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Albany casino bid details leaked

Posted on June 23rd, 2010

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New York State Senator John Sampson admits Friday that indeed, he has shared details of other lobbyist’s bids for a casino project in Albany to the winning bidder, the Aqueduct Entertainment Group. The senator further claims he made no foul play, or has any unlawful motives in doing so. Aqueduct Entertainment Group , who won the project, is fronted by Carl Andrews , previously a senator himself. The group beat several other rivals such as Delaware North Cos., but this decision was recalled later by Governor David Paterson due to legality issues. As a result of this, new bidding for the casino project has started again, Delaware North Cos. Still being one of the top groups showing interest.

Senator Sampson’s camp released statements that the statesman did nothing illegal by releasing the information as the documents were all presented before the Senate Democratic Conference. Documents were later presented to the Inspector General’s office and even to the media which were financial documents of the competing bidders from last year. The senator later expressed how saddened he is on how things are turning out saying that “it’s disheartening, at times, when you’re working as hard as you can to do what you can, and then there’s innuendo and allegations that you’re in a corner, doing things that are unethical or criminal.” He insists further that the documents were public anyway, and if any concerned group would ask his office to view the same information, he sees no reason why not to entertain the request. The Senate however, did not formally release these documents to the public.

Sampson explains that the he presented to Andrews the same documents just to show him the reason why Aqueduct Entertainment Group is being reconsidered for the casino project. Andrews found about this around November of last year and was said to have quarreled with Sampson, paving the way for the senator to show the documents to Andrews. These latest developments are no help to the long standing Aqueduct project, which has been made legal, along with many others back in 2001—but was swamped with issues and delays.

The Paterson government has since made clearer ratifications on the bidding process for casino projects with firmer scores to adhere to, a stricter timeline and $300 million as a minimum upfront franchise fee payable to the state of New York. This is made effective to all bidding groups. Delaware North Cos., back in 2008 was the winning group for that round of bidding but was also later dropped due to the group’s inability to raise a $370 upfront franchise fee to be given to the state consequently causing another round of bidding from which stems this current controversy.

Senator Sampson explained that what he first provided was only a 15 page “memo” to Andrews. However, aides found another document given by the Senator to Andrews that was dated November 12. Chief counsel Shelley Mayer, defended the senator saying she hasn’t seen anything illegal done by the senator giving Andrews the bidding documents—in fact, she believes that what the senator did was nothing even remotely close to illegal.

Whatever both sides infer on the legality of the actions of Senator Sampson, the new bidding process for the casino project still continues. This time around, the bidders, including Delaware North Cos., are hopeful for a definite decision so that no further delays are incurred for the project. With the new and more transparent bidding process initiated by Gov. Paterson, all parties are confident that the current round of bidding will be more fruitful compared to previous ones.