JC / Railbird

On the Sidelines?

Joe O’Donnell is sitting out the Massachusetts slots debate (Boston Herald):

He has plenty at stake in this latest, and perhaps last run at getting slot machines into Suffolk Downs and the Bay State’s other racetracks.
O’Donnell holds the controlling share in Suffolk.
And there is strong belief in some circles that his considerable juice is required to get Gov. Mitt Romney off his absolute-veto pledge against slots.
But the Hub’s leading power broker (see Boston magazine) says he won’t be calling in any favors on Beacon Hill.

Says O’Donnell: “Personally I think [slots make] all the sense in the world … But I don’t want to take a personal leadership role in this. I have a personal relationship with, and am very fond of, the governor, the speaker and the Senate president. They’re all friends of mine.” Cynically I wonder if it’s more that O’Donnell — a real estate developer partially responsible for the Shops at Suffolk Downs mall built on land previously owned by the track across the street from the barn area — is interested in something other than slots or horseracing.