Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Still no decision on racino

Racing commissioners release another study

ALBUQUERQUE - A pro-racino Clovis contingent in Albuquerque on Thursday morning for the New Mexico Racing Commission's first regular meeting of the new year oscillated from expectation to dismay and back again to hopefulness.

A group some half-dozen strong, among them City Commissioner Helen Casaus, Vision 2020 advocate Gayla Brumfield and Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ernie Kos, drove in Wednesday night for the meeting, anticipating commissioners would at last name an award on the state's sixth horse-racing and slot-gaming license. That decision was expected last year but delayed by a late-breaking petition from one of the applicant groups, with commissioners stating they wished to resolve the complaint from Hidalgo Downs, LLC before proceeding in the interest of keeping the process untainted.

But that case - which alleges an out-of-state feasibility study comparing proposals from the five groups vying for the license was "flawed" - is still in the courts, and a letter Wednesday night from newly sworn Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham requested more information on the selection process. In response to that request and in what state attorneys hope will come close to resolving the issue raised in Hidalgo Down's temporary injunction petition, NMRC chairman Ray Willis said an independent review and comparison of the proposals (three in Clovis and one each in Tucumcari and Lordsburg) would be shared publicly on the commission's website.

Before stating as much, an audience waited in suspense and some agitation through NMRC's closed-door executive session. Willis said in the public portion preceding that no decision would be announced, but a statement on the process would follow that session.

In the meantime, Casaus told The News her concerns with how the court proceedings and new administration might delay the process substantially further yet.

"Clovis is getting tired of this," she said. "I don't think Clovis can take it much longer."

Her tune changed somewhat after Willis' update, which suggested a possible resolution to outstanding obstacles before the commission. Moreover, the governor's communications director Tripp Stelnick told reporters Friday that "there are no plans to replace anyone at this time" with the racing commission.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Tania Maestas told The News after Thursday's meeting that she believed sharing the independent study would go a long way toward resolving the petition from Hidalgo Downs, but she could not guess as to when that would be.

Both Maestas and Willis said the commission is still "committed" to issuing the sixth license. Maestas said the independent study, completed in November, focuses more on racing over gaming. That report is available online at: http://nmrc.state.nm.us/uploads/PressRelease/a16bd0ed736a4ee699bc2025c1e1dd33/Comparison.pdf