http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=STATE&storyID=554879&BCCode=&newsdate=1/18/2007

http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=555206&category=STATE&BCCode=&newsdate=1/19/2007

Looks like Excelsior has Spitzer on their team, and Empire has Bruno on board; NYRA needs to bust a move here, it looks like the only free agent left of the "three men in a room" who run NY state is Shelly Silver. I guess being in a perpetual state of near bankruptcy might hamper their ability to host lavish fundraisers in Wyoming or sponsor luxury junkets to Florida, but they should be able to work out some kind of package.

In an ideal world, perhaps the process of rewriting racing law and making a recommendation on the awarding of the franchise would be handed off to a non-partisan group of people knowledgeable about racing (think along the lines of a panel comprised of people like, say, TGJB and Bennett Liebman) and free of blatant conflicts of interest, but er, never mind.