Racing commission members meet up

The new members of the New Mexico Racing Commission held their first meeting Friday and chose officers. But what direction the agency would take regarding a coveted sixth license remains unknown — for now.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on April 25 appointed five new commissioners to oversee the state’s horseracing industry. The new commission convened a special meeting Friday and had a sixth license on the official agenda, but took no action on that matter after at least two hours in executive session.

Warren Frost, one of the principals for Coronado Partners that wants to build an $80 million racetrack and casino on Tucumcari’s east side, attended Friday’s meeting. He said couldn’t get a read on the new commissioners and what they would do about a sixth license.

“They didn’t give you any direction where they were headed one way or the other,” he said during a phone interview. “They said they were going to be reviewing the applications and the information they had and give us more of a direction on the 16th” — referring to the commission’s next regular meeting this month.

Frost said he was doubtful the commissioners will have enough time to review applications and data to make a decision on a sixth license during the May 16 meeting.

“I don’t anticipate that happening at all,” he said.

Beverly Bourguet, formerly a racing commissioner from 2011 to 2015, was named chairwoman of the new commission, and David Sanchez was named vice chairman. Bourguet was noncommittal on the commission’s direction on a sixth license when an Associated Press reporter talked to her after Friday’s meeting.

“We could continue our review, we could decide to grant, we could decide not to grant. We don’t know exactly what we’re going to do,” Bourguet said. “We all need to get up to date.”

Frost cautioned the new commission’s review of the information doesn’t mean it would take Convergence Strategy Group’s disputed feasibility study at face value.

“I think that assumes they know what all was out there in terms of reports,” Frost said. “I’m not sure they did. I’m not reading anything into that right now.”

The Convergence report prompted Hidalgo Downs LLC, which wants to build a racino in Lordsburg, to request an injunction against the commission days before it scheduled to award a sixth license in early December. Hidalgo said the feasibility study was flawed and that former commission chairman Ray Willis had a conflict of interest with one of the applicants from Clovis.

Frost also was critical of the Convergence study, saying it underestimated how much any of the three Clovis applicants would hurt revenues at other racinos in Hobbs and Ruidoso.

Hidalgo Downs and the racing commission announced a settlement in mid-April over the injunction. The other applicants objected, saying they had no input on the agreement. Judge Carl Butkus refused to approve the settlement until hearing out their complaints.

Lujan Grisham, who wrote the commission a letter in January about concerns on the licensing process, dismissed the commission less than a week before it was scheduled to hold a special April 30 meeting to discuss a sixth license. That meeting was canceled.

The other new commissioners are John Buffington, Freda McSwane and Billy Smith. Frost, an attorney from Logan, said he didn’t know any of the new commissioners except for McSwane, who he’d encountered occasionally because she too is a lawyer.

“I wouldn’t consider myself friends with her,” he said.

Regardless of his lack of knowledge about the new commission and its close-to-the-vest stance on a sixth license, Frost said he remained upbeat on Tucumcari’s chances.

“Overall, I’m convinced this commission wants to remain fair and impartial,” he said. “I’m optimistic that we’re going to get a fair shake.”