Clinton campaign official previously tried to kill Boston-area Wynn casino
A Hillary Clinton campaign official tried last year to thwart the Wynn Resorts casino planned just outside Boston.
Charles Baker—a different Charles Baker than the Republican Massachusetts governor—sent a letter to the State Ethics Commission last October. That was well before Baker joined Clinton’s presidential campaign as chief administrative officer in April, and just after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission decided last September to award Wynn a license to build a $1.7 billion resort casino in the city of Everett.
The letter launched an ethics investigation into the gaming commission’s chairman, which was reported by The Boston Globe last month. It was dismissed soon after the Globe report.
Baker’s identity as the person who wrote the letter was reported this week by CommonWealth magazine, which obtained the letter through a public records request.
Baker, a veteran political operative, has long worked with the Suffolk Downs racecourse, which straddles Boston’s boundary with the city of Revere. Suffolk Downs would have been the site of a casino, if its would-be developers were awarded Greater Boston’s only gambling license last fall. Instead, Wynn won out.
Baker’s ethics complaint alleged that gaming commission chairman Steve Crosby had remained active in the Boston-area casino licensing process after publicly stepping away from it. Crosby had personal ties to an investor in the land Wynn planned to buy, located just over the Boston border. He recused himself from the licensing decision in the spring of 2014.
In his letter, Baker said his claims “may result in the necessity of a rescission and/or cancellation’’ of the decision to award Wynn the license. The ethics commission ultimately dismissed Baker’s complaint and the investigation of Crosby was closed.
As chief administrative officer, Baker’s responsibilities with the Clinton campaign include “legal issues, the Democratic National Committee and national convention, and party constituency,’’ according to a Bloomberg article about his hiring in the spring. He worked on Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign.
The Wynn casino license has been contested since it was awarded. Three cities—including Boston—have sued the gaming commission for its decision to award the license. The gaming commission unsuccessfully moved to dismiss the suits this week.
In response to Boston’s lawsuit, Wynn has threatened to sue the city for defamation.
Read more at CommonWealth.
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