Racing commission to meet Thursday

The New Mexico Racing Commission — minus one commissioner fired last week — will reconvene Thursday to hold its first regular meeting in more than two months, including discussing the possibility of awarding a sixth license.

The commission emailed a lengthy meeting agenda Monday morning that included a closed session to discuss a sixth license and nearly a dozen other items, plus an item about a sixth license among 23 others in new business.

The meeting will begin with a closed session at 8:30 a.m. Thursday and an open session at 10:30 a.m. at the commission’s office at 4900 Alameda Blvd. NE in Albuquerque. It also scheduled a lunch break from noon to 1:15 p.m.

Three different groups are seeking the sixth license to build a horse racetrack and casino in Clovis, competing with proposals from one group each for Tucumcari and Lordsburg.

A representative for “Vision 2020,” a group advocating a Clovis racino, told The News on Tuesday that supporters were still hopeful.

“We may have changed the name from Vision 2020 to Vision 2021 or 2022,” said Tom Martin. “I think what our approach is is (still) that this is a wonderful economic opportunity.”

Martin said Clovis racino supporters “will be there” even though discussion on the sixth license is lower on the commission’s agenda. The dust only now appears to be settling after turmoil in recent months.

The commission abruptly canceled several meetings scheduled in June “until further notice,” then went nearly all of July with no meetings before setting a race-dates committee session for Wednesday. The commission hadn’t sat down for a regular meeting since May 16.

Commission Executive Director Ismael “Izzy” Trejo declined over the weekend to give a reason for the delay between meetings or whether there had been discord among commissioners.

Despite the commission’s setbacks, Martin was not the only person optimistic about a racino in the future.

“I think there’s been a lot of activity that’s been going on behind the scenes, and I’m more optimistic than I’ve been in quite a while,” said Warren Frost, one of the principals for Tucumcari’s racino bid.

The Associated Press on Friday confirmed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham had fired commissioner Freda McSwane after she refused a request to resign. The AP had acquired documents that indicated the state’s attorneys were concerned with comments McSwane made during the commission’s May meeting about changes in the way racehorses were being tested for certain medications.

McSwane was appointed to the commission with four other people in April shortly after the governor fired the previous commission. Ken Corazza, who served on the previous commission, took McSwane’s place after her dismissal.

“We were obviously disappointed when the old commission was unceremoniously removed from their position,” Martin told The News. “We were pleased, though, when one of the former commissioners replaced one of the newly appointed commissioners. Ken Corazza, from all indications, seemed to be favorable to at least the idea of a sixth racino.”

Staff writer David Grieder contributed to this report.