David Nunes: One Gambling Addict Massachusetts Can’t Afford

David Nunes with his Crossroads Massachusetts, LLC is the latest player attempting to disrupt the current legislative process to create enabling rules for casino gambling in Massachusetts.  Nunes, an Aspen Colorado resident and developer, is threatening try and game the system with non-competitive slots and preferences for Indian gaming.  He has stretched his Massachusetts connections via Crossroads, LLC lobbying and campaign cash for more than a decade in a desperate attempt to feed a habit of corruption and special preference in his venture to add millions to a personal fortune that is anything but common in the Commonwealth.

Nunes – a purported three-time loser in his attempts to pass casino legislation including special preferences to benefit his narrow interests on the East Coast striking out, most notably, in Rhode Island with mega-partner Donald Trump – is so hooked in trying to cut a deal for his own benefit, he’s spent 13 years trying to game the state.  His lobbying efforts, nearly $100,000 spent in the past three years alone, apparently haven’t paid off sufficiently in spite of tens of thousands in political campaign contributions.  As a result, Nunes is threatening to take his marbles, lose as they may be, and play a different game.  This time dragging the state into a ballot measure process in which only he would be allowed, along with two Indian gaming operations, to open a casino in Massachusetts.

Boldly proclaiming to the Herald, "This is my life insurance policy," Nunes claims he’ll funnel new cash into an initiative process and not let anybody else even compete adding, “If I’m going to spend the money for the initiative, I’m not going to do it so somebody else can win.”   Nunes claims he’ll throw hundreds of thousands of dollars more to gather the thousands of signatures necessary to place his special preference question on the November 2012 ballot.  OK, so will have another year of disruption with some carpet bagging money bags allowed to put a measure on the state ballot that serves no one’s interests other than his own?  Who wouldn’t love to have that kind of dough and gall?

So just who is David Nunes; Why has he spent a fortune, brags he is prepared to spend even more, to support an industry that nearly one-third of Massachusetts residents oppose? Why the special deal for Indian gaming in his brazen and otherwise self-serving ballot tactic?  Send me your dirt, while I start digging.  Somebody this hair brained must have piles under the carpet...