It gets worse for Commissioner Valentino. I can see why he hid these so long before he released them.
Here is a March 06 email to Cy Keefer in which Valentino discusses the need to meet with School Superintendent Malcolm Thomas, how they can say the bingo casino will “help the kids” and how mad Valentino is with fellow Commissioners Grover Robinson and Kevin White. He even wanted to get people to run against Robinson and White:
“You’ve got to watch the rerun of last night’s county commission meeting. I got F*#@ED again by Commissioner Grover Robinson (District 4) and Commissioner Kevin White (District 5). They shot down the engineering firm that successfully won the bid for the $1.5-million sidewalk systems on Gulf Beach Hwy. from the Bridge to Blue Angel Pky.”
Valentino identifies some unknown person – referred to as “that very important contact you recently made” to “simultaneously nail the downtown crowd and to get that crowd to:
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1. support a new candidate I have to run against one of them.
2. support me.
3. and to get him to use influence to set these two guys straight.”
Valentino is toast.
Read march-6-email
Popularity: 25% [?]
[...] He says that he will actively seek candidates to against Grover Robinson and Kevin White for opposing his ideas (see Why Valentino hid emails ) [...]
I want to know who this important contact is?
It’s the way things are done here
Do the right thing for the right people
We finally got a commisioner that doesnt sit on his rear. Maybe not the sharpest knife in the drawer but at least he’s out there trying to help the community hands on. I think everyone should be allowed to talk to folks about projects and strategies. It will take a fight though because of all the stumps sitting here rottening. Some folks call them nimby’s.
Randy -
I could “out post” you with stories that are just the opposite, especially in these tough economic times. However, what is more surpising is that you aren’t even concerned with the content of these emails and willing to keep your blinders on. Maybe you are on the bingo payroll along with Beth Barrios. Don’t deny that she is or I will ask Rick post the email that confirms she is being paid by the developer to help circumvent the TRUTH!
Newsday.com Communities share mixed experiences with Indian casinos BY BART JONES bart.jones@newsday.com 10:23 PM EDT, June 2, 2009 For local newspaper publisher Phil Austin, the arrival of an Indian casino near Oneida in upstate New York has kept the area’s economy from sinking into oblivion. “Without it, we’d be in the middle of nowhere and we’d be dead in the water,” said Austin, publisher of The Oneida Daily Dispatch. As the Shinnecocks in Southampton move closer to gaining federal recognition – and to possibly opening a casino – the results of similar ventures elsewhere are debatable for the local communities that surround the gambling halls, according to Indian experts and local leaders. Steven P. Lanza, an economics professor at the University of Connecticut who has studied the impact of Indian casinos on neighboring communities in Connecticut, said in general that the horror stories are exaggerated. Crime has not risen dramatically, most property values have increased and traffic problems have not been overwhelming, he said. But he said communities face a life-changing dilemma: Do they want to develop economically – and become busier – or remain “sleepy backwaters”? In the normally sleepy Town of Massena on the New York-Canadian border, glass company owner John Morris said he’s seen few improvements locally from the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino, which opened in 1999. But Massena Supervisor Gary Edwards said the casino was a “godsend” as the area’s economy has declined. Just in the last month a GM plant shut, costing 400 jobs.He and others noted that an influx of Asian and Latino immigrant workers to the casinos means school systems such as Norwich must grapple with 30 different languages. That means hiring ESL teachers. But others think the benefits brought by the casinos far outweigh the challenges. Mayor Joseph W. Jaskiewicz of Montville said southeast Connecticut lost much of its major employers – defense contractors who built submarines – over the last couple of decades. The casinos filled the void. “If it was not here, we would really be struggling,” he said. He noted that Montville has struck a warm relationship with the Mohegans, who signed a compact committing $500,000 a year to the town of 18,000 people. That is on top of about $800,000 it receives as its share of revenue the casinos must give each year to the state. But it doesn’t work the same for every community. For example, North Stonington receives about the same as Montville from the state but has no compact with the Mashantucket Pequot. “We used to be a drive-through town,” Jaskiewicz said. “We’re no longer a drive-through town. People have a reason to stop.”