The Boston Herald gives us an interesting look at the ongoing tensions between Deval Patrick and Sal DiMasi over Deval's casino plan:
Against that backdrop, there is the deepening personal rivalry between Patrick and DiMasi, which has been brought into public view through a pair of Boston Globe articles.When Mitt Romney was elected, he had the challenge of being a Republican governor with an overwhelmingly Democratic legislature. Looks like Deval Patrick has been having a harder time of working with a legislature that should be like putty in his hands.The first reported that DiMasi had been golfing — or invited to golf — with casino supporters, raising questions about whether he was succumbing to the influence of special interests in the debate.
The story put him in an untenable position: If he acceded to Patrick’s request and supported casino gambling, how could he differentiate an honest reversal from the more sinister suggestion that he had been co-opted by the members of his foursome?
The second Globe story questioned Patrick’s suggestion that building the new casinos would create 30,000 construction jobs. The administration conceded it examined a Suffolk Downs study declaring an East Boston casino would create 10,000 jobs, and then merely multiplied that figure by three — once for each proposed casino.
A chastened DiMasi pounced.
"The governor clearly has the burden of convincing the Legislature that this casino plan should be adopted. So far, the case has not been made, the evidence isn’t there and the governor’s arguments for casinos are clearly losing credibility," the speaker said in a statement issued Monday.
The following day, Patrick answered in kind, bypassing the speaker and writing directly to House members.
"Regardless of whether the proposal creates 30,000 construction jobs over the next few years, or 5,000 to 20,000 construction jobs, as reflected in other estimates, one thing is certain: the speaker’s alternative will create zero jobs," the governor wrote.
