The state is continuing its “due diligence” on the Aqueduct “Racino” bids that were submitted on May 8, so that Governor David Paterson and leaders of both legislative houses can choose a winner in coming weeks.
Despite published reports that “early favorites” have emerged from among bidders to operate a Video Lottery Terminal (VLT) facility at the state-owned racetrack in Ozone Park, Paterson spokesperson Morgan Hook told The Queens Courier, “That’s not coming from this office.”
“The bidders met with staff from the [Governor’s office], Senate, Assembly, Lottery and Budget office last week to go over their bid,” Hook explained. “There were no new bids – they were drilling down on the information contained in the May 8 proposals.”
“We’ve stood by our original position that releasing specific information on the bids will impair the integrity of the evaluation process,” Hook said. “We have maintained secrecy because we feel that this is not a decision that should be made in the public sphere, with campaigning to attempt to influence the outcome,” he added.
Hook explained that the bidders were not bound to secrecy, and suggested that some of the recent media attention was the result of their publicity efforts.
“It’s important that the leadership reach a timely decision, based only on the information contained in the offers, that is in the state’s best interest,” he said.
The governor’s spokesperson said that the month-long tug-of-war for leadership of the state Senate did not delay the process.
“A lot of this is done on a staff level and the senate staff continued to work throughout,” Hook said. “The financial and background checks that are part of the vetting process had to be done before the bids would be compared,” he added.
He did confirm that it was state budget director Bob Magna that said, “I would expect a decision [on the VLT franchise] in September,” during a recent conference call.
