus, but I do believe in community preservation. I plan to support the CPA. Better the CPA than the IGA. The CPA, to me, is a windmill. Who knows? In an economic whirlwind, windmills just might prove useful.