New England First Amendment Center

The decision earlier this week by the gaming developer The Cordish Companies to pursue plans for a giant slots parlor somewhere in Massachusetts will certainly rekindle the debate in Danvers, one of the communities the company is considering as a location.

Let’s hope the town’s Board of Selectmen does a much better job of making the public a part of the conversation in the weeks to come. So far, the board seems more interested in secrecy than transparency. Earlier this month, selectmen met individually with Cordish officials so they wouldn’t be subject to the state’s Open Meeting Law, deliberately shielding themselves from public view on one of the most important issues to come before the town in decades.