Political/Social commentary

Random musings on The Week That Was

Posted by noonante on June 16, 2013
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Some random observations on recent events:

  • What is Barack Obama thinking about with Syria involvement?  Candidate Obama talked about dumb wars.  He got us out of one of the dumbest in Iraq, andis ending our involvement in Afghanistan  -  although our initial reason for going in was valid  -  but we are getting embroiled in one of the most complicated situations in that part of the world. Yes, it would be nice if U.S. involvement would bring an end to the killings of thousands of people, but that is a Utopian fantasy at best.  The worst is being embroiled in a civil war in which I do not think one per cent of Americans could identify even two of the insurgent factions, although when you start with Al Qaeda as one, you have to ask “What is Barack Obama thinking?
  • Does not the Iran election make his involvement look even more foolish?  While it is too soon to speculate on the effect of Hassan Rowhani’s election on world events, it is clear that the Iranian people have sent a message to the theocratic dictators of that country.  If greater engagement and influence by the United States is a possibility, it is not helped by choosing the Sunni side in the Syria quagmire.
  • Thanks Bill Clinton for manning up.  Clinton’s comments that Obama could look like a “wuss” if he didn’t engage in Syria is a level of sophistication we might expect from George W. Bush.  Clinton can’t do better than that?
  • Can we debate the serious issue of government surveillance rather than Edward Snowden’s status?  It was perhaps hoping for too much to think that the release of secret government information about surveillance would focus on the merits of the snooping rather than whether the leaker was a hero or a traitor.  That, however, is what has dominated discussion in the blogosphere as well as in the hallowed halls of Congress.  I don’t care what the guy is called.  Why are my phone records going to the government?
  • Speaking of the Congress, is there a competition between the Kings for who can be the biggest clown?  Peter of New York leaped to the forefront by saying journalist Glenn Greenwald should be prosecuted for reporting on the NSA security issue.  Steven of Iowa cannot be far behind, particularly since the immigration issue is working its way to the House.
  • With the riots in France over same-sex marriage, will French Fries be replacing Freedom Fries in the Congressional dining hall?  While one does not normally associate traditional marriage values with France  -  at least traditional in our sense  -  do the riots opposing same-sex marriage mean the French will be allowed back into the right-wings theocratic fold.
  • Speaking of God, what is it with the new Pope?  Thus far, I have criticized Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, the media and Congressional Republicans.  But Pope Francis must have the Vatican insiders  -  including what he referred to as the gay lobby  -  spinning.  It is too soon whether he is a true breath of fresh air in a moribund and archaic body, but he is off to a great start.
  • Is Jon Stewart on his way to becoming the next Wally Pipp?  I don’t know if there has been a new Wally Pipp since the original, but John Oliver is not making me miss John Stewart.
  • For an athlete, is there anything more embarrassing than the hockey goalie replaced during the period?  During the Boston-Pittsburg series, Pittsburg replaced its goalie after the starter gave up three goals in the first period.  I know replacing a pitcher happens all the time  -  indeed, they are not expected to go the whole game  -  but it must be humiliating to skate off in mid-period.

That’s it for now.

Two losses for racing

Posted by noonante on June 13, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

Horse racing suffered two losses this week, one through retirement and one because of death.

Ramon Dominguez announced he was retiring from riding because of serious injuries he suffered in January at Aqueduct.  He was not only one of the country’s best jockeys but, by all accounts, a truly decent and classy person.  It is another reminder of the risks the human participants in this sport take every time they get on the back of a thoroughbred.  We hope that there will be another role for him in the racing business.

The other loss was the passing of former Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci because of ALS.  Cellucci’s interest in racing came to light when his publicly-released tax returns showed income reported on a W-2G.  In states such as New York and Kentucky, success in wagering on horses may be viewed positively, but in a place like Massachusetts there is an exotic  -  if not slightly degenerate  -  aspect to a fondness for the track.  Cellucci was also a decent guy who never strayed too far from his working class routes growing up near Worcester, never losing an election as a Republican in the bluest of states.

Is NYRA Board awakening from its hibernation?

Posted by noonante on June 12, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 1 comment

I thought the New York Racing Association’s Reorganization Board on Monday finally began to exhibit indications that it will be taking a meaningful oversight role over NYRA and New York’s racing.  I have described previous meetings of the body as desultory, but we witnessed a spirited discussion on a contract award to the Global Betting Exchange that even resulted in the first vote by the new Board that had dissenters.

The GBE contract is intended to enhance NYRA’s advance deposit wagering system.  It resulted from a procurement begun in 2011 that ended up with the “old” NYRA Board approving a contract award in August, 2012.  The contentious debate began with reservations expressed by Robert Megna, a Board member but also Governor Cuomo’s Budget Director.  He conveyed the concerns of the Franchise Oversight Board  -  an entity with responsibility for overseeing NYRA’s finances as well as its adherence to procedures for awarding contracts  -  that NYRA did not follow its own procedures in making the award to GBE.  According to Megna, the FOB has “serious reservations about the bidding process.”

While the ensuing discussion may have been spirited, it shed more heat than light on the matter.  Several members, including those on the Board’s Audit Committee, stated that it was the first time they had heard concerns from the FOB about the process for awarding the contract.  If a consensus emerged, it was that while the FOB may have communicated their concerns to prior NYRA management, their issues never made it to the Board, particularly the Audit Committee charged with ensuring that such screw-ups do not happen.  We even had one Board member commenting that it was important to uncover who said what to whom, and when.

Perhaps such an inquiry can be expedited if Board members go back and review their notes from prior meetings.  At the initial meeting of the Board on December 12, one member raised the “account wagering” matter as something that had to be addressed immediately.  This prompted Board Chairman David Skorton to direct Acting CEO Ellen McClain to make a report by Christmas of all issues “hanging fire,” specifically including the account wagering issue.  (This report was apparently never done.)  At the next meeting on January 25, the meeting minutes indicate that the matter of the contract was “discussed and deferred.”  During the third Board meeting on February 27, McClain informed the Board that the FOB had questions regarding the “decision-making process” leading to the selection of GBE and had asked the Board to examine the contract award.  She further informed the Board that she had looked at the process again, was comfortable with it, and referred to GBE as offering “killer technology.”

At the Board’s fourth meeting on April 11, there was a more extended discussion of the GBE contract award.  McClain distributed a written report at the meeting which at least two Board members said answered the questions that needed to be answered and that the selection process was a good one.  Chairman Skorton emphasized that the Board should proceed at its own pace, in part because the McClain report had been delivered recently and partly because of the FOB concerns.  When Board member Megna was asked what his concerns were, he said the question was whether NYRA had followed its own procedures in awarding what he described as a sole source contract, and that the FOB had other questions that needed to be answered.  While Megna did not specify those questions, he thought the contract could move forward once they were addressed.  Chairman Skorton then announced he would convene an ad hoc committee that would review the FOB concerns, address them, and then move forward.  He assured the Board at the April meeting that there would be no need to wait for the next Board meeting before taking action on the contract.

It was, therefore, surprising to listen to the discussion at the June 10 meeting by Board members purportedly being blindsided at learning that the FOB had questions about the process used to select GBE.  While Bob Megna stated that it was not a new issue and that FOB had been raising it, his statements carried little weight with the Board, although one member did state that these were issues that had been discussed at prior meetings.  While most members had no recollection of the prior discussions  -  including Skorton’s commitment to an ad hoc group that would resolve the matter  -  there was no hesitancy in affixing the blame on prior NYRA management, which can only mean Ellen McClain.  When one Board member lamented the fact that this Board was now a governmental body and it is not how government acts, I had to laugh  -  as a former long-time government employee.  It is precisely how government all too often acts.  When you mess up, blame those who are no longer there to explain themselves.

So here is what was decided at the meeting:  the FOB will be asked to provide a written explanation of their issues with the GBE selection “within 48 hours;”  and, the Board will execute the GBE contract unless the FOB memo points out “substantial variance” from NYRA’s procedures on procurements.  You do not need to have attended law school to realize that a standard of “substantial variance” means this dispute is going to continue, since the state’s oversight agencies  -  not only the FOB but the State Gaming Commission, whose Acting Director chairs the FOB  -  will not be satisfied unless the award is cancelled.

It may be difficult to come up with a more glaring example of the effect on New York’s racing from a lack of leadership than this one.  The GBE contract may seem to be an esoteric matter, but NYRA estimates that it will lose between $3 and $5 million in the last three months of this year if the contract does not go forward.  And, no one, including the FOB and Bob Megna, has any questions about the value of GBE’s product.  But what is most frustrating is that this is a matter that could have been resolved with minimal effort over the past ten months since the contract award.

Unfortunately, there is no one, with the exception of the terminated Ellen McClain, who took the initiative to resolve this issue  -  and she is now being blamed for it.  (Significantly, no one at the June 10 meeting mentioned the McClain report that had been distributed prior to the April 11 meeting and was cited as answering the necessary questions.)  All one had to do is sit down with the Chair of the FOB, ascertain the problems and respond to them in writing.  If there really is a problem, then start over.  One person could have done this.  While members of the Board warrant criticism for not having done this  -  acknowledging that they are not paid for their service  -  the paid state employees deserve more than their share of criticism.  NYRA is, after all, an enterprise that is important to the state.  Depriving it of the $3 to $5 million this dispute could end up costing over just three months does not help with their financial viability.  Both Bob Megna and the Gaming Commission’s Acting Director have questioned previously whether NYRA should continue to receive revenues from Video Lottery Terminals.  Could they not have at least taken the initiative to resolve this?

NYRA takeover a year later

Posted by noonante on June 5, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 comments

It’s been a year since Governor Andrew Cuomo made his move to take control of New York’s thoroughbred racing.  It’s a good time to step back and see where we have gone.

While one might think that a state government’s seizure of a significant industry would only happen after considerable public debate, the Cuomo effort  -  at least the public part of it  -  moved from an initial assault to enacted legislation in a mere eight weeks, with but a single dissenting vote in the Legislature and no serious discussion in the media.  It began with an “Interim Report” by the State Racing and Wagering Board about an incorrect takeout percentage on certain wagers made on New York’s races over 15 months.  When the error was identified during an audit by the state’s Comptroller, the New York Racing Association corrected the percentage and repaid more than half of the $1.1 million over payment it had received to those bettors it could identify from its records.

Even though the Report was “interim” and had significant shortcomings  -  it does not appear the Racing Board interviewed anyone –  NYRA’s Board fired CEO Charles Hayward and General Counsel Patrick Kehoe a week later on May 3 without conducting their own review of the circumstances.

When the NYRA Board sought to replace the terminated executives, the head of the Racing Board and the chair of the Franchise Oversight Board  -  two of the four state agencies with oversight responsibility for NYRA  -  sent a letter on May 15 purporting outrage at what they described as illegal appointments.  Without citing any authority to support their claim of illegality, the two Cuomo officials also directed that revenues from Video Lottery Terminals  -  essential to NYRA’s finances  -  instead be held by the state, again without any reference to their legal authority for such an action.  In case members of the NYRA Board were still missing the message, the Cuomo Administration’s two top officials on racing proceeded to question the integrity of members of the Board, saying they may have had a “conflict” if they had “financial interests in horse racing.”  (This could mean, for example, the financial interest held by Board members Stuart Janney and Ogden Phipps in their two-year old colt named Orb.)  The letter additionally threatened an investigation into members “character and fitness” to determine whether racing licenses should be revoked.  This letter was sent just four days after The Saratogian reported that a “high-ranking source” said the Governor was considering making more appointees to the Board in addition to the state appointees already on the body in order to take control of it.

Having “prepared the battlefield” as they say in military campaigns, on May 22 the Governor quickly secured the “agreement” of an embarrassingly complicit NYRA Board to surrender control over racing and to amend the law so that 12 of the 17 Board members would be appointed by the Governor and legislative leaders, with Cuomo having eight of the appointments including the Chair.  He waited another 3 1/2 weeks to file the actual legislative language, doing so on the Saturday before the Legislature’s Thursday adjournment for the year.  While enacted in June, he did not sign it until October 1, and then made his appointments to the NYRA “Reorganization Board” on October 18.

Despite the bluster about the problems with the prior Board, five of the 12 state government appointees were on the former Board or had served previously.  (The “old” NYRA had the remaining five appointees;  its picks served on the prior Board.)  The Governor’s signature appointments were chef Bobby Flay and Jane Rosenthal, a founder of the Tribeca Film Festival who had no prior experience with racing.  The remaining 15 members were older white men with backgrounds in real estate, finance or the law.  Many of the new Board (including Flay) owned horses, which supposedly was a matter of great concern when Cuomo began his attack on the “old” NYRA.  The new Board has met five times, including its last meeting on April 29 which lasted 30 minutes, half of which was spent in a closed-door Executive Session.

So what has the “new” NYRA accomplished?

Equine health and safety has been the major priority of Chairman David Skorton, a policy for which he is to be commended.  Last year witnessed a significant number of fatalities at Aqueduct that in March led to the appointment of a Task Force to analyze the causes and make recommendations.  The Task Force consisting of widely-respected industry figures completed its report in August, but Cuomo did not permit its release until September 28.  If the number of fatalities is the sole measure of progress, Skorton has thus far succeeded.  In 2012, there were 22 racing fatalities at Aqueduct on both racing surfaces;  this year there were 9.  Through May 27 of each year, Belmont had two.

The Task Force recommended changes in the administration of legal medications by increasing the time between a race and the last administration of two particular drugs.  New York adopted the changes, and it is anticipated that other states in the mid-Atlantic will follow suit.

One of the most significant recommendations of the Task Force was to overhaul the management of race track veterinarians and the protocols under which they operate, and to hire an Equine Medical Director who would report to the oversight state regulatory body.  Chairman Skorton, however, decided that the position should be at NYRA, resulting in a dispute with the regulatory body (now the State Gaming Commission), that Skorton lost.  The result was an unnecessary delay, meaning that more than nine months after the Task Force concluded its work, there is still not an Equine Medical Director.

While important matters concerning equine safety have been raised, the NYRA Board and Gaming Commission continue to engage in the public relations foolishness of special security procedures for races, but only Grade I races around two turns for three-year olds, continuing their Travers and Wood Memorial protocols for the upcoming Belmont Stakes.  One would think that if these are meaningful and necessary precautions, they would have figured out a way to make them more universal since last August.

While this focus on equine safety is welcome, we should not lose sight of the fact that many of the steps that have been implemented were begun before the new NYRA Board took control.  Unfortunately, when we look beyond these measures, it is hard to identify any significant changes this Board has accomplished in what is now the eighth month of its tenure.

The most conspicuous shortcoming so far is the failure to appoint a successor to Hayward, who was fired more than a year ago.  Ellen McClain had the job three days short of a year, but press leaks back in August from those “high-ranking Cuomo Administration sources” indicated that she would be fired.  If that was the decision, fine, but why is NYRA  –  heading into the Belmont Stakes and the Saratoga meet  -  now being run by a three-person committee while the search process for a permanent replacement goes on?  Incidentally, I never saw any reason why McClain would not have been an excellent choice to lead NYRA.  If you see any improvements in the NYRA experience over the next several months, it is the result of changes begun by Hayward and continued by McClain  -  some of the more visible examples being a much-improved web site, possibly a viewing stand for the public at the Oklahoma training track and a new wagering platform by the Belmont fall meet.  (One change not begun under the old NYRA will be the plaque hung at Saratoga commemorating the 150th anniversary of the track’s first race.  The new Board may not have done anything yet, but their names will be on the plaque.)

While going over a year without leadership for what is the nation’s premier racing is bad enough, it will pale in comparison if significant long-term questions are not addressed.  Here are four:

  • Will NYRA continue to receive the VLT revenues that are so instrumental to its financial viability?  It’s not only the “high-ranking officials,” but the Governor himself who have floated the possibility of redirecting racino revenue that now goes to NYRA to other purposes.  Both Robert Megna, Cuomo’s Budget Director and appointee to the new Board, and Rob Williams, Acting Director of the State Gaming Commission, said last summer that NYRA must “end its reliance on VLT subsidies.”
  • Is management of the race tracks going to be outsourced to a private for-profit entity?  This is another concept raised by that recurrent anonymous source, this time about bringing in a Churchill Downs, Frank Stronach’s Magna Entertainment, or another for-profit business from the “entertainment” industry to actually manage the tracks.
  • What form will “NYRA” take once the current legislation expires?  The NYRA “Reorganization Board” is an entity that is supposed to expire three years after it was appointed on October 18, 2012, and has 30 months from then to recommend legislation for the form NYRA is to then take.  Having frittered away a good portion of the first year, the new Board now only has 22 months to come up with the new approach.
  • What will be done to grow the fan base?  If there is a universal question confronting the entire racing industry, this is it.

Now, I would not expect an organization that has immediate, pressing needs  -  such as hiring a CEO  -  to spend much time on long-term planning.   But the reality is that if you do not focus on it, it will always be pushed into the background by that day’s crisis.  Chairman Skorton has appointed a committee to do some of that planning, with a deadline to report by July 1.

It is also important to bear in mind that NYRA, albeit without leadership, has been functioning.  A good reason for that is what appears to be a contingent of dedicated and capable staff, as well as a group of outside advisors who have been contributing their time and expertise to improving New York’s racing.  One of the changes from the old NYRA is that its Board meetings, and some committee meetings, have been open to the public and are broadcast (and saved) on the NYRA web site.  This allows anyone to observe some of the workings of an entity that has all too often been the subject of  undeserved and baseless criticism.  It has also been an opportunity to observe the Board and high level staff in action  -  at least in the context of a public meeting.  I have not only been impressed by much of the NYRA staff, who are holdovers from the Hayward/McClain administrations, but people such as Alan Foreman, head of the national Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Dr. Scott Palmer, a nationally-recognized veterinarian, and Michael Peterson, Ph.D.,  the country’s leading expert on racing surfaces, each of whom has contributed valuable  -  and fact-based  -  information at the public Board meetings.  There are also Board members with important perspectives and institutional knowledge that is sometimes added to the discussion.  While the full Board meetings tend to be desultory affairs, the Committee on Equine Health and Safety has demonstrated that a public meeting can have robust and informative discussions on significant issues.

It is not the level of talent and knowledge that has me concerned;  rather, it is the leadership of Chairman Skorton and the man who appointed him, Andrew Cuomo.  Skorton, President of Cornell University and a cardiologist, is obviously a very talented and skilled person.  That does not mean, however, that he should be the leading figure in New York’s thoroughbred racing as he has been since his appointment in October.  He readily admitted having no knowledge of racing when he was appointed.  ”Having no knowledge of racing” is something that applies, of course, to each of us at some point in our life.  And I do not think it is a prerequisite that the chairman of the Board  -  or, for that matter, NYRA’s CEO  -  has a racing background, since there is any number of capable individuals who could prove to be excellent racing executives.  That assumes, however, that they surround themselves with knowledgeable people and, just as important, have the independence to function.

It is that independence that is the biggest question mark for me, as it would be for any top administrator serving in any capacity in the Cuomo Administration.  Skorton and one other Board member are the ones clearly calling the shots on the Reorganization Board.  Skorton sets the agenda, and only those matters acceptable to him are put to a vote.  In the four months of Board meetings, there has yet to be a dissenting or abstaining vote.  This is so even though there are matters on which individual members have strong views  -  one example being Skorton’s decision to have the Equine Medical Director report to NYRA, and the other being the continuing failure to make a decision on the Global Betting Exchange contract.  It is this latter issue on which the other prominent Board member has been in the fore.  Robert Megna has been prominent throughout the past year on NYRA matters.  As chairman (at the time) of the Franchise Oversight Board, he was a co-author of the threatening letter to NYRA’s Board members last May;  he has advocated ending the VLT subsidies to NYRA;  and, he has single-handedly put the hold on the GBE contract for reasons that, at least on the surface, appear to be flimsy.  But as the Cuomo’s Budget Director, he is clearly doing the Governor’s bidding on the Board.

For his part, Chairman Skorton has yet to articulate anything approaching a vision for the new NYRA, save for his focus on equine health and safety issues.  Even on this issue, however, he has yet to express any views on issues such as the use of race-day Lasix or, for that matter, the role of permissible drugs in racing.  On another significant issue  -  that of casinos  -  he has essentially said it’s a decision for Albany.  In an interview with Tom Precious published in Blood Horse, he said, “‘I have to be a little vague on this,’ citing the still-emerging casino expansion plans in Albany.”  When you consider that one of the purported reasons for the state’s takeover of NYRA was the changing gaming environment, including “first passage of a constitutional amendment on commercial casinos,” it is not unreasonable to think the head of NYRA or its Board would have had some discussion of the issue.

Unfortunately, open and candid discussion of important policy issues is not the way this Governor likes to operate.  In the year I have been following the NYRA story closely, not only have I not seen any evidence that the Governor allows his managers to function independently but rather have witnessed numerous examples of the opposite.  This is an Administration, after all, that fired a low-level bureaucrat working in the Adirondacks who had the temerity to speak to the local newspaper without authorization from Albany  -  and his comments were praising the Governor.  We have seen a Governor who announces major initiatives  -  gun control, casinos and, most recently, tax-free zones  -  but refuses to release details, let alone actual legislation, for fear it would derail what he believes to be important initiatives.  As we witnessed with the gun control law, his ramming a bill through the Legislature without legislative or public input results in significant screw-ups.  He is now seeking a repeat of that process with his casino and tax-free zone proposals.  Each has significant complexity and implications, yet we sit days from the Legislature’s adjournment on June 20 without legislative language being available.  Of course, the Legislature is as much to blame for this as the Governor if it allows him to consistently get away with these tactics  -  just as it did a year ago with the NYRA takeover.

On the subject of the Governor’s tactics, nothing has come of the personal assaults made on the character of NYRA’s officers and Board leading up to Cuomo’s takeover of racing.  The “interim” report of the State Racing Board on the improper takeout percentage was referred to the state’s Inspector General who has not published a report more than a year later.  The Audit Committee of the NYRA Reorganization Board, chaired by a former Inspector General, concluded, however, that the improper takeout rate that was the ostensible reason for the state’s precipitous action was “unintentional.”  Nor has anything materialized from the allegation against the character and fitness of prior Board members other than that nine of them were appointed to the new Board, and two of them with a “financial interest” in racing won the Kentucky Derby.

So here we are, a year into the Cuomo experiment with taking control of one of New York’s signature industries and no one can say with any level of confidence that things are better, or that improvement is even on the near horizon.  It is an industry that has been buffeted by the economic downturn that I hope is over, and continues to struggle at growing its fan base.  It is an industry desperately in need of stability and leadership, but we have yet to see either.

Is the honeymoon with the “new” NYRA over?

Posted by noonante on May 20, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 1 comment

In a sign that the honeymoon with the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association is over, we have seen recent media attention paid to a fiscal issue between NYRA and the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund.  The Fund is a public benefit corporation that distributes incentives to promote “breeding, raising, and racing of quality thoroughbred horses in New York State.”  It derives its revenues not from taxes, but from New York’s thoroughbred tracks as well as a growing portion from Video Lottery Terminal revenues generated by the state’s racinos.  NYRA is the entity now controlled by state government that runs New York’s quality horse racing programs at Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct.  NYRA paid more than its correct share to the Fund between 2008 and 2012 to the tune of $1.2 million and is now seeking repayment.

Local media, including Albany’s Time Union newspaper and the NPR affiliate WAMC have paid attention to the story but, as typical of their other forays into New York’s racing, have shed considerably more heat than light on the issue.  The TU ”broke” the story on May 13, but “broke” is a relative term since the issue is one that has been publicly known for some time.  According to The Saratogian, NYRA demanded a repayment on March 15.  The Saratogian also quoted a member of NYRA’s Board as saying it was a matter that “had not come up in our board room,” even though he was present at the April 11 meeting when it was raised as an outstanding matter, and it was also reported in the minutes for the meeting.  The manner in which it was raised at the meeting also made it clear that it had been an outstanding issue known to the Board members.  WAMC’s contribution to the fog was a discussion on their daily Roundtable program where they described NYRA as seeking reimbursement of the over payment from the state.  The Times Union published an editorial Sunday in which they decried the “tiresome games” played by NYRA’s Reorganization Board in distinguishing between the “new” NYRA and the “old” NYRA, adding, “[s]o it’s the new NYRA when it has its hand out for money from the state.”

Both WAMC and the Times Union also conveniently conflated moneys owed by NYRA to New York State that were discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding with what they each describe as a new demand for money “from the state.”  I have always operated under the assumption that bankruptcy proceedings are designed to both protect creditors and allow an entity to get back on its feet, and debts that are discharged  -  and must be approved by a federal court  -  are, you know, “discharged.”  It doesn’t mean that the bankrupt entity continues to owe an obligation.  More significantly, however, is the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund may be a state-created entity, but it is not the “state” in the sense that the taxpayers are responsible for its obligations.  While that is not exactly a subtle point, it is one that both the capital’s “paper-of-record” and NPR station are willing to overlook in order to keep going what they see as a controversial story.

(Not so incidentally, the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund has been twice cited by New York’s Comptroller, most recently on November 14, 2012, for failing to perform tests to prove they were getting the proper commissions.  The Comptroller’s report said they were getting the proper commissions, but it is not clear that was a result of the Comptroller actually doing his own testing.)

This is not intended to excuse NYRA for making improper payments, but I see this as more of an accounting issue than a significant matter warranting the attention being paid to it by influential media outlets.  I think NYRA deserves considerable scrutiny, particularly since it is now controlled by state government.  But what I found so disturbing about Governor Cuomo’s seizure of New York’s racing a year ago remains true today.  We are being poorly served by a media that seems more intent on the cheap sound bite than actually doing even a minimum level of actual reporting and digging to ascertain what is truly going on.  The Times Union also pulled out the tired trope that NYRA “was in the headlines too often for its corrupt behavior.”  They do not specify what that “corrupt” behavior was, but are instead apparently relying on a public willing to accept it on faith.  Of course, if they did any actual reporting on these issues there could be an informed discussion on the good and bad of NYRA.

When will Governor Cuomo congratulate Derby winners from New York?

Posted by noonante on May 9, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 2 comments

It has been five days since the Kentucky Derby and Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued 15 press releases, but none of them have recognized the New York connections of Derby winner Orb.  (Today’s first one highlights Luke Bryan headlining the New York State Fair.)  The colt is owned by Stuart S. Janney III and Ogden Phipps who also bred the son of Malibu Moon to Lady Liberty.  Janney is currently a member of the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association, and was also a member of the “old” Board along with Phipps.  Trainer Shug McGaughey is a son of Louisville, but when he returned to Belmont Park with his horse and roses, he said it was good to be home.

A year ago at this time, Cuomo was engaged in a campaign to discredit the integrity of the NYRA Board as part of his effort to take control of thoroughbred racing in New York.  He successfully rolled the NYRA Board into agreeing with his taking control, and then rushed legislation through the Legislature without any apparent debate  -  and just one dissenting vote in both chambers.  He never articulated a legitimate reason for privatizing one of New York’s signature industries, instead relying on a complicit media to talk about the “scandal-plagued” NYRA.  There was some talk about his father  -  whose gubernatorial tenure ended 19 years ago  -  having had a bad relationship with NYRA.  Then there was the “unnamed source” quoted by Fred Dicker back in July when he was still Cuomo’s authorized hagiographer, who said this would be the “last hurrah for the blue bloods who have controlled [NYRA] for so long.”

Orb’s victory was a popular one throughout the industry, in large part because McGaughey is viewed as an “old school” trainer who lets the horse determine the agenda, and is not one of those who starts thinking Derby as soon as they purchase another expensive yearling.  Indeed, his last Derby trip was in 1989 when he sent out favorite Easy Goer, who had the misfortune to run against a better horse in Sunday Silence.  Contrast that with a Todd Pletcher who sent out five horses in this year’s Derby, bringing his overall record to one win from 36 starts, and is now talking about running two fillies in the Belmont Stakes.  Pletcher learned from Wayne Lukas who had two Derby starters this year, and plans on three for the Preakness, but you could also throw Nick Zito or Bob Baffert into the mix, each of whom has won the Derby, but not before going through literally dozens of promising two-year olds who could not keep up with the “program.”  Of course, McGaughey could not do the right thing by the horse unless he had the support of owners such as Janney and Phipps.

What makes Cuomo’s uncharacteristic reticence even more surprising is his supposed concern for promoting the well-being of the horse.  That was another of the rationales tossed around last year when the attack on the “old” NYRA began.  The “new” NYRA Board should be commended for carrying through on the recommendations made by the Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety that completed its work under the leadership of the “old” NYRA.  Central to its recommendations were changes in rules governing the administration of permissible medications.  It is ironic that another New York trainer with a Derby horse, Rudy Rodriguez, could not be licensed in Kentucky until he made a special appearance before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.  Rodriguez had just completed a suspension in New York for one drug violation, is under investigation for another, and has been the subject of countless rumors regarding his reliance on pharmaceuticals.  While I try not to be place much stock in such suspicions, it is noteworthy that McGaughey is not one of those trainers about whom you hear such speculation.

This, then, would have been an opportunity for the Governor and his administration to focus on what is right about horse racing, with a particular focus on New York.  One fears, however, that his failure to say anything is simply representative of the petty vindictiveness that appears to be as much a hallmark of the Cuomo persona as his boundless ambition and ego.  Or perhaps, in the interest of fairness, maybe he was not aware that the Derby was run Saturday.

Marathon thoughts

Posted by noonante on April 28, 2013
Posted in: Political/Social commentary. Tagged: . Leave a Comment

It’s been a difficult time to write with thoughts of the Marathon and the empty feeling that accompanied that tragedy consuming me.  There certainly has been no shortage of commentary in both the Boston and national media, with much of it understandably predictable, just as when someone dies or one close to you is diagnosed with a serious illness.  It is a time to be empathetic and comforting, not for putting things in perspective.  When you are ready for perspective, the best thing I’ve read so far is George Packer’s piece in The New Yorker.

I lived in various neighborhoods of Boston, starting with college, and worked in several other communities over the 44 years I was there.  I guess because I was not born there, spending my early formative years in the city, I always felt like somewhat of an outsider, even though I was married there and had two kids born there.  And, to be candid, while I have missed friends, I have not missed the city since moving away three years ago.

There are, however, two parts of Boston that will forever be part of me.  One is the Red Sox, although that attachment began when I lived in another part of the state, 90 miles away.  There have been, to put it mildly, numerous lean years and I’m not just talking about the 13-month period beginning in September 2011.

The other is the Marathon.  I first saw it while riding the Cleveland Circle line downtown on a long-ago Patriots Day.  Back then there were probably less than 300 runners, no crowds, and a bowl of beef stew at the finish.  It has, of course, evolved into a real holiday, celebrating both the onset of spring and the determination of 25,000 runners (and, let’s not forget, the Battles of Concord and Lexington).  The Red Sox always play on that day, beginning at 11:05 so those at Fenway can walk down to Kenmore Square and watch the race.

It was watching those odd ducks running down Beacon Street in the late 60′s that got me to start running.  While I ran other marathons, I could not meet the then-qualifying standard of 2:50, so I never ran Boston.  One of my few hard-core principles was that I would not be a “bandit” (as unofficial runners were called), and should instead go to the race and cheer on those who had worked hard to get there, including one of my brothers.  If I could not be there in person, I would watch the entire race on local TV.

While the celebratory aspect of the Marathon is what attracted two brothers to kill and maim as many people as they could, it is a terrorist act that could happen anywhere and at any time.  No event or venue is worse than another when innocent people are killed or maimed.  Bostonians are justifiably proud of the first responders and medical personnel who did so much in the aftermath (including one who was murdered and another injured seriously), just as those from New York City and Oklahoma City are.  Then, of course, there are the “ordinary” people who acted heroically, but are ordinary only in the sense that one could work with you or live next door to you.

It is fitting that part of the healing began in Fenway Park.  Neil Diamond, whose Sweet Caroline became, for some reason, the theme song for the Red Sox, flew in from LA and called the main switchboard to ask if he could sing it live.  As emotional as that was, it could not top the remarks of David Ortiz.  Ortiz, a black man from the Dominican Republic, who has become the face and soul of a team that was the last in the major leagues to integrate  -  several years after Jackie Robinson “failed” his tryout in Boston  -  summed it all up:  “This is our fucking city.”

Yes, Big Papi, it is.

Where is New York’s Gaming Commission?

Posted by noonante on April 8, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 2 comments

As part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s effort to streamline state government and make it more efficient, the Legislature established the State Gaming Commission.  The separate state agencies that regulated gaming activities, including the Lottery and the Racing and Wagering Board, were brought under a seven-member Commission that would bolster New York’s role in an “increasingly competitive market place,” and ensure public confidence that the state’s gaming would be of the “highest integrity, credibility and quality.”  The law was passed more than a year ago.

The Gaming Commission was to begin operations on October 1, 2012, but the legislation under which New York State took control of the New York Racing Association delayed the effective date for four months.  The Racing and Wagering Board ceased operations on January 31 with its powers and responsibilities transferred to the new entity.  There is only one problem.  While the Commission has a shiny new web site, there is no commission.  The Governor controls five of the seven appointments with the Senate and Assembly getting one each.  Early news reports identified two individuals who were to be selected, but the web site identifies “TBD” for each of the seven members.  When we turn to the page for the Commission’s staff, it is blank.  We know there is an Acting Executive Director since he issued a press release this week, but that is all that is publicly known about an organization that was to bring Cuomo’s much-heralded, but rarely delivered, “transparency” to gambling activity regulated by the state.

Why is this important?  For starters, it is the only body that has the ability to regulate what goes on in horse racing.  The late Racing and Wagering Board closed out its tenure with changes governing the administration of drugs, as well as additional changes permitting the voiding of a claim if a horse was vanned from the track.  These amendments were the result of a Task Force’s report analyzing a number of fatal injuries sustained at last year’s Aqueduct winter meet.  It is not unusual that regulations have to be tweaked  -  indeed, the Racing and Wagering Board had to do it with some of these  -  but that ability is lost when there isn’t an entity with the authority to do it.

Second, the Governor’s failure to act further exacerbates the absence of any leadership in New York’s racing industry.  The President of the New York Racing Association has been fired, the Chair of the NYRA Board is still learning the business, and now a key oversight body doesn’t exist.  Thus, we have the silliness of “enhanced” security and drug testing for Saturday’s Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, a major prep race each year for the Kentucky Derby.  According to the Cuomo Administration’s view of horse racing, only three races of the thousands run in New York each year deserve this heightened scrutiny:  the Wood, Belmont Stakes and Travers.  This sends the message that illegal drugging is a significant problem with racing, but these three events are the only ones worthy of added protection.  While I am sure there must have been drug disqualifications in America’s Grade I races over the years, the only one that comes to mind is Dancer’s Image in the 1968 Kentucky Derby.  Even though Santa Anita implemented a similar protocol for the Santa Anita Derby, these special security precautions are clearly nothing more than publicity stunts.

The joint NYRA-Gaming Commission announcement, however, may also have served another interest.  A nascent controversy involving both track security and illegal drugging was reported by David Grening  in The Daily Racing Form.   Trainer Rudy Rodriguez was recently suspended by the stewards for two drug positives, a sanction he did not challenge.  Rodriguez, coincidentally the trainer of Vyjack, the Wood’s second betting choice and 3rd place finisher, has been one of the most successful trainers on the New York circuit, but has also been the subject of many rumors and whispers about his possible use of illegal medications.  The recent suspension was his second as a trainer, and the first since 2011.  But on March 10, another Rodriguez horse tested positive.

What made the latest positive remarkable is that Rodriguez’ attorney claimed, as Grening reports, that NYRA’s failure to respond to Rodriguez’ February request for a security camera in a second barn shared with another trainer may have allowed tampering with his horses.  That an unusually high level of banamine, a commonly used anti-inflammatory, appeared in the post-race test is, according to the attorney, strong evidence of tampering, indicating that Rodriguez may have been set up.  Two owners who have horses with Rodriguez have offered a $40,000 reward for information on the tampering accusation.  So, while the purported leadership of state officials responsible for what has been the country’s best racing flails around looking for the next meaningless press release, here is a real potential threat to the integrity of the sport.

If that isn’t a sufficient reason for the Governor to appoint the State Gaming Commission, we have the matter of bringing casinos to New York.  Cuomo identified this as one of his major priorities in the 2012 State of the State, and the Legislature voted in favor of amending the state’s Constitution to permit up to seven sites.  A second affirmative vote by the Legislature, as well as voter approval in a referendum, is necessary for the amendment to take effect.  While a subsequent approval by the Legislature would seem to be a mere formality, the Governor has decided to alter his original proposal.  He now wants the location of casino sites to be chosen by the Gaming Commission, a body on which he will controls five of the seven seats when he gets around to appointing them.  Although the often somnolent Legislature regularly acquiesces to the Governor’s whims, this time they think they should have a say in the siting process, and perhaps even allow the voters of a proposed locale to have a vote.  Cuomo has further muddied the waters by saying New York City should not have one, but Buffalo should.  He may be thinking that if he appoints the Commission, he will have prematurely played his hand, thereby weakening his leverage with the Legislature.

In short, we do not know what is behind the Governor’s failure to appoint any members of an important regulatory body for more than a year after it was established.  One fear is that he has simply lost interest.  Another is that he doesn’t care about racing or casinos except to the extent either can improve the state’s bottom line.  What we do know, however, is that there is not a good reason for his inaction.  Last week’s federal indictments of a state senator and assemblyman gave the Governor the opportunity to express his outrage at a political environment that allows corruption.  Perhaps he should consider the atmosphere he is fostering by failing to make the types of appointments that would help prevent the incompetence and corruption so vividly displayed last week.  Certainly, New York’s horse racing could use some leadership.

Is CNN now competing with The Onion?

Posted by noonante on March 22, 2013
Posted in: Political/Social commentary. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

CNN’s new boss has been revamping the network in an effort to compete more effectively with FOX and MSNBC.  But as this clip from an Andrew Sullivan post indicates, their real competition may be The Onion.  I watched the piece from The Onion first, and then the one from CNN.  My jaw dropped at the coverage of the Steubenville rape trial by what used to be a serious cable news outlet.