Posts Tagged ‘greg stumbo’

By Ray Paulick
Brereton Jones, the former governor of Kentucky and the chairman of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, pulled no punches during a horse industry rally at Keeneland Wednesday night when talking about what derailed House Bill 2, legislation that would have permitted video lottery terminals at state racetracks and enhanced purses. In an obvious reference to Senate President David “Blackjack” Williams, the "anti-gambling" Republican from Burkesville who likes to visit riverboat casinos in neighboring states, Jones talked about how a “third-world dictatorship” killed the legislation in a Senate committee controlled by  Williams’ followers. “The only way to get rid of a dictatorship is through a revolution,” Jones said, “and the revolution starts here tonight. We are going to make this happen.”

That brought the crowd of over 1,000 to their feet in one of many standing ovations during a rally that in some ways demonstrated the resilience, hope and perseverance of horse people. Individuals from virtually all segments of the horse industry attended.

Nick Nicholson, president of Keeneland, served as the emcee of the rally, which was scheduled less than 24 hours earlier in the wake of the defeat of the VLT legislation in the state capital of Frankfort. It began shortly after 7 p.m., when Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear arrived to the first standing ovation of the night.

“I know that we’re disappointed in the final result,” Nicholson said about the legislation that was approved by the House before being killed in the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee. “We’re angry, scared, and more determined than ever. This industry has more solid friends in Frankfort now than it did a month ago. Let me be real clear, no question about it, no doubt. This fight ain’t over yet. We as an industry are more unified than we have ever been.”

Nicholson introduced Kentucky legislators on hand who were among the horse industry’s friends and supported the VLT bill. Present were House members Rocky Adkins (D-Boyd, Elliott, Lawrence, Rowan Counties); Linda Belcher (D-Bullitt); Leslie Combs (D-Harlan, Letcher, Pike); Robert Damron (D-Fayette, Jessamine); Kelly Flood (D-Fayette); Reginald Meeks (D-Jefferson); David Osborne (R-Jefferson, Oldham); Sannie Overly (D-Bath, Bourbon, Fayette, Nicholas); Ruth Ann Palumbo (D-Fayette); John Will Stacy (D-Menifee, Morgan Rowan and Wolfe); John Tilley (D-Christian, Trigg); and Susan Westrom (D-Fayette).

Supporters on hand from the Kentucky Senate were: Walter Blevins Jr. (D-Boyd, Elliot, Fleming, Lawrence, Rowan); Tom Buford (R-Boyle, Fayette, Garrard, Jessamine); Perry Clark (D-Jefferson); Denise Harper Angel (D-Jefferson), Gerald Neal (D-Jefferson); Joey Pendleton (D-Christian, Logan, Todd); Kathy Stein (D-Fayette); Johnny Ray Turner (D- Breathitt, Floyd, Knott, Letcher); and Ed Worley (D-Lincoln, Madison, Rockcastle).

Nicholson also thanked House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, co-sponsors of the bill. Neither was able to attend the rally.

One local politician who wasn’t mentioned by name but was referred to several times as the “Senator from Scott” (county) was Republican Damon Thayer, a horse industry consultant and former Breeders’ Cup and Turfway Park executive who has been the point person for the horse industry on legislation in Frankfort but has been silent on the issue of VLTs or slots. Thayer is not a member of the A&R Committee that killed the VLT bill, but today on the Senate floor he reportedly said Beshear and anyone else who wants to support the horse industry should get behind an alternate bill proposed by Williams that would divert funds toward purses through a tax on the state lottery, out of state wagers on Kentucky races, and charitable gaming. Those comments angered Senate minority leader Ed Worley, who gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the Senate criticizing Thayer and others who said Beshear doesn’t support the horse industry. In that speech, which was shown on video at the horse industry rally, Worley challenged those who criticized Beshear to come to Keeneland Wednesday night and hear first-hand from members of the horse industry.

Worley was then introduced at the rally and began his brief talk by asking, “Would the senator from Scott please stand up?” a comment that brought derisive laughter from the standing room only audience. Thayer apparently was not present.

“You do not deserve people who represent districts with horse tracks and horse farms, if they vote against the horse industry. You need to remember them on election day,” Worley said.

Patrick Neely, the executive director of KEEP, was even more blunt in his remarks to the crowd. “Elections matter,” Neely said. “We cannot forget that Alice Forgy Kerr–whose district is home to so many horse farms and to Keeneland—voted no. Only Tom Buford (the lone Republican supporter on the A&R Committee) had the courage to vote yes,” a comment that brought the crowd to its feet with thunderous applause. Another Republican supporter, Rep. David Osborne, was cited as evidence that the VLT legislation was not a partisan bill.

Beshear said he felt if the VLT bill had gotten a chance for an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor, it had a good chance to be approved. “Some of these senators are now looking for cover,” Beshear said. “They’ve thrown out some quick proposals. The senator from Scott (Thayer) said we could even take the money out of the general fund. My friends, they are looking for cover, and I’m telling you: Don’t let ‘em find that cover.”

Now that Ohio appears to have racetrack slots on a fast track to passage, Beshear said Kentuckians will be “educating Ohio’s kids, building Ohio’s roads,” by gambling at Ohio casinos, just as they’ve been doing at Indiana casino boats. “It’s time we kept that money at home to help our people,” he said.

“Tonight is not an ending,” Beshear added. “It’s a beginning of a campaign that’s not going to quit until we have done our job to save our beloved horse industry.”

It’s time to do one of two things, Beshear said. “Change some of the state senators’ minds, or we’ve got to change some of the state senators. Over the next 18 months, let’s get this done.”

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
Monday was a sad day in Kentucky for the Thoroughbred horse industry. It wasn’t a great day for democracy, either.

A Senate committee stacked with Republican followers of Senate President David “Blackjack” Williams voted 10-5  not to allow the full Senate to consider VLT legislation designed to close Kentucky’s budget deficit, improve education, and allow the horse industry to compete with other states in the region that have slot machines. The House passed the bill last week under the direction of Speaker Greg Stumbo, but the Senate committee vote went along party lines, with nine of 10 Republicans voting to kill the bill. Four of five Democrats supported it, with one abstaning. (Click here for a live blog including the votes by each Senator.)

Williams, who likes to play blackjack at Indiana and Mississippi riverboats but for some reason opposes Kentuckians gambling in their own state, brought a smokescreen strategy to the special session called by ineffectual Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. That strategy included a tax-and-spend proposal passed by the Republican-controlled Senate but which never had a chance of getting approved by the Democratic-controlled House. The smokescreen strategy allowed Williams’ Republican yes men/women to say they tried to help the horse industry by voting for the Williams proposal. It would have raised taxes on the lottery, charitable gambling and out of state bets on Kentucky races and provide money for purses and breeders’ incentives. (The out-of-state betting tax increase  was a preposterous idea, since out of state tracks would have simply dropped the Kentucky signal on tracks like Turfway and Ellis Park and done more damage than good.)

Some of the Republicans who voted no on the issue probably were representing the strong moral beliefs of their constituents. But others who voted no, specifically the Lexington/Fayette County Senator, Alice Forgy Kerr, were sending a clear message to people in the horse industry that they do not matter.

Kerr is said to be very chummy with Mira Ball, who with homebuilding husband Don Ball is one of the largest contributors to Republican campaign coffers. The widespread belief of many in the horse industry is that the Balls and their Ball Homes want to see the horse industry fail, and the price of Central Kentucky acreage drop so they can build more tract housing. Don Ball and David Williams are closely allied in their opposition to gambling…at least by other people.

The Kentucky Equine Education Project or affiliated political fund-raising groups must now  turn their attention to people like Kerr and other elected officials in Kentucky who can be defeated in future elections by well-funded opponents who truly want to help the horse industry.

If Williams was the bully of this aborted effort by the horse industry to level the playing field with other states, Gov. Steve Beshear was the 98-pound weakling. He blew his opportunity in January 2008 to push the same legislation after winning election in a landslide over Republican Ernie Fletcher. And when he called the special session and put the VLT legislation on the agenda, Beshear failed to do what effective politicians do instinctively: call their friends and make sure you’ve got their support, and call your opponents and tell them in no uncertain terms why they need to be with you.

Another politician missing in action on this bill was Sen. Damon Thayer, a Republican who is a consultant in the Thoroughbred  industry and is a former executive at Turfway Park and the Breeders’ Cup. Thayer, who like any member of the state GOP who wants committee appointments has to fall in line with Williams, was silent on the slots issue. He isn’t a member of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, but he could have influenced a more positive outcome and didn’t. Thayer never came out with a position on the bill, to my knowledge.

What happens next? There is only a glimmer of hope that some parliamentary procedures can bring the bill to a vote in the full Senate during this special session. Beyond that, we are looking at the January 2010 legislative session.

The problem is that, by then, Ellis Park will have had a disastrous summer meeting, and Turfway Park will be in a much less competitive position than they are now. The prospects of Kentucky losing its year-round circuit are real. The loss of breeding stock to other states or Canadian provinces is real. The summer and fall yearling sales will be down anywhere from 25%-40%, and the breeding stock will match that or worse.

The downward spiral of Kentucky’s horse business, as Keeneland’s Nick Nicholson pointed out in the Senate hearing, has come faster and harder than anyone could have predicted. And I hate to say this, but it’s not going to get any better without real legislative action.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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There is no question Kentucky’s horse industry is in crisis, and the special legislative session called by Gov. Steve Beshear and beginning Monday, June 15, may be the most critical five days ever seen by the Bluegrass State’s horse farmers and all others whose businesses and the livelihoods for their families are dependent on a healthy horse industry. If a proposal to allow Kentucky racetracks to level the playing field with other racing states by installing Video Lottery Terminals is not passed, there could be dire consequences for businesses and families across the state in the very near future.

Many legislators from across the state may not fully understand the impact the horse industry has on Kentucky’s economy. The round numbers - more than 100,000 jobs and billions of dollars in direct economic impact - only tell part of the story. Next Wednesday’s horse industry rally in the state capital of Frankfort organized by the Kentucky Equine Education Project will be an important show of support for the legislation, and I hope everyone will participate in that. But there is more that you can do.

If you’re a Kentuckian or operate a horse-related business in the state, please take a few minutes to fill out a brief fact sheet about your company, and fax or mail it to Gov. Beshear, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, Senate President David Williams and your local elected officials. They will appreciate and benefit from knowing about that business and the impact it has on Kentucky’s economy.(Click here if you need help finding the state representative or senator in your district).

You can access the fact sheet by clicking here. It is suggested you print the  sheet out on your company’s letterhead before filling it out. .

I encourage all of Kentucky’s horse-related businesses to participate: stallion stations, boarding farms, training centers, racetracks, tack shops and supply stores, veterinarians and equine hospitals,bloodstock agencies, auction consignors and sale companies, insurance agents, publications, advertising agencies, anyone whose business involves horses. To help get this message out even further, please send either the link to this story or a copy of the PDF fact sheet to other horse-related companies you do business with in Kentucky.

Contact information:
Gov Steve Beshear
700 Capitol Avenue, Suite 100
Frankfort, KY 40601
Tel: 502.564.2611
Fax: 502.564.2517

Sen. President David Williams
702 Capitol Avenue, Annex Room 236
Frankfort, KY 40601
Tel: 502.564.3120
Fax: 502.564.0456

House Speaker Greg Stumbo
702 Capitol Avenue, Annex Room 303
Frankfort, KY 40601
Tel: 502.564.2363
Fax: 502.564.7178

 

By Ray Paulick
So Kentucky’s governor, Democrat Steve Beshear, has called a special session of the state’s legislature, beginning June 15, to deal with what he said was a budget crisis. The news landed with a rather indifferent thud in many regions of Kentucky, in part because David Williams, the Republican Senate president, said Beshear’s reasons for the session weren’t valid.

Beshear  was elected in 2007 largely on the platform of expanding gambling to ease Kentucky’s budget shortfalls and to help the struggling horse industry. Since then, he seems to have spent a majority of his time hiding in an undisclosed location, peering out occasionally to issue proclamations and reassure Kentucky residents that he is still alive and well. He looks to be no match for Williams, who has managed to bully many members of his own party to the point that they cower in a corner of indecision on important issues until hearing from their anointed leader. If Williams says nothing is going to happen in a special session, it’s a pretty safe bet nothing is going to happen—unless someone has the courage to take him on.

The third leg of Kentucky’s political stool is Democratic House leader Greg Stumbo, who has been the point person for carrying out Beshear’s election promise to help Kentucky’s horse industry compete with neighboring states Indiana, West Virginia and Illininois, by proposing legislation permitting slot machines at racetracks. Stumbo hopes the slots issue will be addressed during the special session but painted a bleak picture for the prospects of that happening with these words: “The governor’s leadership is critical.”

Asking Steve Beshear to show leadership at this stage of his governorship is a bit like asking Calvin Borel to send Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird to the early lead in a six-furlong race. I guess anything is possible, but I don’t think it’s going to happen. Sure, he talked a good game when he spoke at the Kentucky Derby Trainers’ Dinner in Louisville during Derby week, saying he didn’t want to be the governor who was presiding over the death of the Thoroughbred industry, but that was like throwing red meat into a pack of starving lions.

The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) has been quietly laying the groundwork for this special session, sending out hundreds of thousands of brochures to Kentuckians about the fast-declining state of the horse industry and placing radio ads and newspaper op-ed pieces around the state. But KEEP can’t do it on their own. They need help in the state capital of Frankfort.

Meanwhile, other states are having Kentucky’s racing industry for lunch. West Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and other slots-enriched racing programs are attracting horses from the Bluegrass State because higher purses are being offered. Breeding stock is beginning to leave Kentucky, too. The Illinois Senate approved a racetrack slots bill (it’s unclear whether the House will OK the measure), but that state already has riverboat casinos where Kentuckians are spending their gambling dollars.

It’s time Beshear man-up and take on David Williams in this issue that is critical to the horse industry and Kentucky. The governor should ask Williams about his trips to gambling boats in Indiana, and whether or not the Senate president is ever “comped” on those trips or given special treatment by the casino companies who will fight tooth and nail to keep slot machines away from Kentucky tracks. He should ask if Williams has something against the horse business, the signature industry in Kentucky.

I doubt we’ll see that happen, if recent events are any indication. After Eclipse Award-winning writer Billy Reed’s blog post on his web site about Williams’ opposition to the horse industry (Williams is enemy no. 1 to racing in Kentucky) was distributed by a staffer for the Kentucky Horse Racing Racing Commission to all of its members, the Paulick Report learned that Beshear apologized to Williams and castigated the commission staffer for daring to send out anything that was critical of the Senate president.

If that’s the kind of leadership we can expect in the upcoming special session, we can kiss any slots legislation goodbye, Kentucky’s signature industry will continue its downward spiral, and the state’s budget crisis will go unresolved.

Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report

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By Ray Paulick
It’s now been 15 years since James E. (Ted) Bassett III, then the president of Keenelend, declared before a legislative committee in Kentucky’s state capitol that the commonwealth’s signature industry, Thoroughbred racing and breeding, was “not going to cave in to the hypothetical threat of a mythical armada cruising down the Ohio from Ashland to Paducah under the disguise of a legislative act that has yet to be passed in most of our neighboring states.”

Bassett was talking about the emergence of what then were just a few floating casinos in Illinois and the possibility of additional boats in Indiana; 1994 was only the beginning of an era that has seen an unprecedented explosion in gambling in states from New Mexico to New York, from Florida to Louisiana, from Mississippi to West Virginia, and from Michigan to Pennsylvania.

So much has changed in 15 years that even Bassett’s wise, old head must be spinning. In fact, his successor at Keeneland, Nick Nicholson, is now one of the main proponents to get Kentucky’s gambling playing fields level with those of other states. The mythical armada surrounding Kentucky has grown to include a massive floating arsenal of riverboats carrying blackjack and craps tables, and hundreds of thousands of slot machines at land-based compounds.

I understand completely what Bassett was saying. He hated the thought Kentucky’s racing industry would have to cave in to the pressures created by the dominos falling around him in other states. Betting on a horse and throwing money into slot machines are two forms of gambling, to be sure, but one involves an intellectual challenge, an agriculture based business, and a beautiful sport that at times can capture the interest and imagination of an entire nation. The other is a mindless activity that is virtually guaranteed to separate the player from his money: gradually, tantalizingly, but, ultimately, relentlessly.

Sadly, I hate to admit, the former – pari-mutuel wagering on horses – must depend to some degree on the latter – Video Lottery Terminals or slot machines – to survive.

The debate has gone on long enough in Kentucky. Fifteen years! There probably isn’t a resident in Kentucky who can’t jump in his car and within two hours be feeding a slot machine in a neighboring state. Thousands of Kentuckians are doing just that, every day, and it’s costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars each year in lost revenue. Worse, it’s threatening the very future of Kentucky’s largest and most important industry: the Thoroughbred.

I wrote earlier this week that slots revenue may in the long run be fool’s gold in many states, and I stand by that statement. Any non-essential industry that relies on subsidies to exist is skating on thin ice, because those subsidies can very well be taken away with the slash of a legislator’s pen. The racing and breeding industries in most American states would have to be put into that “non-essential” category. But Kentucky is different. Take away the horse farms and the nearly 100,000 jobs they have created, and you will have a state plunged into a deep, deep economic recession. No other state is so dependent on this major agribusiness. Furthermore, Kentucky’s identity to the rest of the world is so tied to horses that it would forever be changed.

It’s therefore essential that legislators, from Ashland to Hopkinsville, from Paducah to Williamsburg, understand that the armada is no longer mythical, that the assault is ongoing, and that the battle is in serious danger of being lost.

This subject has been debated, not just in the halls of Frankfort and the breeding sheds of Central Kentucky, but on the national airwaves. On Wednesday of this week and next week, Steve Byk’s At the Races radio show on Sirius channel 126 (4-7 p.m. Eastern) is devoting the entire three hours to the issue, “Kentucky in Crisis.” Byk’s guests this week were John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale farm, Kentucky state Sen. Damon Thayer, Eclipse Award-winning writer Billy Read and trainer Chuck Simon.

Click here to listen to Wednesday’s enlightening “Kentucky in Crisis” program.

I’ll be on next Wednesday’s program, following scheduled appearances by Greg Stumbo, the Kentucky House Speaker whose VLT legislation cleared a House committee yesterday, lobbyist Gene McLean and former Kentucky Gov. Brereton Jones, the owner of Airdrie Stud.

VLTs or slot machines cannot be racing’s salvation. The sport is failing, not just in Kentucky but throughout the United States, because it has failed to adequately address a number of serious challenges. The racing product needs attention, and its business model is broken both on a local and national level, and simply putting additional money into purses is not going to fix the product on its own. It will, however, give the industry an opportunity to invest in its own future, something it has not been able to do since the mythical armada transformed into a very real threat to the survival of Kentucky’s most important industry.

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By Ray Paulick

Richard Duchossois, who became the largest shareholder in Churchill Downs Inc. when his wholly owned Arlington Park racetrack was merged with Churchill in September 2000, has been steadily adding to his holdings over the last 10 months. In September alone, the Chicago industrialist has purchased 17,296 shares of CDI.

As part of the original agreement to merge Arlington into Churchill, Duchossois Industries received 3,150,000 shares of CDI and had a right to receive another 1,250,000 shares.

Last November, Duchossois bought nearly 15,000 additional shares in the $49-$50 per share range. In December he bought approximately 25,000 in the $52 range. In March he purchased 69,000 at prices between $45-$47 per share. In August he bought 29,000 shares, about a third of them at $37 per share and the rest around $43.

Churchill stock (CHDN) closed at $50.48 per share on Friday.

The only other major insider trading transactions of CDI stock in the last year was the sale of 15,931 shares by CEO Bob Evans.

Churchill officials are hoping the Kentucky legislature passes legislation permitting racetracks in the state to add slot machines as several other racing states have done, including to the north and West Virginia to the east. Pro-slots legislator Greg Stumbo (formerly the state’s attorney general) said recently he will mount a challenge to be Kentucky’s speaker of the house, a position currently held by Jody Richards, who has fallen into disfavor with many in the horse industry because he blocked a casino bill earlier this year.

The company has had some difficulties in 2008 over contract negotiations with horsemen at CDI-owned Calder in Florida and its flagship track in Louisville, Ky. Purse cuts resulted at both tracks. It will be adding slot machines at Calder after a local referendum was approved, and its other track, Fair Grounds, will be offering record purses at its upcoming meeting, thanks to slot machine revenue.