FARMINGTON – Stanley Kuklinski was sworn in Monday as a member of the Maine Harness Racing Commission.

Kuklinski of Farmington said Maine’s harness racing industry represents thousands of jobs and is likely to produce more jobs.

He’ll be doing his part to keep the industry viable, he said, and will work with members of the commission and the industry to formulate “common strategies for improving the status of harness racing in Maine.”

About a month ago, Gov. John Baldacci called Kuklinski to see if he was interested in serving on the commission.

“I was honored to be asked,” Kuklinski said.

Kuklinski’s appointment was supported unanimously by legislators. He becomes one of the five commissioners overseeing live harness racing and five off-track betting facilities in the state as well as the adoption of rules that ensure integrity for participants and fans.

Kuklinski and his wife, attorney and state Rep. Janet Mills, D-Farmington, along with five daughters, raised Standardbred horses in the 1990s on a farm in Strong and raced these horses across the state at commercial tracks and at many fairgrounds.

During that time he got to know a number of people in the industry, he said.

He says they are “good people who work hard for a living. People who work from dawn to dusk, feeding, grazing and raising horses. People who muck out stalls. People who train young horses. Sulky drivers, veterinarians and people who volunteer hundreds of hours each year to continue the great tradition of our agricultural fairs – unique and beautiful cultural events that are so vital to the character of our state.”

“I know the values that harness racing brings to our state – both cultural and financial,” Kuklinski said.

“I appreciate that more than $70 million a year is contributed to our state’s economy by the harness racing industry, directly and indirectly,” he added.

– economic contributions ranging from jobs and the profits from wagering, to the purchase of feed supplies, veterinarian services and tack, and the growing of hay and grain by Maine farms,” he said.

Kuklinski said he also realizes that the harness racing industry is suffering – the small purses at Maine’s fairgrounds and commercial tracks make it extremely difficult to maintain the sport, he said.

“So while I am excited to become part of a regulatory commission that is charged with licensing, establishing race dates and hearing appeals, … I also want very much to promote the industry, to be, in my own way, a spokesman and goodwill ambassador for harness racing because of what it represents to our state,” he said.

Kuklinski, a retired businessman, previously served as on the Maine Athletic Commission and the Maine Boxing Commission.
dperry@sunjournal.com

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