Gaming panel withholds contenders' names for top post

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is moving closer to choosing an executive director, but for now the names of the candidates are being kept secret from the public.

"We have our finalists for executive director in background checks right now," Chairman Stephen Crosby said during the commission's Thursday meeting. "We will be bringing them in for public interviews as soon as we have background checks done."

In the Bay State, names of job finalists for municipal and state posts are a matter of public record.

"Once finalists have been selected and forwarded to the governing body for its consideration, their identity is a matter of public record," according to the Massachusetts Recruitment Guidelines Handbook, published by the Massachusetts Municipal Management Association and the International City/County Management Association.

After the meeting, commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll refused to release the names of the finalists or their resumes, saying in an email they will be kept private until the background checks are completed. Later, she followed up with an email saying the candidates are not yet considered finalists, even though that's what Crosby called them during the meeting.

"Chairman Crosby is enthusiastic about the progress being made in the commission's important search for an executive director," she wrote. "Potential candidates are not yet considered finalists. It is a misstatement to characterize potential candidates as finalists at this time. Background checks are a necessary prequalifier to determine if a potential candidate will advance to becoming a finalist. The commission looks forward to sharing that information when available."

She declined to say under what exemption of state public records and open meeting laws the names are being withheld.

The gaming commission, as a public entity, operates under the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law. The Times is appealing the commission's decision to withhold the candidates' names with the state's public records division.

The commission also announced Thursday that two potential developers turned in the necessary paperwork to begin initial background checks. They are among three companies that have paid the $400,000 application fee and submitted supplementary materials.

As many as seven other companies have requested detailed information and could still apply for the preapproval process by the Jan. 15 deadline, Driscoll said in an email, although one of those companies has already bowed out of contention.

As for the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Southeastern Massachusetts, neither was mentioned during the board's first meeting of the new year. KG Urban Enterprises, a developer hoping to build a New Bedford casino, had issued a plea for the commission to reconsider a decision to give the tribe three more months to clear some of its federal hurdles for an Indian casino in Taunton.

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