Thursday roundup: Looking for order in the courts

Wednesday brought the Court Relocation Committee to Worcester, where a hearing was held on proposals to close a handful of district courts, including facilities in Leominster and Westboro. Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) testified in opposition to the plan:

"We don't have the rail, we don't have the subway, we don't have the trolleys and we don't have the short cab rides," she said. "This is going to hit hard in the city of Leominster."

The Telegram noted that "dozens of people" testified against the proposal, including a number of elected representatives. Congressman James McGovern (D-Worcester) and Rep. George Peterson (R-Grafton) were among those testifying.
Elsewhere...
 
Third Congressional District
McGovern has been busy in the district the last couple of days. In addition to appearing with Rep. Harold Naughton (D-Clinton) in announcing a $250,000 grant to repair a road in Clinton, McGovern also announced a series of visits to local businesses, and checked out another road in need of repair in Holliston.

First Worcester Senate District
Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) explained her vote in favor of "racinos." Despite her claim last week that she would vote against any bill that included the slot machine facilities, Chandler voted in favor of the final bill, which included the possibility of two racinos. She said she believed that the licensing commission would refuse to issue slot licenses because the governor opposes them.
 
Second Worcester House District
Rich Bastien (R-Gardner) attended last weekend's rally with Congressional candidate Bill Gunn (R-Belchertown) and spoke with DaTechGuy.
 
Worcester County Sheriff
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram looks at the wardrobe choices of the candidates for Sheriff.

Weekend roundup: Senate stays on 15, dares Governor to take hit

As the State Legislature wound down the session Saturday, the big news was not that the House and Senate both passed the compromise Casino bill, but that the margin in the Senate was again 25-15, two votes shy of a veto-proof majority. So, if the Governor vetoes the bill as he has promised and if Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) calls a special session to consider the veto, gambling supporters need to get two opposing senators to switch their votes.

Locally, it appears that each of the representatives and senators up for reelection voted the same way they did when the issue came up earlier this session. Interestingly, that included Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) who voted for the three casino, two racino proposal despite her insistance last week that she would not vote for a bill that included slot parlors for racetracks. As of this evening, Chandler has not publicly discussed her change of heart.

Elsewhere...

Third Congressional District
Rep. James McGovern (D-Worcester) was vocal in his support for the House bill that strengthens oversight of offshore dirlling. "If you want to apologize for Big Oil, go right ahead, but the American people are not on your side on this one," he said.

Martin Lamb (R-Holliston) unveiled an economic package of tax cuts, including "putting a six-month moratorium on payroll taxes such as Social Security." He could not tell the Attleboro Sun-Chronicle how he would pay for the tax cuts.

Lamb claims he is winning the Facebook primary. According to statistics provided by Lamb and published in the Telegram, Lamb has nearly triple the number of Facebook friends as Brian Herr (D-Hopkinton), his closest competition for the Republican nomination. That and $1.99 will get him a coffee an Dunks.

First Congressional District
The House of Representatives is apparently so upset with HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan that it refused to fund his travel budget. While John Olver (D-Amherst) opposed the measure, he did so tepidly and did not block it from coming out of his committee.

Fifth Congressional District
Jon Golnik (R-Carlisle) has no use for the legal decision striking down parts of Arizona's immigration law.

Sam Meas (R-Haverhill)  took a spin on syndicated radio's The Roger Hedgecock show.

Second Congressional District
Barron's has dubbed the provision Rep. Richard Neal (D-Springfield) has proposed to close tax loopholes for foreign insurance comanies "Hurricane Neal" for it's potential impact on the re-insurance industry.

Middlesex and Worcester Senate District
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) was criticized by Glenn Beck, of all people, for his leadership on the bill to apportion Massachusetts's electoral votes based on the winner of the popular vote.

18th Worcester House District
Shaun Sutner of the Telegram suggests that Rep. Jennifer Callahan (D-Sutton) is operating under a double standard when it comes to lobbying and campaign finance issues.

11th Worcester House District
Matthew Beaton (R-Shrewsbury) was photographed on a golf course with President Geroge H. W. Bush and a Beaton for Representative bumper sticker. This earned a "President Bush throws support behind Beaton" headline from Daily Westborough.

Worcester County Sheriff
The Telegram looks at the four candidates for Sheriff.

CMass Senate Roundup...Rolling the dice on casinos

Catching up on the last few weeks of the State Senate campaigns...

First Worcester
Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) said Monday that she will oppose any compromise on the casino bill that includes slot machines at race tracks. The orignal Senate vote was 25-15 in favor, so if racinos are included opponents will only need to switch four more votes. In last week's Worcester Magazine, Chandler also said she was concerned that a House provision protecting local theatre venues might be dropped, though it was not clear if she would also change her vote if that provision were not included.

Chandler was endorsed by MassEquality.

William Higgins (R-Northborough) was endorsed by the Citizens for Limited Taxation.

Worcester and Middlesex
Sen. Jennifer Flanagan (D-Leominster) told the Telegram & Gazette that race track slots were not a deal breaker for her. She was backed up by Democratic Fitchburg mayor Lisa Wong, who argued in the Sentinel and Enterprise that restaurants and businesses in Fitchburg should be allowed to add slot machines in the future if racinos are approved.

Three weeks ago, Flanagan broke with most of her Democratic colleagues and attended a meeting of the Twin City Tea Party. Conservative blogger DaTechguy was there to take video of Flanagan and opponent Neal Heeren (R-Bolton) and came away impressed by the Democrat:

Without a question Heeren was a weaker speaker, he had to refer to his notes quite a bit on opening and seemed very uncomfortable on stage, rather odd for a lawyer. On the issues he was more correct but you have to be able to make the case to people. That’s a skill he can develop but if Flanagan keeps showing up and manages to make credible explanation and presentations it will be harder for him.

This more than anything illustrates why Flanagan’s presence was smart! Rather than avoiding the Tea Party in fear she confronts it directly.

Heeren was scheduled to attend the Greater Gardner Tea Party event earlier this evening.

Finally, some guy named Kevin Lynch has been mounting an independent campaign almost solely via the Sentinel and Enterprise comment boards. Perhaps someone will tell him that as an independent, he still has time to get enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin

Stephen Brewer (D-Barre) voted against the Senate's casino bill. The Springfield Republican called it a "politically difficult vote" because the Ways and Means Vice Chariman voted against Speaker Murray. Brewer explained his "no" vote to the Journal Register:

“The numbers just do not add up and cities and towns will end up picking up these extra costs,” said Brewer. As an example of how far short this number falls, Brewer said, at one point, the town of Palmer handed him a request for $50 million in mitigation costs.

“I am concerned that without first conducting a cost benefit analysis, as I advocated for, we may be getting ourselves into a situation that we did not intend,” Brewer said.

After eight years of trying, the Senate has finally passed Brewer's bill allowing police to arrest drivers involved in fatal or injury-causing accidents at the scene. Currently police can only arrest a driver at the scene of an accident if the suspect is under the influence.

Brewer also donned a 19th-century costume and delivered the Declaration of Independence at ceremonies July 4 at Old Sturbridge Village (at right).

Daniel Dubrule (R-Ashburnham) was scheduled to appear at the aforementioned Greater Gardner Tea Party this evening.

Middlesex and Worcester
Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) led the unsuccessful fight against casinos in the Senate. While he ultimately voted against the bill, he was successful in amending the bill to prohibit smoking in casinos. However, he was unable to convince senators that towns surrounding a proposed casino site should have veto power over the project. His amendmet to ban ATMs from casinos was also defeated.

Eldridge picked up the endorsement of MassEquality.

Selectman George Thompson (R-Westboro) spoke late last month at a forum sponsored by the Ayer Republican Town Committee. The forum appears to have made more news for who was not invited than what was said.