EXTRA...

Tribe, Delahunt, talking to Taunton about their casino

TODAY's quote: “You can imagine I’m not happy with that happening. I’d be out of a job."
- Sharon Butts, a 28-year employee at the Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park.

Mashpee Tribe casino/homeland headed for Route 24?

   One Lakeshore Center, a 77,000 square foot, three story office building, is located on the shores of Lake Nippenicket. The property is at the intersection of Rt. I-495 and 24 and near Route 28.

Add Taunton to the list of possible sites for a Massachusetts casino

Taunton Mayor Tom Hoye Jr. says he has had preliminary talks with the chairman of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council and the tribe's lobbyist, former U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, about building a Taunton casino.

Mashpee Wampanoag tribe has a $130,000 yearly contract with the Delahunt Group.Hoye tells the Taunton Daily Gazette (http://bit.ly/zPf8Ds) that parcels at Liberty and Union Industrial Park, owned by the nonprofit Taunton Development Corp., have been considered as a resort casino site. The parcel is near the Silver City Galleria mall.

Casino would create 4,000 new jobs for the area

Hoye says a casino in Taunton could create as many as 4,000 jobs. He added that talks with the tribe have not reached formal stages and the amount of money the Mashpee would pay Taunton to host a casino has not yet been discussed.  The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has a $130,000 contract with the Delahunt Group to lobby on its behalf.

 Another local potential site that has been mentioned is a 171-acre parcel of land on the southern shore of Lake Nippenicket in Bridgewater.

But Raynham Selectmen Chairman Joseph Pacheco said he’s concerned a casino in Bridgewater would reduce the chances of slots at the dog track, and that's a large concern for Raynham-Taunton Park owner George Carney who hopes to revitalize his business with slots or casino games. This could not happen if a casino were allowed in either Taunton or Bridgewater.

Delahunt: An egregious example to the D.C. "Revolving Door"

Delahunt speaks with forked tongue.As a longtime member of the Congressional committees overseeing the Bureau of Indian Affairs, former Congressman William Delahunt used his connections the minute he left office to set up his own public relations firm and represent the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe in their efforts to get a casino, and got a annual pay-off of $170,000 from the tribe.

As the the Political website AllGov reported:

William Delahunt (D-Massachusetts) served in the House of Representatives for 14 years. Less than two months after leaving office in January 2011, he founded a lobbying company called the Delahunt Group. He had no problem finding clients, starting with the casino-seeking Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, which had previously been represented by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. While in office, Delahunt had arranged earmarks worth $400,000 for the tribe.

Delahunt also secured a contract with the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fisherman’s Association, for whom, in 2010, he had helped arrange a federal loan.

Privately, Democratic activists locally are relieved that Delahunt retired when he did two years ago.

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