Bellicose Bumpkin

After media reports on his 1981 rape conviction and allegations that he lied about his Vietnam war record, Glenn Marshall has temporarily stepped down as Tribal Chairman issuing this statement:

The fact that Marshall has a past conviction is not really the issue. The severity and brutality of the crime is nonetheless disturbing. As a felony, it would preclude a normal person from getting a liquor license for a clam shack let alone open up the world’s largest casino. (disclaimer – clam shack analogy stolen from some article)

Particularly troubling is the misrepresentation of his war record. From this article:

It is truly a pity that one who put himself in harm’s way in Vietnam – had to taint that deed by lying about his service. As far as I’m concerned, just showing up in-country in Vietnam is impressive enough without the need of any further embellishment.

When Marshall says “I am sorry to have distorted my record and to allow it to stand uncorrected”, it seems a bit of a weak admission of the circumstances.

The real issue is one of credibility. Former Tribal Chairman Marshall came to Middleboro – making a bunch of promises – none of which were codified in the final deal. He played the race card when Jacquie asked to read a letter from a Connecticut Selectman about the effects of the casinos. This of course was just the first in a long line of racism charges against the anti-casino residents. Our final agreement contains the term “good faith” 12 times. This covers sections of the agreement that were not really complete but would be negotiated later in “good faith”. I for one don’t have a lot of faith about the person we have been dealing with all along. The good “steward of the land” who has nothing but Middleboro’s best interests at heart.

Adding more cracks to the veneer of credibility is the treatment received by Tribal elder Amelia Bingham. Ms. Bingham was essentially kicked out of her own tribe for asking questions about the financial deals that Marshall had entered into. To date these deals have not been made public. Back in early June CFO brought Ms. Bingham to a selectmen’s meeting. Ms. Bingham tried her best to warn the Middleboro BOS that the Wampanoag people had deep concerns about Mr. Marshall and specifically warned:

A video is available on the CFO site. I was embarrassed by the treatment Ms. Bingham received in this meeting … but I digress.

When a Wampanoag tribal elder offered to come and speak to CFO – we listened. Too bad no one else did.

So here we are. Substandard agreement in hand, past warnings from CFO unheeded, and promises of “good faith” negotiations made with a person who has a chronic honesty problem.

And perhaps the saddest thing of all is the effect on the Wampanoag Tribe. Former Chairman Marshall has done them a huge disservice – jeopardizing all their efforts by not being forthright about his demons. Our selectman were deceived, our townspeople were deceived, Governor Patrick was deceived, and the Wampanoag people were deceived.

This casino and associated agreement is like a dead fish – it just stinks more each and every day. It is time to rip up the agreement and start over following these steps:

1. Public debate and information meetings
2. Public election – “Do you want a casino?”
3. Hire professional negotiators to create agreement with input from area towns and the state.
4. Lengthy public debate on agreement substance.
5. Public election – “Do you want the casino agreement?”

Had we we followed these steps from the beginning, we would not be in the mess we are in and our once lovely town would not be so bitterly divided.

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