Where is the Outrage?
We live in an upside down world where anything can happen at anytime and it often does.
That being said, it appears increasingly apparent that Steve Wynn’s days as the leader of the company he founded are numbered.
At a special hearing last week before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission concerning allegations of dozens of incidents of sexual misconduct by Wynn as reported in the Wall Street Journal, the end result seemed to be that the Commission tossed the ball into Wynn’s Board of Director’s Court.
Gaming Commission Chairman Stephen Crosby made it clear that Wynn’s company has an obligation to take care of this matter in order to show the company’s suitability to retain their license.
According to the gaming Commission suitability is what this is all about.
The Boston Globe has said in a spate of recent articles that Wynn will likely be gone and soon.
University of Pennsylvania, Wynn’s alma mater, is removing Wynn’s name from a building he built.
The University of Iowa, to which he donated $25 million for eye research is doing the same.
Wynn is now vilified and justifiably so.
He might as well be Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood director who was stripped of everything but his money because of dozens of sexual incidents lodged against him by actresses.
Why not a word about these shocking and disappointing allegations and impending disaster from the Mayor of Everett?
Does the mayor feel so crippled by his own prior difficulties with claims of sexual harassment lodged against him to make a statement of his own?
His silence is deafening.
The allegations against Wynn are appalling, as Governor Charlie Baker said.
Saying something, expressing individual outrage about Wynn’s behavior and the allegations is not a crime.
Saying nothing, as the mayor has failed to do, is the crime in this instance.
What a Difference a Week Makes
Last week the Leader Herald wasn’t invited to a news conference held by the Mayor of Everett in his office with Superintendent of Schools Fred Foresteire and two local reporters.
The outcome of that news conference was a nicely orchestrated view of the world through the mayor’s eyes.
What did the public learn?
Everything is going fine.
No cuts will be made.
The mayor’s office and the school department are meeting and consulting with one another and the $8 million shortfall will be taken care of.
Our lead story tells a different story that debunks the local news produced following the press conference of the week before.
Pink slips are going out this week.
The mayor has made his decision to cut the School Department budget.
Dozens of School Department employees are about to be laid off.
In the end, nearly 150 employees, including 70 teachers and aids will be gone as a result of the mayor’s unwillingness to pick up the tab for running the School Department.
With all the cash the mayor has told us he has on hand, the cuts are inexplicable and cannot be justified given the needs of the School Department.
That was some press conference we weren’t invited to last week.
In this instance, the Leader Herald isn’t publishing fake news.
That is the work of others.
As for School Department layoffs, it is a sad story about the city’s financial condition even with the tens of millions of dollars coming into the city treasury from Wynn Resorts.
It also shows the mayor’s unwillingness to show support to Everett’s public schools.
Even in neighboring Chelsea no such Draconian cuts are taking place.