Pace Yourselves

If the Maine Harness Racing Commission wants to save time, it should slow down. Or at least slow down long enough to observe the appeals process about to take place because of the ahead-of-schedule decision on leasing the wholesale portion of the state’s liquor business. Rather than saving time with that decision, the administration now will spend more time reviewing what it thought it had completed.

The Harness Racing Commission, scheduled to meet Feb. 17, must decide whether to grant a license to Bangor Historic Track (BHT) for racing in 2004. It matters whether it completes its work by the end of next week – a precondition of the development agreement between Bangor and, indirectly, BHT is that BHT secure a racing license 90 days before the racing season, expected to begin May 21. Bangor can waive that precondition, but the fact that it exists certainly improves the city’s position.

First, however, the commission must sort out the question of whether Penn National, the putative owner of BHT, has requested a license. In a Feb. 5 letter to Penn National’s attorney, Henry Jackson, executive director of the commission, says the renewal application filed by BHT is inadequate; the new owner needs to file a wholly new application. Earlier this week, BHT filed an amended renewal license. A renewed vs. a new license is also important because the new racino rules direct the state to issue a slots license automatically to harness-racing license holders if they have a license on the effective date of the rules, which was Jan. 3.

This debate is, of course, not about harness racing, but about those slot machines. Maine’s brief experience with racino has taught it, or should have taught it, to proceed slowly, examine everything and, most of all, assume that the operators of racino know so much more about this than Maine does that the state is at a disadvantage.

The commission has a further question before it – whether to allow the Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe to intervene in the license request. The tribes not only are treated as municipalities, which have automatic intervenor status, on issues such as this, but have a direct interest, through high-stakes beano, where they stand to lose substantially because of racino, so much so that Gov. Baldacci has included in his racino bill funding to lessen the damage. They should be included in a hearing about harness and racino licensing if only because their own interest in operating a such a facility has provided them with incentive to investigate the BHT deal.

The commission has several difficult, complicated decisions to make in the coming weeks that will affect the economy of this region for decades. It should not be rushed and it should be confident that the decisions it reaches meet the letter and intent of its rules and best serve Maine. Going slow now could save the commission from going over the same ground again in the future.