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http://www.saratogian.com/articles/2012/05/14/news/doc4fb1a19b2edba336382639.txt
NYRA names Ellen McClain president, Kenneth Handal general counsel, ethics compliance officer
By PAUL POST and EMILY DONOHUE May 14, 2012

The New York Racing Association’s board on Monday named Ellen McClain president of the firm, which has been without a leader since May 3, when Charles Hayward was fired in the wake of an overcharging scandal.

Also on Monday, NYRA hired Kenneth V. Handal as acting general counsel and chief ethics and compliance officer and named him secretary of NYRA’s board. Patrick Kehoe, NYRA’s last general counsel and senior vice president, was also fired May 3.

... After Hayward and Kehoe were terminated, “circumstances changed pretty quickly,” Wait said, leaving McClain one of the most senior members of the organization with less than three months before the start of the Saratoga meet.

In a statement issued Monday morning about Handal’s hiring, McClain said “this is a critical period for New York racing.”

The report, which is preliminary, gives no indication that McClain was aware of the overcharging.

… In a statement issued Monday morning, NYRA called Handal “an expert in corporate ethics and compliance, governance and risk management with almost 40 years of experience as an attorney.”

http://businessofracing.blogspot.com/2012/05/nyra-first-lets-kill-lawyers.html
NYRA: First, Let's Kill the Lawyers
By Steve Zorn May 1, 2012

…

Charlie's a very decent guy who's sincerely tried to improve NYRA, but he's repeatedly shown himself to have a tin ear when it comes to anticipating the reaction of state officials, the press and the public. Cases in point: his initial refusal to disclose NYRA's budget and executive salaries to state auditors and the recent bizarre decision to charge low-volume NYRA Rewards phone bet customers $1 a call.

… Under New York's Rules of Professional Conduct for lawyers, an attorney owes his or her client the duty of competent representation. General counsel Kehoe's client is NYRA. By any standards, missing a legal deadline and then mis-reading the relevant statute is something less than competent representation.

So, I guess it's inevitable that Charlie Hayward will be thrown under the bus by those he made look good. But if he's going down, he shouldn't go alone. Pat Kehoe and anyone else in the NYRA counsel's office who gave bad advice should be right there in the next cell.