The Orange Shirts
One major note in this meeting was the "Orange Shirts". Money came from somewhere to emblazon stickers, hats, and t-shirts with the slogan "vote YES for Middleboro's future" adorning several dozen attendees. An IBEW bus dispatched about a dozen such people right as my bus was letting off, all with matching chairs and carrying spring water. We entered the registration area together in front of my bus. They did not register or receive a ballot, but sat with Middleoboro residents and participated in voice and hand votes. I'm not sure whether these non-residents were organized by unions or corporations.
(Update begins:) I should specify why I'm so sure many Orange Shirts are from out of town. I walked to downtown this mornin at 7:45 to grab an umbrella and score a donut to start my day. I met an Orange Shirt about 75 feet from the entrance of Honey Dew, asking where the Honey Dew Donuts was. He was standing under the sign. When I pointed it out, he walked past it again until I directed him there. No Middleboro resident doesn't know where this store is...it's right downtown, across from the bloody post office. He came out of the store as I was going in with five coffees. End of Update
I am unsure of town meeting law is different, but a mass of people wearing shirts pushing one side of a vote are banned within a certain distance of the ballot box in most elections. As seen in the photo, not only was this political advertisement prevalent in the crowd, but pro-casino advocates were also in heavy number within a few feet of my ballot box.
"I don't want to be here all day!!!"
So said the Jim Thomas, the moderator, at the outset of the meeting. I'd spent the last hour wondering around, enjoying such "with it" music as Simon and Garfunkel, and the oddly chosen "Don't Worry, Be Happy". But we were there for quite some time. The meeting was called to order at 11 am. Following the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem, the crowd enjoyed a fly-over by a plane pulling a "no casino" banner. Two State Police helicopters were scrambled, and chased the plane out of the area.
The first order of business was the report prepared by the "Casino Gambling Study Committee". The moderator had chosen this committee, assured that they were all neutral on the question of the casino. By the end of the study, the members voted 7 to 0 in favor of the agreement. Citizens with questions about the final study wasted their time asking them. Sadly, the Chair of the committee had left his report in the car and it would take him half an hour to retrieve it.
When one citizen talked about another report done on a similar question early, she got into the details of the reports' authors, prompting the moderator to gavel her down and telling her "You're boring us all to tears."
The report was eventually accepted, unanswered concerns notwithstanding.
The wise elders speak
The actual question on acceptance of the casino was led off by reports from three boards. The selectman voted 5-0 in favor of signing a contract with the Mashpee Wompanoag, with Adam Bond speaking for the selectmen. He decried the "indignity" of meeting state mandates and explained this was the best way to make up for previous fiscal mismanagement in the town.
The Finance Committee voted 4-2 against, explaining that they felt it was a rush to judgment, and questions about opening up an ambulance service left questions unanswered, as did the low payments offered to the town before the resort opened its doors.
The aforementioned Gambling Study Committee embraced the report 7-0.
Citizen questions about further obligations to the town ? including a $3.5 million bill on the water system, were explained as necessary anyway, so they were simply rolled into the contract.
"An Almost Invisible Casino"
Moderator Thomas took a break to explain that people sitting under the shelter of tents should come out to the sun. The tents were for shelter, said Thomas, but "my eyesight is failing, and I can't see you that well."
 The moderator reserved the first 10 slots for speakers nominated by the umbrella groups for and against. Speakers were given two minutes, though many of them went over ? the only one gaveled down was an anti-casino speaker who hit the 3:05 mark. Pro-casino speakers his 3:45, 3:28, and Adam Bond's wife made it to 4:04 before the crowd drowned her out (I used a stopwatch). The pro- side had slightly better speakers, the last one making grand promises about spending on school athletic programs. The highlight for me was the pro-casino speaker talking about "An Almost Invisible Casino" the Tribe wanted to build. Meanwhile, the police chatted with the media...
Democracy isn't worth the heat
Now was the time that the citizens of Middleboro had been promised would be opened up for discussion. After the "institutional" speakers had voiced their opinion, we would have our say. The Chair of the Board of Selectman moved immediately to cut off debate before any citizen could speak. Moderator Thomas quickly agreed, took a hand count, and was ready to rush into voting. To his credit, one man of Mr. Studley stood and demanded division, getting 6 others to agree. In a half-hour process, citizens were divided and roughly counted, with a supermajority opting to relax at home rather than use their democratic rights voting to end debate. I find it of note that the chief of town government was so eager to silence its citizens.
Voting for and against the casino
Voting took place with a tear-away ballot. As mentioned earlier, it was almost a 2 to 1 victory. Oddly enough, though, there was a final article on the warrant ? to vote on whether "the Town approves of the creation of a Gambling Casino Resort Complex within the Corporate Boundaries of the Town". Many people had left after casting their vote, but other remained to listen to this debate. After a re-hash of old arguments, the question was called (I'd waited at a microphone for half an hour, but was ignored by Moderator Thomas. He had a preference for calling on people whose names he knows). Another hand vote was taken, a much closer one. Moderator Thomas decided that the "no" side had prevailed. So the "town of Middleboro" voted against having a casino, and in favor of signing the casino contract.
Where do we go from here
The hand vote, moved by petition, has no legal status. Legally speaking, the town of Middleboro has voted to allow the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe to build a hulking complex within its town limits. This deal, which Treasurer Tim Cahill, fmr Atty. General Scott Harshbarger, the Finance Committee -- in short, anyone who knows how to count -- said was a rip-off, is now signed into law.
The ball is in the General Court. May they prove to have more wisdom than the selectmen of Middleboro, more patience than its people, and more temperance than its moderator. |
In a 4 1/2 hour meeting characterized by an irate and overwhelmed moderator, and a largely good-natured crowd, some 4,000 citizens of Middleboro voted against the idea of a casino by show of hands in a non-binding vote, but in a binding referendum the voters at this sultry assemblage chose to endorse the agreement between the Board of Selectmen and the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe for a "resort casino" by a vote of 2,387 to 1,335.
