Friday, August 12, 2016

vendito, otbs,cuomo diease






Racing expert Liebman: ‘We’re in Chelm’

By  on August 10, 2016 at 8:27 AM
Bennett Liebman, who is perhaps the state’s premiere legal expert on all things racing and wagering, and one of the main speakers at an Albany Law School symposium on Thoroughbred racing, on Tuesday bemoaned the failure of the New York Racing Association’s board of directors to be turned back into private hands, which was supposed to have happened already but which has been blocked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo. 
He faulted a number of players including Cuomo (for whom he used to work) for his resistance last session to having the special state-run New York Racing Association board of directors revert to private control.
“We’re in Chelm,” he said, referring to the Yiddish folkloric town inhabited by befuddled but endearing people, where nothing makes sense.
Cuomo set up the current NYRA reorganization board four years ago when the association was in bankruptcy and reeling from a payout scandal. But it was supposed to revert to private hands last year. That was delayed and during the last legislative session, lawmakers had agreed on a bill to revert NYRA to private hands. But they dropped it amid signals that the governor would veto it.
Cuomo spokesmen have repeatedly noted that the current board has gotten NYRA out of trouble and on a firm footing and they want to continue that trend.
But Liebman believes the chance to return NYRA to private hands was actually a gift horse to the governor.
“The reorganization board had given him the ultimate Christmas present. He returned it to profitability and he could get out of racing,” Liebman said of the narrative that could have developed if the board was privatized.
Moreover, the reprivatization wouldn’t have amounted to a huge change since the original plan was configured in a way that could have kept most of the board, including the Cuomo loyalists, in place, at least for the near future.
In reality, he pointed out, horse racing requires subsidies from other activities such as video lottery slot machines and that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Liebman said there is plenty of blame to go around and the current situation amounts to a deadlock that is preventing progress on shoring up the troubled racing industry.
“We’ve got to get out of Chelm,” he said.





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5 Responses

  1. cp retiree says:
    August 10, 2016 at 9:04 am
    …Andrew?
    (This oughtta be good.)
    Reply
  2. Ricky G says:
    August 10, 2016 at 9:05 am
    It will not be too long before they change the “A” in NYRA from Association to Authority. The Gov will not give up control, especially since he truly believes that HE saved racing in New York.
    Reply
  3. jsc says:
    August 10, 2016 at 10:23 am
    It would be useful to examine the NYRA bankruptcy filing back in 2006 when George Pataki was Gov. andy is no prize, but the NYRA problem pre-dates his time. What a mess it was, including the dispute as to whor who actually owned the tracks at Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga!. The 2008 settlement cost the State plenty, but it cleared up the issue and the State now owns the tracks State Comptroller’s report is helpful: https://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093010/09s89.pdf
    Reply
  4. Manage How??? says:
    August 12, 2016 at 1:18 am
    Wandering Dago out of Chelm! Wonder why Liebman even brought it to Cuomo’s attention in the first place. Then it backfired when the lawsuits ensued. Emails deleted after 90 days. Liebman retires. Now, finally standing up to Cuomo re NYRA. Glad to see you out of Chelm.
    Reply
  5. dclow says:
    August 12, 2016 at 8:01 am
    never been never going to the track
    Reply


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