Why the overwhelming majority of the MTHA Board is opposed to the proposed by-law changes

Most organizations have their officers elected by Board members, not the membership (or stockholders). The reason for this is so that officers carry out and reflect the direction of Board Members who are democratically elected. Having a President and Vice President who do not answer to the Board or reflect its positions will create crippling gridlock and greatly diminish the effectiveness of the entire organization.

In addition, having an organization where the Board cannot remove the President severely ties the hands of the Board Members in a very negative way and hinders their ability to be productive and efficient. 

On the question of the Board’s relationship with other organizations:

We believe that the current leadership team has developed many valuable and productive long-standing relationships with our legislative leaders and their staffs, the Maryland Racing Commission and Horsemen’s Organizations throughout the country. They have also demonstrated that they can successfully work with track management for the benefit of our membership on a wide range of issues. Losing these relationships would be detrimental to the MTHA as we work to:

• Keep our share of slots revenue.
• Protect live racing and stabling.
• Negotiate with the state of Maryland, track management and 
Maryland Racing Commission for a long-term plan for Maryland racing.

It is the current leadership that worked with the State of Maryland and track mangement to ensure 146 live racing days when Frank Stronach and Penn Gaming demanded a reduced schedule of 40 days for 2011.  It was also the current leadership that was able to keep our live racing days at 146 for 2012 when the Stronach Group again tried to advance its position for only 40 live days which would have destroyed our industry’s infrastructure from top to bottom.  This action would have resulted in horsemen immediately leaving the state causing enormous job loss and an irreversible negative economic impact on the industry and the State of Maryland as a whole.

It is the current leadership that has continually led the fight to maintain the current number of stalls and stabling in Maryland which has been of paramount concern to our members. When the Stronach Group states that they want to close Bowie, they are unwilling to guarantee that they will keep Pimlico open for any extended period of time. If the current stabling is reduced to only the 900 stalls at Laurel, we are certain to be forced into a significant reduction in live racing due to the resulting shortage of horses.

The overwhelming majority of the Board believes that we should stay the course with a proven leadership team with an accomplished record, not jump to an unknown in these challenging and turbulent times.