DAMON THAYER: DRUNK WITH POWER?
By Ray Paulick
I’ve known Damon Thayer going on 20 years, and I don’t think he’s a bad person. But I’ve seen how good people can be intoxicated with power, and am convinced that is what is going on with the former racing industry executive who is now a Kentucky state senator from Scott County representing the 17th district.
A few weeks ago I reported on an interview Thayer did on the Horse Racing Radio Network (click here for the article), in which he complained that no one from the Thoroughbred industry was contacting him about his proposed constitutional amendment calling for a statewide referendum and local option vote to permit slot machines in Kentucky counties where racetracks are located (not necessarily at tracks, but in counties where tracks are currently located).
Woe is him.
Perhaps the reason no one is interested in calling the senator from Scott is the fact his proposed amendment is outrageous because it would ultimately lead to out-of-state casino companies and developers putting Kentucky racetracks out of business. That’s exactly what is happening in the state of Maryland, where slot machines were approved for a location not at Pimlico or Laurel but at a shopping mall owned and operated by the Cordish Company. Yes, that’s the same Cordish Company that developed Fourth Street Live in Louisville.
If Thayer’s folly is somehow approved as written (very much a longshot at best), Cordish will be salivating over the prospect of getting the slots license in Jefferson County, Kentucky, where Churchill Downs is located. Another well-funded casino company would surely end up with the license in Northern Kentucky. So we’d have Turfway Park certainly out of business as a racetrack, and Churchill Downs severely impaired financially.
But, Thayer says with almost ghoulish delight, we’ll have all that slots money going into purses, based on how his amendment is written. Yes, Damon, just like in Maryland, where there will be money for purses, but no tracks able to stay open to run the races where the purses will be offered.
Sources tell the Paulick Report that employees of the Maryland Jockey Club are being told Laurel is going to be bought by a developer (Cordish?), and closed for live racing. Someone will operate Pimlico for 30 days during the Preakness meeting in the spring, at least as long as the walls of the rickety old racetrack grandstand don’t collapse. And that, along with a short meeting at the state fair in Timonium will be it for live racing.
If true, it will be a devastating and final blow for the once-proud Maryland breeding industry, where the mighty Northern Dancer once stood as the world’s most important stallion. Allowing Thayer’s folly to proceed will cause similar destruction to Kentucky’s signature industry.
So Thayer, in a snit because no one was calling him to discuss his ludicrous proposal, decided to drop another bomb when a reporter from the Lexington Herald-Leader called him to inquire about the horse industry’s exemption on sales tax for certain horses sold at auction (the exemption, which does not apply to all horses sold, is not as comprehensive as that given to the horse industry in other states).
When asked whether the exemptions should be discontinued, Thayer said it is “certainly cause for serious debate.”
It was his way of flipping the almighty bird to a now struggling industry that is not only vital to the economic future of this state, but one that has provided him and his family a very good living for many years.
Speaking of the almighty, it’s amazing to me that a Senate committee chaired by Thayer (the State and Local Government Committee) wasted taxpayers’ time and money on Wednesday, approving along a straight party-line vote (Thayer’s Republican colleagues won the day over Democrats 7-5) something called the 21st Century Bill of Rights. Among other things, this new and improved bill of rights (as if our Founding Fathers weren’t very wise) would prohibit a ban on the Ten Commandments being posted in public buildings. If you get a chance, check out this troubling and funny video clip of a Georgia Congressman, Lynn Westmoreland, who sponsored a bill requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public buildings. (Click here to view.) Seems the Congressman has a hard time knowing exactly what those Commandments are…which makes me wonder how Sen. Thayer and his colleagues would do on a pop quiz.
But I digress.
Thayer is essentially drunk with power, sitting on his senatorial throne while waiting for individuals in the horse industry to come to him, hat in hand, begging for some scraps. If he were a true leader, he would have been out amongst the people, meeting with horse farmers, trainers and racetrack owners who are suffering now, watching stallions, mares and racehorses being tugged away from Kentucky by states with more favorable economics and more enlightened legislators. It is the same kind of arrogance and insular thinking that we’ve witnessed most recently in the White House, where a president who was elected under the mantra of change failed to understand how deep the suffering and unhappiness is among the very people who voted for him, leading to an embarrassing defeat for the Democratic Party Tuesday in Massachusets, the most liberal state in the union.
I hold out little hope that my old friend, the senator from Scott, will understand how wrong he is and how much help the horse industry needs. There is little to do but find and support a strong candidate to displace him from his office in 2012.
Copyright © 2010, The Paulick Report
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Tags: 21st Century Bill of Rights, churchill downs, Cordish Company, damon thayer, Fourth Street Live, Horse Racing Radio Network, Jefferson County, Kentucky, laurel park, lexington herald-leader, Louisville, Lynn Westmoreland, Maryland, Northern Dancer, Paulick Report, pimlico, preakness, Ray Paulick, Scott County, Timonium, turfway park
January 21st, 2010 at 11:51 am
He don’t care.He’s got his guaranteed,state funded health care and pension for life now.He was probably picked on all through school,and now he can be the tough guy.He don’t give a damn about racing.None of them do.Since when would a politician do the will of the people?
January 21st, 2010 at 12:04 pm
Not really surprised someone like Thayer and the religious right wants the 10 Commandments tattooed on every baby born in Kentucky. He should see what George Carlin said about them. actually makes alot of sense
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRYaMiP4K8&feature=related
January 21st, 2010 at 12:09 pm
Career politicians only care about their personal power - and accumulated wealth - just like race track owners, who also have whimpered that the sky is falling so many times that when it actually is plummeting to the ground….not one person is listening…or cares.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:14 pm
I would invite Mr. Thayer to come to my office and go thru ALL the checks that I have paid out to Kentucky vendors from my small farm. Let’s do this On Camera, so he can tell my farrier, my vets (all of them), the feed suppliers, the hay/straw man, trainers, the fencing guys, the blacktop guys, all my employees, the hardware stores, etc etc — that he doesn’t care about their future in Kentucky!!
January 21st, 2010 at 12:18 pm
I read a very reasoned statement that pointed out that having the casino at the mall in Anne Arundel was actually better for racing in Maryland than having it at Laurel. Somebody explain to me why having $100 million in purse money from casinos is bad for horse owners? I can understand why the racetracks wouldn’t like it, but how is it bad for horsemen? I think a large part of the problem with casino money is that the racetracks want the casinos on their property. To me, this spells doom for horsemen. If the track has to make it with horse racing only, they will be forced to concentrate on their core business.
January 21st, 2010 at 12:22 pm
KEEP says the proposed cut of slots revenue to the operator (25%) is so low that no one will even bid on the licenses, while the Paulick Report says it is a foregone conclusion that out-of-state casino companies will see these licenses as valuable, and they will bid on and secure several of them. It seems both these arguments cannot be correct.
As has been pointed out, breeders and purses get their guaranteed cut of the slots revenue either way. But if an outside casino company lands the contract, then the racetrack operator will not get any direct revenue from slots. However, the tracks would in theory derive benefits in that higher purses should make for bigger fields, higher handle, and a brighter economic picture for owners, breeders, trainers, etc…
January 21st, 2010 at 12:34 pm
“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” — Niccolo Machiavelli
January 21st, 2010 at 12:58 pm
Lynn Jones-
Are you aware that Thayer’s plan would give 25% of net slots revenue to purses and breeders’ awards, while the “industry sponsored plan” would only give them 15.65%?
January 21st, 2010 at 1:17 pm
For a while I was awaiting a calculated endplay. Surely one once involved in the business couldn’t possibly be so naive and misinformed. The “Florida” model was and is a total disaster. I’ll throw in with you Ray, I too have known Damon for a long time and it really is puzzling.
January 21st, 2010 at 1:19 pm
Once you are addicted to gambling dollars there’s no way back. OTB was the start of the rot - we had the same thing here with the betting shops. If people can bet [safely] without going to the track then they don’t go - if they go to play on slot machines that doesn’t count and as soon as it’s possible to access slot machines elsewhere it’s all over.
This industry worldwide is probably getting what it deserves - there no such thing as a free lunch.
I was appalled to see the piece on California surfaces - fatalities halved but bettors don’t like AW so go back to dirt! You couldn’t make it up. Perhaps Ricky Gervaise should be reading out these press releases!
Bill O’Gorman
January 21st, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I don’t know Mr. Irwin and Mr. Briggs, but I’m just guessing that if the tracks are all put out of business by the casinos then perhaps you won’t have any place to run for that $100 million in purse money. Tracks aren’t going to be able to make it on horse racing alone with a casino just down the road no matter how hard they try to compete.
Once again (remember the THG) another case of horsemen only thinking about themselves. At least you admit it and are not trying to make us believe that it will be better for other parts of the industry. That’s the problem with racing, no one is looking at the big picture, they all want for themselves. Let’s just figure out how to grab a bigger piece of a shrinking pie. It’s sad really.
MD racing is about to die, and once it does the government will change that law giving money to the horsemen and keep it for the budget. Then you’ll have nothing. Good plan. Magna could have avoided the whole problem in MD by just writing a check, but they screwed up and it cost them the license. Ohio is going to die completely once the casinos open up in 2012 … the tracks are already broke without the competition. Kentucky won’t be far behind in some respects (Turfway and Ellis) and will be kept alive only because CD has the Derby/Oaks and Keeneland has the sales.
I keep praying this industry will pull it’s head out and start working together on things, but I know it will never happen.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Christ gave only 2 commandments: Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and soul and mind and Love thy neighbor,The Good Samaritan, as thyself. The 10 commandments were Jewish and they broke one of them every time they stoned somebody to death. Love God wherever he lives in horses,dogs,cats,people,etc. All good creatures great and small the good Lord lives in them all. Wherever love is God is. Selfish shortsighted greed is bad for everybody. It is hard to see clearly with $$$ in front of ones eyes. In order to see clearly one must care about others.
January 21st, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Racing is at the mercy of whoring politicians and grandma willing to eat dog food and loose her social security playing slots. If slots pass in KY and MD, whether parlors open in or outside racetracks and the ponies are on food-stamps, how long will grandma manna last before it’s yanked away from racing to feed the chiiiiildren?
January 21st, 2010 at 3:54 pm
As a Marylander and a racing fan, I agree completely with every word Tom Horn wrote.
Maryland’s politicians will eventually redirect the slots money away from racing to whatever uses they think will get them re-elected. They simply don’t care about Maryland’s horse industry - it doesn’t have the juice to keep them interested.
What’s happened in Maryland is a perfect storm of corporate incompetence and political duplicity, but it’s also a warning against relying on politicians - or slot machines - to save racing anywhere.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:02 pm
My family has owned show horses for quite a long time here in the Northwest and we were really hoping to move to Kentucky in the next five years, but we don’t see the point of moving to the poultry state.
I really hope Kentucky and racing can get their acts together. Thayer in particular seems to hate horsemen and delights in taunting them/you. As a Conservative, I’m horrified and embarrassed by his behavior. He’s whining about no one calling him, but he hasn’t exactly put out the Welcome mat.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Ray, you’ll never need a sword as long as you’ve got your pen handy.
Thayer needs to be held accountable for playing a combination of Marie Antoinette and Neville Chamberlain whilst the industry is at its lowest point — and tea-bagged out of the State Senate in 2012. That job begins today.
January 21st, 2010 at 8:53 pm
for damon thayer to suddenly support the horse industry on slots would mean going against david williams, his political daddy. he ain’t got the cojones becuse like so many politicans hes got bigger plans for his career
January 21st, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Looks like some industry players have decided on electoral hardball. Well, that’s a plan, I guess. One that could get uglier than Rosie O’Donnell in a thong.
January 21st, 2010 at 9:47 pm
Would someone kindly ask Sen. Thayer how much money he made as a Senior Executive for the Breeders’ Cup for many, many years……Et tu Brute
January 21st, 2010 at 11:20 pm
I will speak in very simple terms, since the Damon Slango from Frankfort is often with a forked tongue and is a lie at best.
Thayer’s proposal is an inept attempt to try to fool his horsemen friends while realizing the constitutional amendment has little chance of passing because he and his GOP counterparts are going to incite and excite the nutwing religious fanatics, bigots and Obama haters (read Uncle Tom!!) to the polls with their “21st Century Bill of Rights.”
A cross-post by me from my Facebook link of Paulick’s article/blog entry:
Thayer would rather score political points with people who have no direct interest in racing, but see… racing & breeding brings other kinds of development, like grocery stores, equipment sales, restaurants, tourism jobs, etc., but Thayer & his ilk don’t want to think about that. Imagine what would happen around here if suddenly Lane’s End or Winstar had to close their Kentucky divisions. How many people would that directly & indirectly affect?
How much revenue would disappear from the Woodford County area? A gas station, grocery, restaurant suddenly needs 1 or 2 less employees per business because several people are out of work and unable to spend as much elsewhere. Hay and Equipment sales companies have to lay off staff due to lack of business from those farms.
And with each job lost directly and indirectly around horse country, the greater the burden on the taxpayers through unemployment, Medicaid, school lunches, but especially lost tax revenue from these businesses and all of the workers.
But…”lawmakers” like Thayer don’t take their positions seriously by proposing and passing useless and silly political points scoring things like a “21st Century Bill of Rights,” meant to drive hard core Evangelicals to the polls this year.
If you ask someone who gets put out of work due to declining breeding and racing in Kentucky to rank his/her priorities on political issues, I can guarantee you that the Ten Commandments aren’t going to put food on his/her table and keep a roof over his/her family’s head.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:54 pm
Ray Paulick wrote:
“I’ve known Damon Thayer going on 20 years, and I don’t think he’s a bad person.”
Ray, I do disagree. Damon Thayer IS a bad person when he puts his own political gain above the common good, and in this case, above and over the thousands of people employed directly or indirectly in racing, breeding and who are just doing a job, to try to have a bite out of a tiny slice of the American dream
When one’s greed and lust for power hurts the people who work hard just to barely exist, taking food off their plates, and taking their livelihood from them, all the while gaining from that ascent to power….well THAT is what makes Thayer a bad person, a bad public servant and a disgrace to Kentucky. And he is not alone, but since he’s the one doing all of the ridiculous brown-nosing, the political bullseye should be on his senate seat and any efforts he has to rise politically.
His arrogance should be his downfall and I hope it is. Like many of his ilk in office, he is woefully out of touch with the average Kentuckian. Thayer lives a lofty, comfortable life, and in his mind, he thinks he has earned that by getting an education, brown-nosing his way through the industry and sport and getting elected to political office. He surely looks down on the lowly farm worker who has little education, works 9 or 10 hour days and can’t get ahead. Sen. Thayer likely embraces the “well, pull yourself up by your bootstraps son….” philosophy & blames that lowly farm worker for not being better educated, etc. Well, someone has to do the farm work and that farm worker isn’t going to be an MIT engineer. So, why does one’s greed & lust for power have to hurt the little guy/gal?
Quite frankly, I don’t know how people like David Williams and Damon Thayer can sleep at nigt knowing that their very political lust takes food out of the mouths of Kentuckians and sends more people into poverty every single day this b.s. vlt debate drags on with no action.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:00 am
Are all these comments for not? How long have we been discussing slots and racing, so long I can’t remember how many years. The bottom line is Frankfort doesn’t want to support the issue so all this is a waste of energy until Frankfort gets behind us. And I just can’t envision the parting of the seas any time soon.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:26 am
To #22 Scott Rion
“And I just can’t imagine a parting of the seas [in Frankfor] anytime soon”.
Valid point but notwithstanding the Senate current stands at 21-17 effectively (a slim two vote margin of power for the Williams-Thayer regime). We will have no parting of the seas, but rather than throwing “Hail Marys”, we need to recognize that we’re in the Red Zone and run a ground game. We must and will prevail but searching for the Holy Grail is fruitless. We have a supportive Governor and House Speaker and we’ve narrowed the gap in the Senate. Yes, a clever strategy is needed for 2010, but manifest destiny is in our grasp. We must remain focused and relentless. As Sir Winston divined — never,never give up. Tally Ho!
PS to Paula #21
Will Rogers was fond of saying he never met a man he didn’t like. Well, had he met Damon Thayer, he clearly would have had to revise this observation.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:44 am
Frankfort, now we have to fix things on our own team. The governor and speaker (want to be governor) aren’t on the same side. There is a battle brewing that will further set things back. Plus, you have that whipped Jody Richards setting in the corner stewing. It is going to get ugly soon.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:17 am
I keep reading more and more about stallions relocating from Kentucky to Pennsylvania. This should be a wake up call for anybody who is truly interested in preserving Kentucky’s signature industry. It should be easy to fix the problem. Either the legislature doesn’t realize what is happening or they don’t care.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:40 am
Frankfort Furlong, can you guarantee Julian Carroll’s vote? In politics vote counting is kind of important. Also, 17 Democrats does not mean 17 yes votes. There are at least two who have already declared themselves no votes. I ask again, is it enhanced purses or expanded “gaming” for select corporations ? Some of us don’t see those as a package deal.
January 22nd, 2010 at 10:51 am
If Thayer is too ignorant to see what “the people” can do to the arrogant, he deserves what’s coming to him. KY Thoroughbred industry needs to get behind a candidate who has the heart and passion for this wonderful industry to turn things around. No doubt Brown was a long-shot going against a Dem who held the Kennedy Senator throne in MA for half a century (JFK then Teddy), but the will of the people got behind Brown and pushed him over the top. Thayer appears to be a disaster to the Throughbred industry, an industry that is vital to the economy of KY. The time is NOW to begin the fight to oust Thayer in 2012 and any other politician in Frankfort who “doesn’t get it.”
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:17 pm
Wow, you say Damon’s not a bad person, but you put a bottle of alcohol and beer next to your headline … Shame on you … you people are disgusting …
It seems to me that all of you have forgotten that Damon:
-created the breeder incentive fund that put 50 mil back in the horse industry
-derailed gov’t regulation of horse sales
-secured 20 million for livestock diagnostic disease lab
who are you people —
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Ray, what kind of cocktail illustration will you choose the next time you write about Todd Pletcher?
January 22nd, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Dear Good Govt — “Who are you people?”
We’re the horse industry, you jackass.
Notwithstanding the very disputable litany of accomplishments that Mr.Thayer now claims to have accomplished single-handedly, it is indisputable that he has now gone rogue with respect to the Thoroughbred Industry and his constituency.
Accountability is a terrible thing to waste.
January 22nd, 2010 at 6:46 pm
My dear friend keenelander. Do you read the headlines? The people. Yes. The people are taking back the gov’t and the people will once again take back the horse industry.
January 23rd, 2010 at 10:21 am
I have watched in horror as the Maryland racing industry has been picked apart by the State which has total disregard for the will of the people. I think the Racing Commission should use their heads and not their greed to rebuild racing. When a Marylander uses their Southern States, Tractor Supply, or a Feed Store card ( as an example ) they should have a registered Maryland bred horse assigned to that card number and they have a few pennies put into the breeders fund. As that horse races and wins money they have discount points added to their card. The more that person purchases the more interest they have in that horse. The more the horse wins the more discounts are given. It will increase interest in racing with people who do not follow racing and make regular customers of a casual customer of the stores. People will start to follow “their” horse. Money will increase in the fund. Everyone wins. The people of Green Bay have owned their team for years very successfully. I think it is because everyone owns a tiny bit of their team.