Horse racing board stripped of budget
SACRAMENTO — For the second time this year, lawmakers are scrutinizing Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's appointees on a state board over conflicts of interest and other issues.
In a rare move this month, a state Senate subcommittee stripped the California Horse Racing Board of its $10.8-million budget. Legislators have accused members of mismanagement and ethical lapses, including the refusal of one appointee to surrender $24,000 in prize money won by a horse he owned that had tested positive for morphine.
Some board members acknowledge that the panel, which is dominated by racehorse owners, may need an overhaul. But they say lawmakers have come after them because the board angered a generous campaign donor with a recent ruling.
Horse racing board: An article in Sunday's California section about scrutiny of the California Horse Racing Board said State Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) accused board member and thoroughbred owner John W. Amerman of showing a "lapse in judgment" by refusing for six years to relinquish prize money won by his horse after it tested positive for a banned substance at Hollywood Park in 2000. In fact, board officials did not notify Amerman until June 23, 2006, that he had to relinquish the prize money.
In March, the board rebuffed a request from the Bay Meadows Land Co., owner of a Bay Area racetrack. The company wanted permission to keep its hard dirt track rather than spend up to $10 million on softer synthetic turf, which is required by the state to help save horses from fatal injuries.
Bay Meadows executives complain that the board's decision will force them to close the San Mateo, Calif., track -- already slated for commercial and residential development -- at least a year earlier than planned. The company, which has spent more than $3 million on political campaigns in the last couple of years, took its cause to lawmakers.
According to secretary of state's office filings, since December 2005 Bay Meadows has given more than $600,000 to political parties, $300,000 to committees controlled by the leaders of the state Senate and Assembly and more than $260,000 directly to lawmakers.
"Once you get on somebody's radar screen and they're not a happy camper," said racing board member and Harris Farms owner John C. Harris, "they're
The board's most vocal critic is Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), whose district is home to Bay Meadows and 500 of the company's workers. Yee said he is not being vindictive.
"The mandate, the mission, the way they operate needs to be aired out in public," he said of the board.
The deletion of the board's budget has not been approved by the full Legislature.
The board of seven gubernatorial appointees -- six of them Schwarzenegger's -- licenses nearly 14,000 trainers, jockeys, owners and others involved in an industry that generated $4.2 billion in wagers last year and $38 million in state revenue.
