So says the growing chorus of opposition to what I call Governor Deval Patrick’s plan to expand gambling addiction in Massachusetts. Although as a candidate he opposed casino gambling, Patrick has made casino gambling the centerpiece of his economic program. This has come as a surprise to those of us who supported him from early on.

The Boston Globe reports that while the governor’s support for his own program has been “tepid,” a far flung network of opponents from the Massachusetts Council of Churches to the Massachusetts Restaurant Association is mobilizing against it. Restauranteurs are rightfully concerned that massive “resort casinos” will undermine existing businesses:

Over the past several years there has been a well-funded effort to expand gaming in the Commonwealth. Proposals to allow thousands of slot machines at the state’s racetracks have been unsuccessful thus far. There are important economic risks that could result from expanding gaming, in addition to the well-documented social costs.

The MRA opposes all efforts to expand gaming and allow slot machines at racetracks.

* The restaurant industry is vital to the state’s economy and our success is directly correlated to people’s discretionary income. The expansion of gaming would divert much of that discretionary income out of the economy,the same income that is presently used for dining out.

* The huge revenues that would be created by slot machines would allow these establishments to attract customers away from our businesses with their free or subsidized food, beverages, and entertainment.

* The restaurant industry is vital to the state’s economy. We employ over 9% of the Massachusetts workforce and contributed over $591 million in sales tax on meals last year. Expanded gaming would put this very important economic engine at great peril.

* Our industry is currently being challenged by the economy. Today, operators are facing huge increases in the cost of doing business. Some of these factors include healthcare, energy, and the overall vulnerability in the commodities market.

Restaurants are good neighbors and are owned by many people who have invested in their communities. The livelihoods of many are dependent upon the success of these small businesses. To shift the income of a few businesses (racetracks) would be benefiting a few at the expense of many.

Meanwhile, a pro-gambling addiction state legislator plans to stage a procasino hearing featuring… (drum roll please) — the gambling industry!

The Springfield Republican reports:

BOSTON – Hoping to create some momentum, a pro-casino legislator plans to hold a hearing on Beacon Hill that will emphasize the economic benefits of expanded gambling.

State Rep. David L. Flynn, D-Bridgewater, said he invited representatives of some gambling companies including Harrah’s Entertainment of Las Vegas and owners of the state’s four horse and dog tracks.

“We had the anti-gaming hearing, the can’t-do hearing,” said Flynn, co-chairman of the Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets. “This is a can-do hearing.”

Oh yeah. And top officials of the Patrick administration will be there too.

The Daily News reports:

Rudy Giuliani is jetting around the country wooing Bible-thumping conservatives, but his plane is often provided by a king of Sin City.

The Republican presidential hopeful anted up more than $122,000 last summer alone for jets traceable to casino kingpin Sheldon Adelson, whose Las Vegas Sands empire has made him the third-richest American, a Daily News review of campaign records shows.

Last quarter, The Sands’ innocuously named Interface Operations LLC was the top provider of corporate jets to the frequently flying Giuliani, who was whisked around the country on the casino’s plush Gulfstream G-IV in late August and early September, records show.

“You have to follow the money and ask, ‘Why is Sheldon Adelson partnering with Rudy Giuliani?’” asked Stacey Cargill, an anti-gambling and Republican Party activist in Iowa, where the nation’s first presidential caucus is set for Jan. 3.

Cargill, who views even legal gambling as a magnet for crime and vice, said, “If Rudy Giuliani wants to be the crimefighting candidate, why is he partnering with a large and growing gambling empire?”

But airplane rides around the country are not the only thing Giuliani has recieved from the casino kingpin:

Last month, Adelson… held a Giuliani fund-raiser at his Venetian casino in Las Vegas.

High-rollers who agreed to raise $25,000 for Giuliani’s presidential bid got a special treat – cigars with the former mayor.

The U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops is too poor, according to The Boston Globe, to send to its local parishes, its traditional instructional mailing on how to approach politics and public policy. The Globe did not explain why the Bishops are broke and buried the point in the last paragraph of the story — but we can guess that it probably has something to do with the massive payouts the church has made to settle lawsuits related to the priest pedophilia scandal.

Traditionally, the document has been mailed to all parishes in the United States; this year, to save money, the cash-strapped bishops’ conference will e-mail the document to parishes and post it on a website.

However, the Globe headlined the story, O’Malley draws line with Democrats: Backing abortion rights candidates ‘borders on scandal’.

The Globe reported:

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley of Boston, saying the Democratic Party has been persistently hostile to opponents of abortion rights, asserted yesterday that the support of many Catholics for Democratic candidates “borders on scandal.”

In his sharpest comments about the political landscape since he was installed as archbishop of Boston four years ago, O’Malley made clear that, despite his differences with the Republican Party over immigration policy, capital punishment, economic issues, and the war in Iraq, he views abortion as the most important moral issue facing policymakers.

“I think the Democratic Party, which has been in many parts of the country traditionally the party which Catholics have supported, has been extremely insensitive to the church’s position, on the gospel of life in particular, and on other moral issues,” O’Malley said.

The Globe continued:

O’Malley’s predecessors as archbishop of Boston were also staunchly antiabortion. Cardinal Bernard F. Law called a news conference to criticize a Republican governor, William F. Weld, for his support for abortion rights, and Law had the lieutenant governor at the time, Paul Cellucci, also a Republican, disinvited from a Catholic high school for the same reason; Law also blasted Geraldine A. Ferraro, the Democratic candidate for vice president in 1984, for her support of abortion rights. Law’s predecessor, Cardinal Humberto S. Medeiros, in 1980 tried unsuccessfully to persuade Catholics to vote against two Democratic congressional candidates, Barney Frank and Jim Shannon, because of their support for abortion rights.

Interesting, but I don’t recall — and the Globe does not mention — any Catholic official ever having blasted any Massachusetts Republicans in recent years for their positions on abortion — suchas the formerly prochoice Gov. Mitt Romney or continuously prochoice Lt. Gov and later gubernatorial candidate Kerry Healey — although I suppose I could have missed something.

It is interesting too, to see the Cardinal attack the Democratic Party as a whole, as if it had a lot of say, or should have a lot of say over who the membership picks as its candidates, and who the voters ultimately choose as its representatives.

[See the expanded version of this post at Talk to Action.]