Are Political Appointees the best people to regulate the sport?

[andymays]

CHRB Whistle Blower Sues Agency | BloodHorse.com
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...er-sues-agency

Excerpt:
Beginning in July 2006, Atashkar alleged he became aware of improper activities by Fermin, Shapiro and others, including "misappropriation of taxpayer funds by CHRB executives; backdating of contracts in favor of friends of CHRB executives; the illegal collection of funds for the benefit of Shapiro and Fermin; pornography and inappropriate video stored in CHRB computer system."

He claimed, in an interview, that he has the documentation to prove that Fermin and Shapiro misused the testing system for Total Carbon Dioxide (TCO2), known as "green sheets," to target individual trainers for prosecution. They also used insider information to warn favored trainers of upcoming tests for particular medications, he charged, and circumvented state hiring practices to employ trainer Darrell Vienna as a board consultant and Dr. Rick Arthur as the CHRB's equine medical director.

Once the defendants were informed of his charges, Atashkar said hostility on the job forced him to take an illness leave in late 2006, In February 2007 he and Frank Moore, then the CHRB's head of investigation, took Atashkar's allegations to the California Highway Patrol. As a result of that, he contends in the lawsuit, Fermin, Shapiro and Smith "began a campaign of retaliation."

[rwwupl]

Andy,

You and I can see the corruption on a daily basis. It has been this way for a long time, never more apparent than the present.

Political appointees?...yes ,that is what we have to represent us on the CHRB, they have been rewarded for their contributions in other fields with a seat on the BOARD.

It takes two years as a minimum for these people to grasp the basics of why they are there. 99% of the people they hear from are connected to the industry and have an axe to grind.

It should be noted that there are some people of good character involved on the Board and staff (not all).

When I had a conversation with a Board member on a current hot issue, he explained that he did not want to get into the nuts and bolts of the matter, he just wanted peace at any price. It was obvious that he did not want to learn about anything that he did not previously understand.

I think a better system would be to appoint "Sportsmen"...with no financial interest in the industry at all... such as many fine sportswriters and such... and what would be wrong with a horseplayer on the Board to represent that most important segment of the industry?

The Board in California has been dominated for decades by licensed horse owners who are also members of the TOC.

The results are self evident.

Why do we need this?

Roger Way

[Hanover1]

Here we go again....Mullins, really? Care to guess how many in harness are training at a .350 clip and higher? Many if not most of the top ones......and it would be the regulators who have failed, instead of targeting anyone. Close to beyond repair.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Hanover1

Here we go again....Mullins, really? Care to guess how many in harness are training at a .350 clip and higher? Many if not most of the top ones......and it would be the regulators who have failed, instead of targeting anyone. Close to beyond repair.

Yeah...

We all know how pro-horseplayer Mullins has always been...

We should all be enraged by this unfair treatment that he has been subjected to in this game.

[andymays]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Yeah...

We all know how pro-horseplayer Mullins has always been...

We should all be enraged by this unfair treatment that he has been subjected to in this game.

This is where you guys go off the rails and here's why:

Once you say it's OK for guys like Mullins to be targeted and penalized for something that may or may not be valid just because you believe that he must be guilty of something then the whole system gets corrupted. I don't know why most Horseplayers automatically assume that these guys are evil geniuses. They may know a lot about Training a horse but they aren't the brightest people in the world when it comes to public relations or anything else outside of Training. The people who monitor the sport should be above reproach and they clearly aren't.

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http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/mo...horse_tra.html

Excerpt:

But Anthony admits Rick has a serious flaw.

"He has a lack of respect for some people," Anthony says. "Rick also had a lack of respect for authority."

[craigbraddick]

In simple terms politicians or political appointees should not be allowed to regulate anything.

I am sorry but the deference given to many of these people is little short of sickening. I do not need a politician to tell me what is a vice and how it should be taxed, neither do I need them to regulate an already over regulted sport.

It is time the sport en masse stood up to politicians and state this and federal that and tell them where to shove it in no uncertain terms.

Craig.

[andymays]

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...7e150aae3.html

Excerpt:

A Post-Dispatch analysis of the group's data found that the winners in that debate — the horse racing tracks, their owners and others in favor of the expansion legislation — gave far more money than did the state's established casinos, which are against the expansion bill.

The Post-Dispatch also found that the votes of legislators generally tracked with where they got their money: Those who received primarily horse racing donations this year supported the expansion bill by a roughly 2-to-1 margin in the May floor votes of the Illinois House and Senate. Those who primarily received money from the existing casinos ended up voting against the bill by roughly the same margin.

"Either legislators are for sale, and they looked around at who gave to them for how to vote ... or the givers looked to the friendly legislators" and rewarded them, said the watchdog group's David Morrison.

[FenceBored]

Originally Posted by andymays

http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/g...7e150aae3.html

Excerpt:

A Post-Dispatch analysis of the group's data found that the winners in that debate — the horse racing tracks, their owners and others in favor of the expansion legislation — gave far more money than did the state's established casinos, which are against the expansion bill.

The Post-Dispatch also found that the votes of legislators generally tracked with where they got their money: Those who received primarily horse racing donations this year supported the expansion bill by a roughly 2-to-1 margin in the May floor votes of the Illinois House and Senate. Those who primarily received money from the existing casinos ended up voting against the bill by roughly the same margin.

"Either legislators are for sale, and they looked around at who gave to them for how to vote ... or the givers looked to the friendly legislators" and rewarded them, said the watchdog group's David Morrison.

Someone who supports VLTs should be more likely to give money to politicians who oppose VLTs?

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by andymays

This is where you guys go off the rails and here's why:

Once you say it's OK for guys like Mullins to be targeted and penalized for something that may or may not be valid just because you believe that he must be guilty of something then the whole system gets corrupted. I don't know why most Horseplayers automatically assume that these guys are evil geniuses. They may know a lot about Training a horse but they aren't the brightest people in the world when it comes to public relations or anything else outside of Training. The people who monitor the sport should be above reproach and they clearly aren't.

You have misunderstood me sir,

I didn't mean that "it's OK for guys like Mullins to be targeted and penalized for something that may or may not be valid just because I believe that he must be guilty of something"...I was commenting about Jeff Mullins in particular!

Mullins is the epitomy of everything that is wrong with this game...not only when it comes to drug violations, but also when it comes to having a complete and total disregard for the horseplayer and his rights in this game.

Are we supposed to forget his scathing comments about us horseplayers in 2005-2006?

You parade this article in front of us, about this "alleged" injustice against him, as if we are supposed to feel sorry for him...like he is a paragon of virtue or something...

Mullins is a parasite, as far as the horseplayer is concerned...and he deserves no sympathy from the horseplayer AT ALL!

Couldn't you find a better guy to make your point with?

[andymays]

http://www.ocregister.com/news/cadiz...brackpool.html

Excerpt:

A 51-year-old British-born entrepreneur, Brackpool owns thoroughbreds and a Manhattan Beach country club and counts among his friends some of the most powerful people in California: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Susan Kennedy, Gov. Schwarzenegger’s chief of staff; and, most famously, former Gov. Gray Davis.

He was also fined in the early 1980s for violating British securities law, although he’s maintained it was the equivalent of misdemeanor charges.
Brackpool and his company’s more than $100,000 in campaign contributions to then Gov. Davis raised red flags when Met took a hard look at Cadiz in 2001 and 2002.

If approved, Brackpool and his company Cadiz Inc. would have made a fortune. “There was certainly a lot of suspicion and wondering,” said Mark Watton, secretary of the San Diego County Water Authority and a member of the Met board at the time. “What is Keith doing because he’s a confidant of the governor?”
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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...d-confida.html

Excerpt:

Arnold Schwarzenegger today announced the nomination of one of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s closest friends and confidants, Keith Brackpool, to the California Horse Racing Board.

Brackpool, 52, is chief executive of Cadiz, a company that hopes to complete a water banking project in the Mojave Desert. Cadiz, based in Los Angeles, had tried unsuccessfully to sell the Metropolitan Water District on a $150-million water storage plan in the eastern Mojave Desert.

Villaraigosa worked as a consultant for Cadiz before he was elected mayor in 2005, and the governor's chief of staff, Susan Kennedy, also used to work for Cadiz: In 2005, while Kennedy was serving on the state Public Utilities Commission, the firm paid her $120,000 in consulting fees.

Appointments to the horse racing board are subject to Senate confirmation, and compensation for the post is limited to a $100 per diem. Brackpool is a Democrat.
================================================== =============

http://finance.sfgate.com/hearst.sfg...?GUID=19005377

Excerpt:

Robbins Umeda LPP's investigation focuses on whether the directors and officers of Cadiz harmed the company by breaching their fiduciary duties to shareholders. In particular, Robbins Umeda LLP is investigating the decision by the company's board of directors to dramatically increase executive compensation by as much as 210% for fiscal year 2010, despite Cadiz's meek financial performance during the same period. In 2010, Cadiz's shareholders saw the company's stock yield a meager 4% annual return. Nevertheless, Cadiz's board voted to approve a 210% increase in compensation for Chief Executive Officer Keith Brackpool. Similarly, Cadiz's Chief Financial Officer Timothy Shaheen, was awarded a 149% increase in total compensation in 2010.

Notably, on June 2, 2011, a majority of the company's shareholders expressed their disapproval for this and other executive pay packages by failing to vote in favor of the company's 2010 CEO and top executive compensation increases.
================================================== =====

How about this stuff?

[andymays]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

You have misunderstood me sir,

I didn't mean that "it's OK for guys like Mullins to be targeted and penalized for something that may or may not be valid just because I believe that he must be guilty of something"...I was commenting about Jeff Mullins in particular!

Mullins is the epitomy of everything that is wrong with this game...not only when it comes to drug violations, but also when it comes to having a complete and total disregard for the horseplayer and his rights in this game.

Are we supposed to forget his scathing comments about us horseplayers in 2005-2006?

You parade this article in front of us, about this "alleged" injustice against him, as if we are supposed to feel sorry for him...like he is a paragon of virtue or something...

Mullins is a parasite, as far as the horseplayer is concered...and he deserves no sympathy from the horseplayer AT ALL!

Couldn't you find a better guy to make your point with?

Your indignation is noted but if you want to judge the man on one stupid quote that I'm sure he regrets then just about everyone would be disqualified according to your standard. Why do you think that guys like Mullins know better? Most of these guys are knuckleheads when it comes to speaking in public. You seem to want to ban them from racing for being politically incorrect.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by andymays

Your indignation is noted but if you want to judge the man on one stupid quote that I'm sure he regrets then just about everyone would be disqualified according to your standard. Why do you think that guys like Mullins know better? Most of these guys are knuckleheads when it comes to speaking in public. You seem to want to ban them from racing for being politically incorrect.

You are sure that he regrets it?

Why? Did he offer us an apology?

Was he roundly criticized or reprimanded by the industry for his deeply insulting comments about us?

How many businesses do you know of where the customers can be publicly insulted to this extent...without the offending party being forced to apologize...or suffer any consequences at all as a result of his actions?

Business as usual for California racing I guess...

[andymays]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

You are sure that he regrets it?

Why? Did he offer us an apology?

Was he roundly criticized or reprimanded by the industry for his deeply insulting comments to us?

How many businesses do you know of where the customers can be publicly insulted to this extent...without the offending party being forced to apologize...or suffer any consequences at all as a result of his actions?

Business as usual for California racing I guess...

First of all he was referring to all the things that could happen in a race and how difficult it is to predict the outcome of a race. You're free to believe what you believe but you are wrong.

As far as California goes the only reason you guys know as much about the situation out here is because a handful of people are constantly posting about the stuff that happens out here. I seriously doubt that California racing is more corrupt than racing in Illinois or many other jurisdictions. Do some digging and talk to people out there and maybe you can expose some of the stuff going on in your state.

[FenceBored]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

You are sure that he regrets it?

Why? Did he offer us an apology?

Was he roundly criticized or reprimanded by the industry for his deeply insulting comments about us?

How many businesses do you know of where the customers can be publicly insulted to this extent...without the offending party being forced to apologize...or suffer any consequences at all as a result of his actions?

Business as usual for California racing I guess...

Yes, he thinks he did:

Trainer Jeff Mullins, center of controversy over comments made in Sunday's Los Angeles Times, expressed regret that his remarks offended anyone and contended that the article's author, columnist T.J. Simers, used his quotes entirely out of context.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-raci...#ixzz1biDgZikv

Interesting read (complete with deflection/'conflict of interest rumor mongering' toward Dr. Rick Arthur and Richard Mandella).

[Tom]

Originally Posted by andymays

As far as California goes the only reason you guys know as much about the situation out here is because a handful of people are constantly posting about the stuff that happens out here. I seriously doubt that California racing is more corrupt than racing in Illinois or many other jurisdictions. Do some digging and talk to people out there and maybe you can expose some of the stuff going on in your state.

Well, then if you post all this stuff, don't blame us for assuming it is worse than anywhere else. Maybe we don't care what is going on in our own states.