Friends of the Family,

With the thermometer hitting 90, we are truly in the dog days of summer. Many of you are probably on vacation and may not read this message until you return, but the gears of government are still cranking on Beacon Hill. Unfortunately, it seems more and more like the process of making sausage.

It is perplexing that with so many people out of work and the economy stumbling along a year after President Obama declared a “summer of recovery” that the state’s leaders don’t have their eyes set on more important issues than casinos and the “Bathroom Bill.”

However, as my message earlier today said, those two bills are the topic of conversations, not only between the Speaker, Senate President and Governor, but other legislators as well. Is a deal being hammered out that would bring casinos, slot machines and a bathroom free-for-all to the Commonwealth? Maybe. With conversations going on behind closed doors, it’s all hearsay and rumors so far.

Two things we know are:

• Governor Patrick wants casinos and he wants the “Bathroom Bill.”
• Speaker DeLeo wants slot machines at the tracks and he has sponsored the “Bathroom Bill” in the past.

Those are the known facts and we have heard that the two issues are being discussed in the same meetings. That does not mean that a deal is imminent or that the two are part of the same negotiations, but you get the drift! Another piece of this of this story is that there is increasing pressure coming from liberal members of the Legislature to push the “Bathroom Bill” through in the wake of the passage of same-sex “marriage” in New York and civil unions in Rhode Island.

Many of these liberal legislators oppose expanded gambling because they see it as a regressive tax on the poor, to which we heartily agree! However, are these legislators being tempted to vote for slot machines and casinos in order to get their “Bathroom Bill?”

If you have not done so yet, please CLICK HERE to make a phone call to your state representative. Ask them to oppose the “Bathroom Bill” and to lobby against any deals to pass slot machines and the “Bathroom Bill.” You may get a recording, but leave a message and plan to call back next week. This is a critical time for Massachusetts on two very costly bills in regards to family values and public safety.

For our families,