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Springfield Mayor Hopes To Block Vote On Casino Repeal

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Paul Tuthill
Published February 20, 2014 at 6:23 PM EST
An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA
MGM Springfield
An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA

The mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts is seeking to join an effort to block a voter referendum that could repeal the state’s casino gambling law.

An artist's rendering of MGM Resorts proposed casino in Springfield, MA
Credit MGM Springfield
An artist's rendering of the casino MGM Resorts hopes to build in Springfield, MA Casino opponents want to put a question on the November ballot to repeal the casino gambling law. A lawsuit on whether the question will appear on the ballot is pending before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court.

   Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and nine other registered voters in the city have filed a motion to submit arguments in the case pending before the state’s highest court that will decide if the casino repeal referendum appears on the November ballot.  City solicitor Ed Pikula said they hope to argue that the initiative petition by casino opponents nullifies the results of last year’s Springfield referendum that approved a casino development deal with MGM.

  "Our efforts are aimed solely at assuring that the SJC gets the Springfield perspective as to the legality of the initiative petition."

   Casino companies are also hoping to keep the repeal question off the ballot.  The court is scheduled to hear arguments in May with a decision expected in July.

Copyright 2014 WAMC Northeast Public Radio
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Paul Tuthill
Paul Tuthill is WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief. He’s been covering news, everything from politics and government corruption to natural disasters and the arts, in western Massachusetts since 2007. Before joining WAMC, Paul was a reporter and anchor at WRKO in Boston. He was news director for more than a decade at WTAG in Worcester. Paul has won more than two dozen Associated Press Broadcast Awards. He won an Edward R. Murrow award for reporting on veterans’ healthcare for WAMC in 2011. Born and raised in western New York, Paul did his first radio reporting while he was a student at the University of Rochester.
See stories by Paul Tuthill

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