Finally.. NYRA's Heffernan reveals Pataki's machinations

[Kasept]

For years, listeners to ATR have heard these stories. NYRA has politely taken the high road the whole time, choosing to stay mum. I'm pleased that Jim Heffernan came out with the first acknowledgment of the Pataki Administrations direct complicity in sidetracking the MGM VLT parlor in the mid-'00's and trying to engineer the franchise awarding in specific directions. The negative impact of Pataki, Jeff Perle, the Friends of NY/Empire Racing group and its' sundry cohorts, are 100% responsible for the current state of racing and breeding in New York.

NYRA vice chairman: Pataki aide offered seat on NYRA board for $100K

In a related matter, also while on the Racing and Gaming Law panel, Heffernan said he believed Pataki deliberately stalled a deal NYRA had with MGM to run Aqueduct’s racino, so another party could take over New York racing. If the racino had opened earlier, he said, NYRA would have had no trouble winning a new racing franchise, because it would have been on firm financial ground. Instead, two other firms challenged NYRA for the racing contract, which NYRA eventually got anyway in September 2008.

The state’s thoroughbred industry has suffered immensely because of the state’s failure to get Aqueduct’s proposed racino open. "NYRA never would have gone bankrupt," Heffernan said. "We could have done all kinds of capital improvements. Tens of millions of dollars were lost."