“SAVE GREYHOUND RACING IN MASSACHUSETTS,” COLUMNIST URGES LEGISLATORS

Barbara Anderson,  executive director of Massachusetts’ Citizens for Limited Taxation, is urging her state’s legislators to delay implementation of a ban on greyhound racing until voters can be given a chance to reconsider the issue in a January 2010 special election.

 

In the October 24 online edition of the Salem News, Anderson wrote:

"As a longtime practitioner of initiative petitions, I must say that last year’s vote on Question 3 , to end greyhound racing in Massachusetts, was simply wrong. It was, however, understandable, since voters had little chance to make an informed decision.

While Question 3 proponents alleged animal abuse, Question 3 opponents ran the worst defensive campaign in the history of ballot questions. For some reason, instead of proving to voters that the dogs were not being mistreated, they had campaign banners telling voters to vote No on Questions 1, 2 and 3!

Imagine this: Someone is trying to take away your job, and you are telling them to vote no on a tax break and marijuana? The racetracks never took the threat seriously, and they lost. Now their employees will join other Massachusetts citizens in unemployment lines, with unemployment revenues and health insurance fast running out, while Massachusetts greyhounds will be sent to other states with even fewer protections against their being abused.

Or, while unwanted greyhounds cannot by law be euthanized, they will now compete for adoption with other dogs whom the recession has left homeless — and these dogs can be put down if no one wants them.

Fortunately, there is a solution to this problem that will still respect "the will of the voters," as I have so heartily endorsed for many years. There is going to be another statewide election on Jan. 19, 2010 — three weeks after the racetracks are scheduled to close — this one for U.S. senator. Legislators can put the greyhound racing question right back on the ballot. With no other ballot questions, and only one political race, there will be a chance for the media to find the truth about how the dogs are treated, and help the voters make an informed decision.

A visit to meet the happy hounds of Wonderland should inspire a vote to save their — and the track workers’ — jobs.

So I’d suggest that you vote to suspend the racetrack closings until we can vote on the issue again in three months."

Anderson’s columns appear regularly in the newspaper’s Viewpoint section.