CasinosNo! asks court to hold up Bangor racetrack operator’s license

BANGOR – CasinosNo! has joined two Maine Indian tribes in asking a judge to review the Maine State Harness Racing Commission’s decision Tuesday to issue a conditional license to the owner of Bangor Historic Track Inc.

CasinosNo!, which engineered the defeat of November’s referendum to build an Indian-run casino in Sanford, filed two motions in Penobscot County Superior Court late Wednesday. The organization’s attorneys seek a stay of the commission’s decision and a reversal of the commission’s denial of its petition for intervenor status.

The Penobscot Nation and the Passamoquoddy Tribe on Tuesday appealed the commission’s denial of their petition to intervene. The Christian Civic League of Maine, which also petitioned to intervene in the process, has not filed an appeal.

Tim Russell, the league’s representative, said Wednesday the organization could not afford to hire an attorney to pursue the matter. Unless a law firm or individual attorney donated services, the league would not appeal.

The Harness Racing Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to grant the owner of Bangor Historic Track Inc. a conditional license for the 2004 season, slated to open May 21. Obtaining a racing license was a critical step in Penn National Gaming’s plan to develop a racino in Bass Park, combining harness racing with year-round slot machine gambling.

Tuesday’s action does not mean the Bangor track will become a racino soon.

The Legislature will take several more months to develop and adopt regulations for slots. State officials say a slots parlor could be operational in late summer or fall.

CasinosNo! has asked that a hearing on the motion to stay the commission’s decision be held today or Friday. The conditional license will go into effect Saturday. The court had not scheduled the hearing as of Wednesday afternoon.

Superior Court Justice Andrew Mead was assigned to hear the tribes’ appeal, but had not been assigned to hear the CasinosNo! appeal when the court closed Wednesday.

In addition to the stay, CasinosNo! has asked the court to specify the future course of proceedings and allow it access to documents that might support its claim that commissioners received improper communications from interested parties during the licensing proceedings.

In a letter issued earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General Ruth McNiff pointed out to commissioners and the parties involved in the licensing process that the Administrative Procedure Act prohibits communications outside official proceedings between commission members and “any party or other persons legally interested in the outcome of the proceeding, except upon notice and opportunity for all parties to participate.”

In a separate motion filed Wednesday, CasinosNo! asked the court to declare that Penn National has not satisfied the statutory criteria to receive a license, is not entitled to a conditional license, and that a track must have a license, not a conditional license, to operate.