Racino developer asks court to keep license data secret

BANGOR – A Kennebec County Superior Court justice is expected to issue a ruling today on a motion aimed at postponing the release of some of the thousands of documents the state has gathered as part of its background investigation into the developer of a proposed racetrack casino at Bangor Raceway.

That information originally was not going to be released until after it was submitted to the Maine Harness Racing Commission, which is conducting licensing hearings and setting race dates for 2004 during the week of Dec. 15.

With millions of dollars in revenue at stake, the issue has become one of intense public and media interest.

Attorneys representing Bangor Historic Track Inc., Capital Seven LLC and Shawn Scott filed the motion for a temporary restraining order covering all of the documents at issue late last week.

Scott is the Hawaiian businessman who approached the city of Bangor last fall with plans to develop a $30 million racetrack casino, known as a racino in the racing industry. He is a 49 percent owner of Bangor Historic Track but would have to acquire the remaining interest in the company as a condition of licensing. Scott also is the sole owner of Capital Seven, the development company that would bring the Bangor racino project to fruition.

In response to requests from several Maine media outlets made under the state Freedom of Access law, Department of Agriculture Commissioner Robert Spear said last week he would release more than 100 documents relevant to the license application process at noon today.

Which documents, if any, that actually will be made available remained unclear Tuesday. Justice Donald Marden said he would issue his written decision this morning; however, a stay from Marden or an appeal to a higher court could prevent that from happening.

The documents cover a range of matters relating to the application for the state harness-racing license Scott needs in order to fulfill his multimillion-dollar plan for Bangor Raceway, which includes slot machines. Scott won approval in a citywide vote in June, and has struck a development deal with the city, which owns the racetrack. Maine voters authorized slots for Bangor Raceway and Scarborough Downs on Nov. 4. It now appears that the harness-racing license is the only obstacle remaining.

The documents at issue include financial reports and other documents, corporate information, correspondence, memorandums, invoices, transcripts of interviews and meetings, meeting minutes, bankruptcy records, documents describing litigation involving Scott in other states, print media reports, relevant statutes and rules and ownership and funding models for Capital Seven LLC and some of Scott’s other companies.

State officials already have said they would not release documents that might constitute a personal invasion of privacy, such as materials containing home addresses and Social Security numbers or confidential business information.

Staff from the Attorney General’s Office collected the documents on the harness-racing commission’s behalf in Maine and other states in which Scott has done business, namely Louisiana, New York and Nevada.

Maine’s harness-racing licensing process involves a background investigation of operators by the Attorney General’s Office. State law requires applicants and their associates and creditors to be of “good moral character” and “financially responsible.”

During oral arguments Tuesday, Portland attorney Bruce Merrill and Augusta attorney Stephen Langsdorf, representing Scott and his companies, argued that the documents should not be released, at least for now, because they might contain information that could later be deemed confidential and potentially result in irreparable harm to Scott and his efforts to obtain a permanent license.

In addition, Merrill claimed the decision to release the documents did not belong to agriculture commissioners but to the harness-racing commission, which agreed in September to limit the documents’ dissemination to the parties involved and their attorneys. He also said that his clients believe some of the information in the documents is inaccurate.

Assistant Attorney General Jeff Pidot, who represented the state and the public’s interest in the matter, countered that the plaintiffs waited until late last week to try to stop the documents’ release, even though the racing commission’s investigation has been going on for several months.

“They were advised all along that there was no legal protection of these documents if a [freedom of access] request were made. They understood,” Pidot said. He further said that the plaintiffs had still not offered specific justification for their request for secrecy nor an affidavit stating how disclosure might harm them, both of which he said were conditions for confidentiality.

“I think it is too little and too late,” he said. “Indeed, it is nothing and too late. … The point is that [the freedom of access law] rules. That is what the Legislature has said. These documents are in the public domain.”

After listening to about two hours of debate, Marden decided not to rule on the matter from the bench Tuesday. He said that the issue warranted a written decision.

In January, the five-member racing panel issued Bangor Historic Track a conditional license for 2003, pending the results of the background check.

Henry Jackson, the commission’s executive director, said earlier this month that three applications for 2004 racing licenses and race dates for Bangor Raceway were filed by the Oct. 31 deadline. In addition to the application submitted by Scott, the commission has received applications from the city of Bangor and Kehl Management Co., an Iowa-based casino management company that hopes to step in should Capital Seven find itself unable to fulfill its plans for Bangor.