Sinatra’s Resignation
By Josh Resnek
Attorney Kim Sinatra, the 58-year-old lawyer for Wynn Resorts who lied her way through Wynn Resorts suitability hearings before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission has resigned.
Her resignation is considered an earthquake in the casino world.
Her resignation has to be connected to the Gaming Commission’s investigation into Wynn Resorts suitability and whether or not the company is suitable to continue holding a gaming license in Massachusetts.
On the other hand, we have no real insight into what exactly the Gaming Commission is doing or what it might do – so maybe Sinatra’s resignation is just a coincidence – but it isn’t.
It can’t be.
The only reason she resigned is because the Board of Directors suggested to her that she resign instead of them ring her.
This must have been motivated by a belief at the top of the company that the license is hanging in the balance right now.
According to the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg and the Las Vegas Sun, Sinatra was paid something in the range of $14 million last year as Wynn’s legal chief.
In general, no one making $14 million a year suddenly resigns without another job offer in hand.
Could this be an instance of Wynn Resorts dumping her so it can say to the Gaming Commission: “Look, we’ve let her go. We are changing who we are. Yes, she didn’t disclose to you what she should have – but now she is gone, and we have appointed another woman to head the Wynn legal department, so we are OK, aren’t we?”
Not really.
If we simply connect the dots we know that lawyers and commissioners themselves have likely had discussions with Wynn executives about the investigation the Gaming Commission is conducting and which it is supposed to release this summer.
Well, the summer is already here. We are in the dead of it.
The Gaming Commission report and action is nearly upon us but we don’t know what it is.
What are the possibilities?
A huge Fine, something in the range of $50 million which would go to the state and some of it to the city of Everett. This is our prediction. Imposing such a fine, which the Gaming Commission can do, turns all the wrong doing upside down doesn’t it? Allowing Wynn Resorts/Encore to pay its way out of its suitability problem is a perfect strategy.
Wynn would cut that check in an instant to set the record straight.
Hold on. Some very moral types will claim that such a fine absolving Wynn Resorts of its perfidy during its suitability hearings and during the Gaming Commission investigation (the initial investigation that revealed nothing) does nothing but enable the company.
Some commissioners must believe that Wynn is not t to run the casino, fine or no fine.
Certainly some of the commissioners have demanded that the license be taken away.
“We are going to look like fools and stooges for the Wynn company if we slap them on the wrist,” it is likely at least one commissioner has said to another.
“These people have lied to us right from the beginning. Their company culture is rotten with sexual harassment from top to bottom,” at least one commissioner must have said to another, we assume.
It would be unnatural for commissioners not to speak this way with each other.
Now comes Gaming Commission chair Mr. Steven Crosby.
He wants to be the head of UMass. He has looked wishy washy throughout the casino mess with Wynn and he even has a connection to the land the casino is rising on which some say is the subject of a continuing Federal investigation.
If the commission takes Wynn Resorts license away, this would be a 15 on the Richter earthquake scale.
If this happens it was done because Crosby pushed for it. Such powerful action by Crosby could lead to him being named UMass president. Such an action would show the people of Massachusetts and the gaming world that you can’t lie to the Gaming Commission and continue to hold a license.
If this happens, its explains why so much time is passing before the Gaming Commission concludes and releases the findings of its investigation and make its decision.
The longer the jury is out the less you feel confident about what exactly the jury will do.
If the Gaming Commission decides to take away the Wynn license, then at the same time it must have a protocol – and a timely one at that – to find another suitable licensee.
The Gaming Commission’s decision means everything to Everett.
It means a lot to the reputation of the State of Massachusetts.
It means more to Wynn/ Encore than to anyone else.
Much is at risk.
Capuano vs. Pressley
In an odd turn of events, it turns out the Everett vote in the September primary, whatever it is, might be the difference in the outcome of the congressional campaign between our friend, incumbent Congressman Mike Capuano (left), and his opponent, Boston City Councilor Ayanna Pressley (above), who we don’t really know.
We know this: Mike is as liberal, tolerant, intelligent and forgiving as any Democrat in the history of the party. He is no stranger to us in the district, and he has always spoken his mind while in Congress.
Pressley, by all appearances is trying to out liberal Mike which we here at the newspaper believe is an impossibility.
You can’t out liberal a liberal.
Mike is our resident liberal and has been for 20 years.
He is accessible. He is outspoken. He is Somerville smart.
Recently, Pressley suggested that it is OK to make Trump supporters feel uncomfortable.
As reported in the Boston Herald: 
“Congressional candidate Ayanna Pressley (right) said voters should not shy away from making Trump administration officials feel “uncomfortable,” while her rival in the hotly contested 7th District race is urging a bit more respect ‘Calls for civility to meet an uncivil threat to our liberties, our rights and our basic humanity are deeply misguided,’ she said.
If you hate President Trump, as so many do, and if you hate the inert Congress and Senate, as so many do, then you need to make those people feel uncomfortable or nothing will change.
Mike Capuano makes the establishment feel uncomfortable.
This is good.
If you want real action in Washington then the nation needs to get into a civil disobedience mold – but this won’t happen because we have become a soft place where we’d rather watch our at screen tvs and enjoy our easy lives rather than be as we were during the Vietnam War when angry, violent protestors changed the direction of the nation.
We have spoken with Mike dozens of times over the years about the incompetence of some members of his own party as well as the Republicans and about their social, moral, economic and political bankruptcy.
Mike is never uncivil. Such behavior would serve no purpose in the political environment he lives in – which we all live in. On the other hand, he is not afraid to fight or to speak his mind.
If Pressley thinks she can beat Mike and head to Washington and be anything other than one voice drowned out by the inert, ineffectual, congress, well, she’s in for a wakeup call.
Mike is already a senior congressman. It is an uneven trade to get rid of Mike for a first termer. Makes no political sense whatsoever.
Pressley was here last week on a campaign stop.
Mike has been visiting the city repeatedly during the past three months.
Mike stands for what is right.
He gets it.
The Rep Race
Without a hint of doubt, the last 7 days have given Stat Smith (below) a giant boost in visibility throughout the city. Neither Gerly Adrien nor the rep together can compete with Stat Smith’s sign attack.
His signs, perhaps 300 of them, have gone up everywhere throughout the city.
Signs don’t vote, all of us toughened older followers of political races will tell you.
Signs don’t vote but an abundance of them certainly tells a story as it does in this race between Smith, Adrien and the rep.
There is such an abundance of Smith signs that it indicates Smith is most likely leading contender to capture the seat in the September primary.
The rep race is a popularity contest.
It measures who is most popular – Smith, Adrien or the rep?
Most political observers know it alls in Everett will tell you that the winner of this race must score at least 1400 votes. This is apparently the magic number.
Smith is eyeing what he considers “my” vote. Adrien is seeking a citywide turnaround of voters into her camp. She is planning for an upset.
The rep, well, he is very busy with the important work he does on Beacon Hill.
Polling apparently shows Smith ahead of the pack.
Smith is out working doggedly. He wants the seat. He wants to show folks around here he’s paid his dues for things past and that he’s as good as anyone else.
From our observation, Smith is working harder and smarter than Adrien and the rep.
If all things are equal he wins the primary.
Let’s see what happens.
The Job Center
Looking for a job? Head up to city hall. The mayor is there waiting.
Two weeks ago, Wynn Resorts/Encore opened up a job center at city hall amid a bit of fanfare.
The job center, which might be better called “the mayor’s job center” is apparently intended to make it easier to get a job at Wynn Resorts/Encore. After all, 4,000 jobs are expected to be generated by the casino/hotel when it opens in June, 2019.
The Everett mayor thinking as he does, might very well believe those jobs are his to give or to withhold.
Who wants this kind of situation in a city where the mayor withholds jobs from people he is inclined not to like, who do not support him. The mayor is inclined to fire people who disagree with him or tell him they’d never vote for him. What about these people applying for a job at the mayor’s city hall job center?
Who wants the mayor responsible for approving these jobs or judging who gets them and who doesn’t? Who wants the mayor picking up the phone and directing someone in that job office to hire so and so?
The probe of the Probation Office in Massachusetts sent people to jail for promising jobs.
There is no one today in Massachusetts state government on Beacon Hill calling agencies to ask to show favor to an applicant for a job.
In today’s political environment, the mayor trying to get a friend or voter a job is a violation of state law.
Is there not a conflict of interest for Wynn/Encore placing their job of ce inside city hall and having it 50 feet from the mayor’s office?
Is it ethical? Is it legal?
Who wants this?
Friends get jobs. Foes are sent packing. This is the way it works with city jobs despite the mayor telling you the job process is fair and open. You don’t have to be beholden to the mayor of Everett to get a job.
Right? Wrong.
We don’t believe it is sound business practice to place the Encore job center inside city hall for all the obvious reasons.
The mayor was recently heard telling a supplicant that he could make everything right for her friend who was asking him a favor: “Just give me a call. I’ll get your friend a job at the casino,” he said.
Knowing the mayor, he will try to do this 4,000 times.
Why did Wynn/Encore locate its job center about 50 feet from the mayor’s third floor corner office?
Good question, isn’t it!
The Wynn/Encore job center at city hall. Only friends of the mayor need apply?