Report Slams Racino Bidding Process

NEW YORK CITY-A report sharply critical of Gov. David Paterson and state legislative leaders over the January selection of a racino developer for Aqueduct Racetrack has been referred to the Manhattan district attorney and US Attorney’s office here. The report issued Thursday from state inspector general Joseph Fisch concludes that state senators influenced the decision-making that led to the selection of Aqueduct Entertainment Group and calls it “a political free-for-all.”

“Virtually every individual involved in the selection from the decision makers to the bidders to the retained lobbyists described the process as devoid of discernable rules and ‘chaotic,’” according to Fisch’s report. “The statute provided no objective criteria for the selection and permitted the decision makers to employ their own ever-changing, subjective factors, causing confusion thereby delaying a selection of a vendor costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Added to which, the IG’s report says, “the predominance of unrestrained political considerations led to the proliferation of lobbying, targeted campaign contributions and political maneuvering in the best interest of the individual officials rather than an impartial assessment of the bids to determine which was in the best interest of the state.”

Among other findings, the report says Paterson ignored recommendations from the state budget director and the New York Lottery that AEG be disqualified. It says Senate leaders leaked bid analyses to AEG lobbyists, and that Senate president pro tempore Malcolm Smith maintained a “fa