President of N.Y. harness track quits

VERNON DOWNS, N.Y. – The president of Vernon Downs has turned over the reins of the upstate New York harness track to a junior executive while he appeals the state’s decision last week to deny him a racing license.

David Wilson, the track’s racing director, will run the track while track president and chairman of the board of directors Hoolae Paoa fights to get his license, track lawyer Martin Gersten told The Post-Standard of Syracuse.

Gersten said Paoa and Shawn Scott, a key investor who also was denied a license last week, have filed an appeal with the state Racing and Wagering Board.

Gersten said Monday he was preparing to ask a state Supreme Court judge to allow Scott and Paoa to continue their involvement in the track while the appeal is pending.

Racing board spokeswoman Stacey Clifford said the denials were effective Friday, meaning Scott and Paoa cannot be involved in the track.

In letters to Scott and Paoa, the board said, “Your experience, character and general fitness is such that your participation in racing or related activities would be inconsistent with the public interest … or the best interest of racing generally.”

Gersten said the charges were baseless.

The board granted the pair temporary licenses last year. The track is now $23 million in debt to a Las Vegas mortgage company with ties to Scott.

Vernon Downs, 35 miles east of Syracuse, has two license applications pending with the state, one to race horses next season and another to open a casino.

A report by Maine racing officials said he told New York officials he had never been denied a gaming license, but South Carolina denied seven license applications to Scott for video poker machines because of delinquent property taxes.

According to court documents, Paoa pleaded guilty to felony theft in 1984 for stealing $8,000 from a management company in Hawaii and in 1997 pleaded guilty to assault. He has said he disclosed the convictions to the New York racing board.