Advertising campaign was aimed at saving a struggling industry.

The Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association doesn’t normally rise to the bait when anti-gambling advocates prattle on about our industry. However, in a recent editorial, the Lewiston Sun Journal made several allegations that cannot go unchallenged. The editorial writer, David Farmer, assigned motives to the MHHA that are impossible to substantiate – because there is no substance to them.

He claims we undertook an advertising campaign intended to “tarnish state senators and the governor” and that “vilified” politicians who supported tight regulations.

Not true.

In the final days of this legislative session, it was becoming increasingly clear that LD 1820, the governor’s bill to “regulate” slot machines, had turned into a morass – with many original supporters, legislators included, realizing that in its final form, the bill could essentially prevent what it sought to regulate.

With time running out, we did launch an ad campaign. As was clearly stated in the ads, the people of Maine voted for a 25 percent tax rate on slot machine operator’s profits. The governor and some legislators supported an increase to 49 percent. Pointing that out isn’t vilifying or tarnishing anyone.

We have consistently advocated for a reasonable tax on slot revenues, both in written material distributed to legislators and in personal meetings with the governor’s staff, and the ads were consistent with that message.

Farmer goes on to accuse the MHHA of pressuring the governor and legislators to “give away the state’s valuable slot machine franchise.” Again, not true.

The Baldacci administration claimed that it needed 1 percent of the amount bet – what we call the handle – in order to “properly regulate” the slot machines in Bangor. Since 89 percent of the handle is paid back in the form of winnings, that 1 percent translates into about 10 percent of Penn National’s profits, or about $8 million. That’s right, $8 million in administrative costs to regulate one building in Bangor.

As reported on April 16, Penn National claimed the tax rate the administration proposed would force them to consider “either abandoning or scaling back” the racino project. After having worked so hard to get Question 2 passed, that in itself was enough to cause us to oppose the tax provision and call loudly for something everyone could live with.

Give away the valuable slot machine franchise? Hardly. We knew there was no pressuring the governor to lower the price tag for his regulatory scheme. So we offered to pay for it ourselves.

The MHHA supported an amendment that would have given the state what it wanted for administration – taken entirely from the portion of Penn National’s profits that the Legal and Veteran’s Affairs Committee had dedicated to increased purse funds for harness racing. If we, the industry the slot machines were supposed to save, could support this amendment, why couldn’t the governor?

We were willing to give a portion of our share to the state for administrative costs because we wanted to keep Penn National in the game. We weren’t willing to trust that someone else would come in and make the kind of investment needed for a successful racino. We undertook the advertising campaign to encourage the people of Maine who voted for Question 2 to ask the governor and their legislators to support a workable compromise, not to tarnish anyone’s reputation, and not to pressure anyone into giving anything away.

As we’ve learned over the past several months, politics is a dirty business. Lots of things get said in the heat of the moment, and sometimes we don’t use our best judgment. But let’s get one thing straight – the men and women of the harness racing community have one motivation: to save our industry. And the governor says he’s with us.

We’ll see.

Gerald “Butch” MacKenzie is the president of the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association. He lives in Etna.

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