2005 - Harness Tracks of America, Inc.

HARNESS TRACKS OF AMERICAExecutive NewsletterA daily fax and e-mail report on racing and gaming developments in North America and beyondStanley F. Bergstein, Editor March 30, 2005BLESSINGS OF A RACING GOV No one knows more about those subjects thanThe state of New Jersey, or at least the racing Liebman, and hopefully he and his students, andinterests in it, can be thankful they have a man Woodbine Entertainment and Churchill Downs,who understands and appreciates racing as governor.Richard Codey, urged by the New Jersey venture and have harness racing interests of theirboth of which are helping to fund Tim Smith’sSports and Exposition Authority, stepped into own, will make sure that whatever emerges doesthe dispute between his racing commission and not lose sight of harness racing as a still importantand vital segment of racing in New York.thoroughbred horsemen and ended it with aphone call, apparently securing the Breeders’ Cup Without their input harness racing leaders in Newfor Monmouth Park in 2007. The racing commission,for its part, will allow the Thoroughbred or not.York have cause to worry, whether they realize itHorsemen’s Association to retain three of its nineboard members if they win reelection later thisyear, and the parties are scheduled to finalize theagreement in state Superior court tomorrow. Aspokesman for the Breeders’ Cup called the resolution“good news,” and NJSEA CEO GeorgeZoffinger said, “Now we can get back to the businessof preparing for the Breeders’ Cup.”STILL A “MAYBE” IN NEW YORKThe Republican Senate and Democratic Assemblymay have reached agreement on raising VLTtakeout in New York, but there is no indicationyet that Gov. George Pataki will sign whateverthey send him, and disturbing vibrations that hewill not. A Pataki veto may well be in the offing,and for harness racing there is an equally bigthreat. The “Friends of New York Racing,”meanwhile, whose proper name should be“Friends of New York Thoroughbred Racing,”are still buzzing around the state, building modelsthat are not likely to have much of substancefor harness racing . They now have entered anagreement with the man who knows most aboutNew York racing -- Bennett Liebman, directorof the Government Law Center at the AlbanyLaw School-- for help from him and his studentsin preparing a report on the history and developmentof racing, pari-mutuel and breedinglaw in the state.TOP COURT CURTAILS INDIANSThe United States Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision,has ruled that Indian tribes cannot expandtheir tax-exempt holdings by buying up propertythat has been outside its reservation for generations.With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg writingthe 22-page majority opinion and only JusticeJohn Paul Stevens dissenting, the Court ruledthat “the tribe cannot unilaterally revive its ancientsovereignty, in whole or in part, over theparcels at issue. The Oneidas long ago relinquishedthe reins of government and cannot regainthem through open-market purchases fromcurrent titleholders.” The decision came in thedispute between the little city of Sherrill, NY, andthe New York Oneidas over unpaid taxes on agas station, convenience store and defunct T-shirtfactory. The Court ruled that too much time hadpassed for the Oneidas to now claim tribal sovereigntyon individual properties within the city,and that doing so would create a “disruptive”patchwork of local and Indian jurisdiction. JusticeStevens, in dissenting, argued that the decision“is at war with at least two bedrock principlesof Indian law,” that only Congress can reducea tribe’s reservation, and that only Congresscan change a reservation’s tax status. Thedecision overruled two lower court rulings. Itwas silent on the fact that the Indians did notvoluntarily relinquish their sovereigntyyears ago.