[House Hearing, 109 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
THOROUGHBRED HORSE RACING JOCKEYS AND WORKERS: EXAMINING ON-TRACK
INJURY INSURANCE AND OTHER HEALTH AND WELFARE ISSUES
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
MAY 9, 2006
Serial No. 109-98
Printed for the use of the Committee on Energy and Commerce
Available via the World Wide Web:
http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/house
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COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE
JOE BARTON, Texas, Chairman
RALPH M. HALL, Texas
MICHAEL BILIRAKIS, Florida
Vice Chairman
FRED UPTON, Michigan
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida
PAUL E. GILLMOR, Ohio
NATHAN DEAL, Georgia
ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky
CHARLIE NORWOOD, Georgia
BARBARA CUBIN, Wyoming
JOHN SHIMKUS, Illinois
HEATHER WILSON, New Mexico
JOHN B. SHADEGG, Arizona
CHARLES W. "CHIP" PICKERING, Mississippi
Vice Chairman
VITO FOSSELLA, New York
ROY BLUNT, Missouri
STEVE BUYER, Indiana
GEORGE RADANOVICH, California
CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire
JOSEPH R. PITTS, Pennsylvania
MARY BONO, California
GREG WALDEN, Oregon
LEE TERRY, Nebraska
MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey
MIKE ROGERS, Michigan
C.L. "BUTCH" OTTER, Idaho
SUE MYRICK, North Carolina
JOHN SULLIVAN, Oklahoma
TIM MURPHY, Pennsylvania
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan
Ranking Member
HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
EDWARD J. MARKEY, Massachusetts
RICK BOUCHER, Virginia
EDOLPHUS TOWNS, New York
FRANK PALLONE, JR., New Jersey
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio
BART GORDON, Tennessee
BOBBY L. RUSH, Illinois
ANNA G. ESHOO, California
BART STUPAK, Michigan
ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York
ALBERT R. WYNN, Maryland
GENE GREEN, Texas
TED STRICKLAND, Ohio
DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado
LOIS CAPPS, California
MIKE DOYLE, Pennsylvania
TOM ALLEN, Maine
JIM DAVIS, Florida
JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
HILDA L. SOLIS, California
CHARLES A. GONZALEZ, Texas
JAY INSLEE, Washington
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
MIKE ROSS, Arkansas
BUD ALBRIGHT, Staff Director
DAVID CAVICKE, General Counsel
REID P. F. STUNTZ, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
ED WHITFIELD, Kentucky, Chairman
CLIFF STEARNS, Florida
CHARLES W. "CHIP" PICKERING, Mississippi
CHARLES F. BASS, New Hampshire
GREG WALDEN, Oregon
MIKE FERGUSON, New Jersey
MICHAEL C. BURGESS, Texas
MARSHA BLACKBURN, Tennessee
JOE BARTON, Texas
(EX OFFICIO)
BART STUPAK, Michigan
Ranking Member
DIANA DEGETTE, Colorado
JAN SCHAKOWSKY, Illinois
JAY INSLEE, Washington
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin
HENRY A. WAXMAN, California
JOHN D. DINGELL, Michigan
(EX OFFICIO)
CONTENTS
Page
Testimony of:
Velaquez, John, Chairman of the Board of Directors, The Jockeys'
Guild 11
Haire, Darrell, Interim National Manager, The Jockeys' Guild
14
Broad, Barry, National Legal Council, The Jockeys' Guild
19
THOROUGHBRED HORSE RACING JOCKEYS AND WORKERS: EXAMINING ON-TRACK
INJURY INSURANCE AND OTHER HEALTH AND WELFARE ISSUES
TUESDAY, MAY 9, 2006
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:02 p.m., in
Room 2123, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ed Whitfield
[chairman] presiding.
Present: Representatives Whitfield, Burgess, Stupak, and Barton
(ex officio).
Staff Present: Mark Paoletta, Chief Counsel for Oversight and
Investigations; Alan Slobodin, Deputy Chief Counsel for Oversight
and Investigations; Tom Feddo, Counsel; Clayton Matheson, Analyst;
Michael Abraham, Legislative Clerk; David Nelson, Minority
Investigator/Economist; and Elizabeth Ertel, Minority Senior Staff
Assistant.
MR. WHITFIELD. I would like to call this hearing to order. Today's
subject will be thoroughbred horseracing, jockeys and workers,
examining ontrack injury insurance and other health and welfare
issues. As you know, we have had one full-scale hearing on this
already and a number of developments have occurred since that first
hearing so we are going to proceed into and explore some of those
areas today.
Horseracing certainly has a significant impact on interstate commerce.
By way of example, this hearing is being held just 3 days after the
Kentucky Derby, one of the most famous and prestigious races in the
sport, on which nearly $119 million was legally wagered on that race
alone. Horseracing's impact on our sports culture and economy
reinforces our motivation to remain apprised of issues or problems
in the industry.
Horseracing remains a dangerous sport. Indeed, one of our witnesses
today, jockey John Velazquez, who is the Guild's current Chairman of
the Board and one of the Nation's finest jockeys, was injured on
April 20th when a horse he was riding collapsed at the finish line
at Keeneland. The horse fell on Mr. Velazquez, breaking his shoulder
blade and several ribs and forcing him to miss the Kentucky Derby.
We are grateful for his attendance today and certainly want to wish
him a speedy recovery.
Since our last hearing, there have been some noteworthy developments
over the past few months about which we will hear testimony today.
Within 1 month of our hearing, the Guild's Board of Directors fired
Dr. Gertmenian, the Guild's Chief Executive Officer, and his staff,
including Albert Fiss, Lloyd Ownbey, Lisa Haley, and others.
Unfortunately, Dr. Gertmenian and his company's questionable actions
continued to the very last moment when his Chief Financial Officer
wrote checks totaling over $200,000 from the Guild's accounts to
himself, Dr. Gertmenian, and Mr. Fiss.
Earlier this year, the Guild held its first annual assembly following
Dr. Gertmenian's ousting and has begun to revise its bylaws and
repair its broken finances. It is my understanding that civil suits
involving jockey Gary Birzer, the Guild, Dr. Gertmenian, and Mr. Fiss,
among others, have been filed in the Federal courts.
In the meantime, according to press reports, Dr. Gertmenian has come
under investigation by the FBI and local police in Los Angeles,
apparently for his suspect activities while heading the Guild.
Unfortunately, it looks like Pepperdyne University still has him
listed on its website as being the head of the Jockeys' Guild.
The Guild's new leadership is here today to tell us about what
Dr. Gertmenian left in his wake, the changes they have implemented
to their organization, their efforts to find a long-term managers
and the efforts they have undertaken to ensure that the Guild
survives and its permanently disabled members are not left helpless
and unsupported.
There are still only four States that provide workers compensation
programs for jockeys and exercise riders. My home State of Kentucky
almost passed a bill creating a workers comp program for jockeys
racing there but ran into last minute problems, and it was not
adopted.
I personally believe that we need a Federal solution in this area,
and I believe that we can do so, and once the details of what we are
proposing get out, I honestly believe that there will not be a lot of
opposition to this.
Since our hearings, however, many race tracks of their own accord
have raised their ontrack catastrophic insurance coverage to $500,000
or a million dollars. We are encouraged by this development, and I
gather that jockeys and exercise riders are also.
On the matter of ontrack insurance purchased by race tracks, we
have subpoenaed Ms. Rose Mary Williams who is the Director of Racing
at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort to testify today.
Ms. Williams voluntarily testified on November the 17th at our
hearing during that time, and then after the hearing, Mr. Stupak,
our Ranking Member, wrote supplemental written questions directed to
Ms. Williams and Mountaineer, and following her written answers,
committee staff requested to interview Ms. Williams and discuss
discrepancies between her oral testimony and written statements.
Ms. Williams through her legal counsel declined to be interviewed by
the committee staff. Accordingly, the full committee Chairman
authorized a subpoena for her testimony today so that we can
hopefully obtain answers to the questions that we wanted to ask.
This is an important subject matter. There is a lot of money
involved. It is a dangerous sport, and there are a lot of injuries
as a result of it. So I look forward to today's testimony, and I
thank the witnesses for their attendance.
And I would like to at this time turn to our distinguished Ranking
Member, Mr. Stupak, for the purposes of his opening statement.
[The prepared statement of the Hon. Ed Whitfield follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. ED WHITFIELD, CHAIRMAN, SUBCOMMITTEE
ON OVERSIGHT AND INVESTIGATIONS
Good afternoon and welcome. Today, the Oversight and Investigations
Subcommittee will revisit some of the serious issues we examined last
year regarding the health and welfare of jockeys, exercise riders, and
backstretch workers. These issues affect the professional sport of
horse racing and the many individuals who work with the horses every
day.
As I have emphasized before, horse racing has a very significant
impact on interstate commerce. By way of example, this hearing is
being held just three days after the Kentucky Derby, one of the most
famous and prestigious races in the sport, on which nearly $119
million was legally wagered. Horse racing's impact on our sports
culture and economy only reinforces our motivation to remain
apprised of issues or problems in the industry.
Horse racing remains just as dangerous today as we noted
last fall when we conducted our hearings. Indeed, one of our
witnesses, jockey John Velazquez, who is the Guild's current Chairman
of the Board and one of the nation's finest jockeys, was injured on
April 20th when the horse he was riding collapsed at the finish
line. The horse fell on Mr. Velazquez, breaking his shoulder blade
and several ribs, and forcing him to miss the Kentucky Derby.
I am grateful for your attendance today, Mr. Velazquez, and am
relieved that your injuries were not more severe.
Since our last hearing there have been some noteworthy
developments in the past few months about which we will hear testimony
today. Shortly after our October 2005 hearing, the Guild's members
began to take back ownership of their organization. Within one month,
the Guild's Board of Directors fired Dr. Gertmenian, the Guild's Chief
Executive Officer, and his staff, including Albert Fiss, Lloyd Ownbey,
Gevork Asatryan, and Lisa Haley. Unfortunately, Dr. Gertmenian's and
his company's questionable actions continued to the very last
moment-when his Chief Financial Officer, Mr. Asatryan, wrote checks
totaling over $200,000 from the Guild's accounts to himself,
Dr. Gertmenian, and Mr. Fiss.
Earlier this year, the Guild held its first annual assembly
following Dr. Gertmenian's ouster and has begun to revise its bylaws
and repair its broken finances. It is my understanding that civil
suits involving jockey Gary Birzer, the Guild, Dr. Gertmenian, and
Mr. Fiss, among others, have been filed in the federal courts. In
the meantime, according to press reports, Dr. Gertmenian has come
under investigation by the FBI and local police in Los Angeles,
apparently for his suspect activities while heading the Guild.
The Guild's new leadership is here today to tell us about
what Dr. Gertmenian left in his wake, the changes they have
implemented to their organization, their efforts to find a long-term
national manager, and the efforts they have undertaken to ensure
that the Guild survives, and its permanently disabled members are
not left helpless and unsupported. I look forward to hearing about
the consortium that the Guild, many race tracks, and several
racing organizations have created to raise money to benefit disabled
riders.
There are still only four states that provide workers'
compensation programs for jockeys or exercise riders. My home state
of Kentucky almost passed a bill creating a workers' compensation
program for jockeys racing there, but ran into some last minute
problems. I hope that eventually the various racing interests in
Kentucky will be able to reach a compromise and create a workers'
compensation program for the riders. Since our hearings, however,
many racetracks of their own accord have raised their on-track
catastrophic insurance coverage to $500,000 or $1 million. We are
encouraged by this development, and I gather that jockeys and
exercise riders are also.
On the matter of on-track insurance purchased by the race
tracks, we have subpoenaed Ms. Rose Mary Williams, the Director of
Racing at Mountaineer Race Track and Gaming Resort, to testify
today. Ms. Williams voluntarily testified at our November 17th
hearing last year. Additionally, after the hearing Mr. Stupak wrote
supplemental written questions directed to Ms. Williams and
Mountaineer. Following Ms. Williams' written answers, Committee
staff requested to interview Ms. Williams and discuss discrepancies
between her oral testimony and written statement. Ms. Williams,
through her legal counsel, declined to be interviewed by Committee
staff. Accordingly, the Full Committee Chairman authorized a
subpoena for her testimony today, so that we can hopefully get
answers to the questions we wanted to ask.
I look forward to today's testimony and I thank the
witnesses for their attendance. I now turn to the
distinguished Ranking Member, Mr. Stupak, for the purposes of an
opening statement.
MR. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Last fall, this subcommittee held hearings into the state of the
horse racing industry and the Jockeys' Guild. While those were
productive hearings, there are still several issues that need to be
addressed from our hearings last fall. On November 3rd, 2005, you
and I, Mr. Chairman, requested that Secretary of Health and Human
Services Leavitt conduct a study by NIOSHA of the safety conditions
at horse racing tracks in the United States. Secretary Leavitt
finally agreed to the study on January 25th, 2006.
However, it's now May 9th, some 6 months after we apprised the
Secretary of the dire safety conditions in this industry, and we
have no indication that any substantive work has been done.
On November 2nd, 2005, the Democratic members of this subcommittee
asked the National Labor Relations Board to repeal their antiquated
rule reviewing jurisdiction over an effort by jockeys or other
racetrack employees to organize for collective bargaining purposes
in this dangerous industry. Unfortunately, the NLRB has refused to
change their rules. Therefore, my office has begun the process of
having legislation drafted to allow jockeys and riders to
collectively bargain. I hope to introduce this bill in the coming
weeks.
Our Government is not only failing in its duty to protect jockeys
and exercise riders from the oppressive practices of the race tracks,
it is actively preventing these workers from protecting themselves
by permitting the race tracks to break up any attempts by the jockeys
and riders to collectively improve their working conditions. We in
this country outlawed such practices over 70 years ago for other
American workers, and it is time to provide the same rights to
jockeys and riders.
I do wish to join with you, Mr. Chairman, in sponsoring one of the
solutions that falls squarely within our jurisdiction. Your idea to
amend the Interstate Horseracing Act to include jockeys and exercise
riders in the revenue sharing from simulcasting of horse races may be
the quickest solution to solving the health insurance crisis
documented in our hearings last fall. By including jockeys in the
revenue sharing, ample financing will finally be made available for
adequate ontrack and offtrack health insurance as well as a modest
retirement fund for the human athletes that are the linchpins of
this $26 billion industry.
I found it interesting that during the Kentucky Derby last weekend
Woodford Reserve Distillery was selling mint juleps with the
proceedings going to what is essentially a retirement fund for horse
races, I should say for race horses, yet there was no mention of any
similar fundraising going on for the jockeys who risk their lives
each day to earn millions of dollars for the owners and trainers of
these horses. Unlike retired race horses, many of the jockeys have
families to support.
Let me suggest that for the 2007 Kentucky Derby, it would be great
to see a fundraiser with proceeds going to help defray costs for
jockeys like Gary Birzer who are injured or paralyzed.
Mr. Chairman, another issue that needs to be followed up is the
testimony of Ms. Rose Mary Williams, and I am pleased to see that
she will be back before us again today. It is unfortunate, however,
that her return is necessitated by the lack of candor in her
testimony last fall.
On November 17th, 2005, Ms. Williams, director of racing at
Mountaineer Race Track in West Virginia, had ample opportunity to
reply to this committee's questions regarding Mountaineer's failure
to provide adequate ontrack accidental medical insurance for its
jockeys. You will recall that Mountaineer is where Gary Birzer had
his accident that left him paralyzed for life.
Ms. Williams chose to lead this subcommittee to believe that she was
unable to obtain a quote for a million dollar insurance policy. Twice
she was questioned about it under oath, and twice she said that she
could not obtain a quote for such a policy from her broker.
We have documents to show that Ms. Williams together with another
Mountaineer employee, Ms. Sandra Brokaw, solicited such a quote from
Johnson & Anton Insurance Brokerage on February 16th, 2005. Our
documents show that they received an extensive quote back 2 days
later, February 18th, 2005.
Mr. Chairman, I'm not sure whether Ms. Williams' testimony to this
subcommittee requires a review by the Department of Justice. I am,
however, certain that it was designed to deceive us. Mountaineer is
one of the most prosperous race tracks in the country.
Unfortunately, it also has a reputation of one of the worst employers
in the industry when it comes to caring about jockeys that make their
profits possible. Not only did Ms. Williams take no responsibility
for the paralysis of Gary Birzer, she made no attempt to upgrade the
woefully inadequate insurance that Mountaineer carried after this
tragic spill.
When questioned about it last November, her testimony led us to
believe that adequate insurance simply was not available. Now we
find this is not true. I look forward to hearing her explanation
today.
Mr. Chairman, my time is up, so I will yield back and look forward
to this hearing.
[The prepared statement of the Hon. Bart Stupak follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. BART STUPAK, A REPRESENTATIVE IN
CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MICHIGAN
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
Last fall, this Subcommittee held hearings into the state of
the horse racing industry and the Jockey's Guild. While those were
productive hearings, there are still several issues that need to be
addressed from our hearings last fall.
On November 3, 2005, you and I jointly requested that the Secretary
of Health & Human Services, Mr. Leavitt, conduct a study by NIOSH of
the safety conditions at horse racing tracks in the United States.
Secretary Leavitt finally agreed to the study on January 25, 2006.
However it is now May 9th, some 6 months after we apprised the
Secretary of the dire safety conditions in this industry, and we
have no indication that any substantive work has been done.
On November 2nd 2005 the Democratic Members of this Subcommittee
asked the National Labor Relations Board to repeal their antiquated
rule refusing jurisdiction over any effort by jockeys or other
racetrack employees to organize for collective bargaining purposes
in this dangerous industry. Unfortunately, the NLRB has refused
change their rules. Therefore, my office has begun the process of
having legislation drafted to allow jockeys to collectively bargain.
I hope to introduce the bill in the coming weeks.
Our government is not only failing in its duty to protect jockeys
and exercise riders from the oppressive practices of the racetracks,
it is actively preventing these workers from protecting themselves
by permitting the race tracks to break up any attempts by the jockeys
and riders to act collectively to improve their working conditions.
We outlawed such practices over 70 years ago for other American
workers, and it is time to provide the same rights to Jockeys and
riders.
I do wish to join with you Mr. Chairman in sponsoring one of the
solutions that falls squarely within our jurisdiction. Your idea
to amend the Interstate Horseracing Act to include jockeys and
exercise riders in the revenue sharing from simolcasting of horse
races, may well be the quickest solution to solving the health
insurance crisis documented in our hearings last fall. By including
Jockeys in the revenue sharing, ample financing will finally be made
available for adequate on-track and off-track health insurance as
well as a modest retirement fund for the human athletes that are
linchpins of this $26 billion industry.
I found it interesting that during the Kentucky Derby last weekend,
Woodford Reserve Distillery was selling $1,000 mint juleps with the
proceeds going to what is essentially a retirement fund for the race
horses. Yet there was no mention of any similar fund raising going
on for the Jockeys who risk their lives each day to earn millions
for the owners and trainers of these horses. Unlike retired race
horses, many of the Jockeys have families to support. Let me suggest
that for the 2007 Kentucky Derby it would be great to see a fund
raiser with proceeds going to help defray costs for Jockeys like
Gary Birzer who are injured or paralyzed!
Mr. Chairman, another issue that needs to be followed up on is the
Testimony of Ms. Rose Mary Williams and I'm pleased to see that she
will be back before us again today. It is unfortunate, however,
that her return is necessitated by the lack of candor in her
testimony last fall. On November 17, 2005, Ms. Williams - the
Director of Racing at Mountaineer race track in West Virginia -
had ample opportunity to reply to this Committee's questions
regarding Mountaineer's failure to provide adequate on-track
accidental medical insurance for its jockeys. You'll recall that
Mountaineer is where Gary Birzer had his accident that left him
paralyzed for life.
Ms. Williams chose to lead this Subcommittee to believe that she was
unable to obtain a quote for a million dollar insurance policy.
Twice she was questioned about it under oath and twice she said that
she could not obtain a quote for such a policy from her broker.
We have documents to show that Ms. Williams, together with another
Mountaineer employee Ms. Sandra Brokaw, solicited such a quote
from Johnson and Anton Insurance Brokerage on February 16, 2005.
Our documents show that they received an extensive quote back two
days later, February 18, 2005.
Mr. Chairman, I am not sure whether Ms. Williams' testimony to this
Subcommittee requires a review by the Department of Justice. I am
certain, however, that it was designed to deceive us.
Mountaineer is one of the most prosperous racetracks in the country.
Unfortunately, it also has a reputation as one of the worst
employers in the industry when it comes to caring about the jockeys
that make their profits possible. Not only did Ms. Williams take no
responsibility for the paralysis of Gary Birzer, she made no attempt
to upgrade the woefully inadequate insurance that Mountaineer carried
after that tragic spill. When questioned about it last November,
her testimony led us believe that adequate insurance simply was not
available.
I look forward to her explanation. I yield back.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you very much, Mr. Stupak.
At this time I recognize the full committee Chairman, Mr. Barton of
Texas, for the opening statement he may want.
CHAIRMAN BARTON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I submitted my written
statement for the record. I appreciate you doing the hearing. I
think we had a great, positive result Saturday at Churchhill Downs;
showed horseracing at its best, with the Kentucky Derby and all the
panoply that goes with that and the excitement. Looking forward to
the Triple Crown and hopefully this hearing will continue to shed
light on what the Jockeys' Guild is doing. It appears to me that
they are moving in the right direction, and thanks to the leadership
of you and Mr. Stupak, taking actions that should have been taken a
long time ago, and hopefully on our second panel, we will get the
witness who could have answered a few questions over the phone and
been on and about her business. Her counsel seems to think that it
is their job to obstruct justice and truth. We will get it one way
or the other. We will get that done, and I applaud Mr. Stupak for
insisting that we get to the bottom of the discrepancies in that
area. So I look forward to the hearing and continuing the progress
that we seem to be making in reforming the Jockeys' Guild. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of the Hon. Joe Barton follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF THE HON. JOE BARTON, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON
ENERGY AND COMMERCE
Thank you, Chairman Whitfield, for holding this hearing and
continuing your hard work on this issue.
Last year, the Subcommittee undertook a serious examination of
on-track injury coverage for people who work in horseracing. We
found out what every jockey and trainer already knows, that a
billion-dollar sport can't seem to insure the people who do the work
and risk their necks.
In October of last year, representatives of the Jockeys' Guild
testified about the health and welfare issues faced by the sport's
riders, and to explain why the Guild's leadership chose in 2002 not
to renew its members' on-track accident insurance. For many years
prior to that, the Guild had supplemented the on-track insurance
provided by the race tracks to its members.
The incredible testimony during that hearing, particularly the tragic
story of jockey Gary Birzer, made it clear to me that the Guild
needed a house-cleaning. Mr. Chairman, the hearing you held in
October plainly led the Guild's membership to the same conclusion.
Within a month, the Guild had fired Dr. Gertmenian, his staff, and
his company.
Then, last November, representatives from various racetracks,
prominent horsemen's associations, and industry-related welfare
groups, testified at a second hearing and answered our questions
about the status of on-track insurance in the industry and about how
to improve on-track injury insurance coverage for the industry's
workers.
Today we will hear from the Guild's new management team, to update
the Subcommittee on the progress the Guild has made in rescuing
itself from financial ruin. Today's testimony will provide more
details about how Dr. Gertmenian - a self-proclaimed master
negotiator - left the Guild with its reputation in tatters and on
the verge of financial collapse. I hope that the Guild is on course
to regain its financial footing, and will find ways of improving
on-track injury coverage for jockeys.
Finally, one of our witnesses, Ms. Williams, was subpoenaed to
appear and testify today. I authorized the issuance of that
subpoena. I didn't do so lightly, but while we are going to honor
and protect people's rights against self-incrimination, this is not
about invoking the 5th Amendment here today. This is about simple
obstruction. Our members and our staff are going to get to the
truth even when attorneys advise clients to obstruct an
investigation. In this case, we had expected to get the information
we sought with a simple interview, but our request was rejected.
So instead of a simple interview, a witness has been subpoenaed to
Washington to testify at a hearing. When the Committee staff
requests an interview to clarify some important issues that arise
during a hearing, and is refused, we have no choice. When we need
to do our job, I will use the Committee's power to secure the
information and testimony.
Mr. Chairman, I look forward to today's testimony and yield back
the remainder of my time.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Barton.
At this time, recognize the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Burgess.
MR. BURGESS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'll submit my statement for
the record so we can get right on to the witnesses.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Dr. Burgess.
STATEMENTS OF DARRELL HAIRE, INTERIM NATIONAL MANAGER, THE JOCKEYS'
GUILD, ACCOMPANIED BY LARRY SAUMELL, REGIONAL MANAGER; JOHN
VELAZQUEZ, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS, THE JOCKEYS' GUILD;
AND BARRY BROAD, NATIONAL LEGAL COUNSEL, THE JOCKEYS' GUILD.
MR. WHITFIELD. At this time, I would like to call the first panel.
Mr. Darrell Haire, who is the Interim National Manager of the
Jockeys' Guild. In addition, we have Mr. John Velazquez, who is a
jockey but also Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Jockeys'
Guild; Mr. Barry Broad, who's the National Legal Counsel for the
Jockeys' Guild.
If you three gentlemen would come forward and take your seat at the
podium. And then my understanding, Mr. Larry Saumell, who is the
Regional Manager for the Jockeys' Guild, is also with us today.
So I want to thank you gentlemen for taking time from your busy
schedules to be with us. Obviously, your testimony is quite
important as we explore ways to address some safety issues but,
more importantly, to look at ways to take care of insurance issues
relating to jockeys.
As you know, this is an Oversight and Investigations hearing, and it
is our policy to take testimony under oath. I would ask all four
of you; do any of you have any difficulty testifying under oath or
any objection to testifying under oath? Certainly, you are, under
the rules of the House and of the committee, entitled to legal
representation. Do any of you have legal representation with you
today?
Okay. If you would stand and raise your right hand, I would like to
swear you in.
[Witnesses sworn.]
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you. You are now sworn in.
And, Mr. Haire, we'll call upon you to give us your 5 minute opening
statement.
MR. HAIRE. Mr. Chairman.
MR. WHITFIELD. Be sure and turn your microphone on so we can hear
you. Thank you.
MR. HAIRE. Mr. Chairman, if you don't mind, I'd like Johnny
Velazquez, if he could, to go first.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. John Velazquez, as I told you, is Chairman
of the Board of Directors, and we welcome you and recognize you for
your 5 minute opening statement. Be sure to hit the button so your
microphone is on so we can hear your testimony.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. It's on now, right. Okay.
Mr. Chairman and the committee, I thank you for having us and having
this opportunity to speak in front of you and try to update you on
the things happening in the last few months and the work that we
have done.
My name is John Velazquez. I'm the Chairperson of the Board of
Directors of the Jockeys' Guild, and I am pleased to testify before
this committee and update you on the conditions of the Jockeys'
Guild.
We have been working very hard since the removal of Mr. Gertmenian to
restore a respectful relationship of mutual respect and understanding
between the Guild and the horseracing industry. While we may not
always agree on issues, it is critical that we work together for
the good of the sport and the welfare of our members.
We have been meeting frequently in the last several months with the
industry leaders to discuss how we can partner with them to ensure
the needs of the jockeys are met. As you know, for the past 60
years the Jockeys' Guild has shouldered the burden of providing
health insurance to its members, taking care of the temporarily
disabled and trying to meet the needs of our permanently disabled
riders who must be taken care of for the rest of their lives.
We have tried to show the industry that shouldering this
responsibility alone is virtually impossible for an organization
with thousands of members to afford from its own resources. This
is made even more difficult because we must also represent our
members on many other important issues the jockeys face daily as
professional athletes.
Today I am pleased to report to you that we have reached a historic
agreement with the industry to create a new jointly administrative
program to fund our program for permanently disabled riders. This
new group has pledged to raise at least $1 million annually to
provide financial assistance and case management services to the
61 jockeys that are currently permanently disabled and for those
jockeys that will receive crippling injuries in the future.
We are grateful that the tracks and horsemen are willing to step
up to the plate and accept that the care of those who have given
everything to the horseracing industry is the responsibility of the
entire industry, not just the jockeys themselves. It means a lot to
us that the industry has taken this step, and I wish to publicly
thank them today for their effort.
Mr. Chairman, just a few weeks ago, I was injured in a race in
Keeneland. The horse broke down, and I was thrown. The horse landed
on top of me, and I broke my shoulder. I was very lucky, very lucky,
and very blessed. I would say very blessed that I only sustained a
broken shoulder blade. The fact of the matter is, every time you
leave the paddock, you really don't know if you are coming back.
It can happen to any of us on any racing day.
We need to know for the sake of ourselves and our families that if
we are injured, we will receive the best medical care, and God
forbid, if we suffer a devastating injury, we will be taken care
of.
There is much work to be done to reach this goal. While many tracks
have raised their coverage for ontrack accidents to a million, there
are tracks around the country that have inadequate insurance
coverage. Some tracks still provide no coverage at all. There is
workers compensation coverage in only five racing States. Our
members should be covered in all States. For many jockeys, health
insurance is not affordable, given the low incomes. We need to
raise mount fees so that all jockeys who want health coverage can
afford it.
So, Mr. Chairman, we would like the industry to provide a retirement
plan for its riders so that the jockeys who are too old or too sick
to continue racing can live out their lives in dignity.
Finally, and perhaps the most important, it is critical that we have
a real seat at the table in the industry. The Interstate Horseracing
Act needs to be amended to give jockeys the legal rights along with
the trainers and owners to a fair share of the revenue from the
transmission of the horseracing signal. That way, Mr. Chairman, we
will have the resources we need to help ourselves.
I am available to answer any questions you may have. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of John Velazquez follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF JOHN VELAZQUEZ, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD OF
DIRECTORS, THE JOCKEYS' GUILD
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
My name is John Velazquez and I am Chairperson of the Board
of Directors of the Jockeys' Guild.
I am pleased to testify before this Committee and update you
on the condition of the Jockeys' Guild.
We have been working very hard since the removal of
Mr. Gertmenian to restore a respectful relationship of mutual respect
and understanding between the Guild and the horseracing industry.
While we may not always agree on issues, it is critical that we work
together for the good of the sport and the welfare of our members.
We have been meeting frequently in the last several months
with industry leaders to discuss how we can partner with them to
insure that the needs of jockeys are met. As you know, for the
past 60 years, the Jockeys' Guild has shouldered the burden of
providing health insurance to its members, taking care of the
temporarily disabled, and trying to meet the needs of our
permanently disabled riders-who must be taken care of for the rest
of their lives. We have tried to show the industry that shouldering
this responsibility alone is virtually impossible for an organization
with a thousand members to afford from its own resources. This is
made even more difficult because we must also represent our members
on many other important issues that jockeys face daily as
professional athletes.
Today, I am pleased to report to you that we have reached an
historic agreement with the industry to create a new jointly
administered program to fund our program for permanently disabled
riders. This new group has pledged to raise at least $1 million
annually to provide financial assistance and case management services
to the 61 jockeys that are currently permanently disabled and for
those jockeys that will receive crippling injuries in the future.
We are grateful that the tracks and horsemen are willing to step up
to the plate and accept that the care of those who have given
everything to the horseracing industry is the responsibility of
the entire industry, not just the jockeys themselves. It means a
lot to us that the industry has taken this step, and I wish to
publicly thank them today for their effort.
Mr. Chairman, just a few weeks ago, I was injured in a race
at Keeneland. The horse broke down and I was thrown. The horse
landed on top of me and broke my shoulder. I was lucky, very lucky
that I only sustained a broken shoulder blade. The fact of the
matter is that every time you leave that paddock, you really don't
know if you're coming back. It can happen to any of us on any race
day. We need to know, for the sake of ourselves and our families,
and that if we are injured, we will receive the best medical care
and--God forbid--if we suffer a devastating injury, we will be
taken care of.
There is much work to be done to reach this goal. While
many tracks have raised their coverage for on-track accidents to $1
million, there are tracks around the country that have inadequate
insurance coverage. Some tracks still provide no coverage at all.
There is workers' compensation coverage in only 5 racing states.
Our members should be covered in all states. For many jockeys,
health insurance is not affordable given their low incomes. We
need to raise mount fees so that all jockeys who want health
coverage can afford it. And some day, Mr. Chairman, we would
like the industry to provide a retirement plan for its riders so
that the jockeys who are too old or too sick to continue racing can
live out their lives in dignity.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it is critical that
we have a real seat at the table in this industry. The Interstate
Horseracing Act needs to be amended to give jockeys the legal right,
along with trainers and owners, to a fair share of the revenue from
the transmission of the horseracing signal. That way, Mr. Chairman,
we will have the resources we need to help ourselves.
I am available to answer any questions you may have.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, very much for your testimony,
Mr. Velazquez. We appreciate it.
Mr. Haire, I will recognize you for your opening statement.
MR. HAIRE. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I am Darrell Haire, and
I am the Interim National Manager of the Jockeys' Guild. I am very
pleased to be back here testifying before you. When I was here
last before the committee, the riders had just retaken control of
our organization and we were trying to get on our feet. I am
pleased to report to you that we have restored order to the business
of running the Guild. It hasn't been easy and big challenges
remain. We have had to make some very tough decisions, but we are
moving forward, and we are getting the job done.
On the day Wayne Gertmenian and the Matrix team was terminated, we
were left with $6,000 in the bank, nearly a half a million dollars
in unpaid medical bills, disabled jockeys who needed to be paid,
an accounting system that was in disarray, one employee, and a
graduate student intern in the office. Within a few days, we
realized that we would have to move our office to avoid the double
rent we were paying to Matrix.
On that first day, Mr. Chairman, we decided that we would not
declare bankruptcy, and we would do everything in our power to get
the Guild back on its feet and moving forward again. Jockeys and
their wives volunteered to work in our office, and we worked 7 days
a week, 14 hours a day to get things moving again.
Immediately, and taking a significant leap of faith, the Chairperson
of the California Horse Racing Board, Richard Shapiro, authorized
the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars of back health
insurance funds that had been withheld while the CHRB investigated
allegations of financial misconduct by Wayne Gertmenian. Shortly
thereafter, led by Don Amos, Magna Entertainment Company, many race
tracks began sending back media rights payments to the Jockeys'
Guild. And our members, the backbone of our organization, stuck
with us.
Our Board of Directors realized that in order to get our financial
house in order, we needed to institute a series of painful fiscal
reforms to cut costs. These included increasing the eligibility
requirements of our temporary disability program to a minimum of
100 mounts in the current or previous calendar year; raising our
dues by 25 percent, from $3 per mount to $4 per mount; creating a
consistent policy in our permanent disability program so that all
participants get the same benefits; requiring that all jockeys who
are in arrears in health insurance premiums make arrangements to
pay back their premiums or lose coverage. Unfortunately, we have
recently terminated approximately 100 jockeys from the health plan
after making every effort to get them to pay the large premiums they
owe. And we have created a rules committee charged with ensuring
that our members do not get behind in their health premium payments,
and to take action if they do.
In addition to fiscal reforms, we have instituted a number of
institutional reforms to make our organization more democratic and
more accountable to its membership. At our recent national assembly
in Dallas, Texas, we approved amendments to our bylaws that did the
following: established a new system of national direct elections of
the Guild senate to be held next month in June and every 2 years
thereafter. Active jockeys would run for office and represent three
regions of the country; a western, central, and eastern region.
There will be nine senators elected from each region. The 27
senators elected would then elect a new Board of Directors, and
that would be a nine-member Board of Directors.
Finally, we have improved our previously nonexistent system of
internal communications. We have a website that is regularly
updated with current information to our members, and also we are
informing our members by mail throughout the country, written in
both English and Spanish, of policies and issues that arise.
We continue to represent our members vigorously at the race
tracks, before the racing commissions around the country, and in
front of State legislatures. While we are not out of the woods yet
and are still operating on a day-to-day basis, we are making
progress towards restoring the integrity and strength of this great
organization.
Mr. Chairman, due to the determination of our members and help from
our friends, including members of this committee, the Jockeys' Guild
is moving again in the right direction. And I thank you again for
the opportunity to be here.
[The prepared statement of Darrell Haire follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF DARRELL HAIRE, INTERIM NATIONAL MANAGER, THE
JOCKEYS' GUILD
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:
I am Darrell Haire and I am the Interim National Manager of
the Jockeys' Guild. I am very pleased to be back here testifying
before you. When I was last before the Committee, we had just
retaken control and were trying to get on our feet.
I am pleased to report to you that we have restored order
to the business of running the Guild. It hasn't been easy and big
challenges remain. We have had to make some very tough decisions,
but we are moving forward and getting the job done.
On the day Mr. Gertmenian and the Matrix team was terminated,
we were left with $6,000 in the Bank, nearly a half a million
dollars in unpaid medical bills, disabled jockeys who needed to be
paid, an accounting system that was in disarray, and one employee
and a graduate student intern in the office. And within a few
days, we realized that we would have to move offices to avoid the
double rent we were paying Matrix.
On that first day, Mr. Chairman, we decided that we would
not declare bankruptcy, that we would do everything in our power
to get the Guild back on its feet and moving again. Jockeys and
their wives volunteered to work in our office and we worked 7 days
a week, 12 hours a day to get things moving again.
Immediately, and taking a significant leap of faith, the
Chairperson of the California Horseracing Board, Richard Shapiro,
authorized the payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars of
back health insurance funds that had been withheld while the CHRB
investigated allegations of financial misconduct by Dr. Gertmenian.
Shortly thereafter, led by Magna Entertainment Company, many
racetracks began sending back media rights payments to the Guild.
And our members, the backbone of our organization, stuck with us.
Our Board of Directors realized that, in order to get our
financial house in order, we needed to institute a series of painful
fiscal reforms to cut costs. These included:
Increasing the eligibility requirements for our temporary disability
program to minimum of 100 mounts in the current or previous calendar
year.
Raising our dues by 25%, from $3 per mount to $4 per mount.
Creating a consistent policy in our permanent disability program so
that all participants get the same benefits.
Requiring that all jockeys who are in arrears in health insurance
premiums make arrangements to pay their back premiums or lose
coverage. We have recently terminated approximately 100 jockeys
from the plan after making every effort to get them to pay the
premiums they owe.
Creating a Rules Committee charged with insuring that our members do
not get behind in their health premium payments and to take action if
they do.
In addition to fiscal reforms, we have instituted a number of
institutional reforms to make our organization more democratic and
more accountable to its membership. At our recent national assembly
in Dallas, Texas, we approved amendments to our bylaws that did the
following:
Established a new system of national direct elections of the Guild
Senate, to be held in June of this year and every two years
thereafter.
The Senators would run for office and represent three regions of the
country, a western, central, and eastern region.
The Senators would then elect a new Board of Directors.
Finally, we have improved our previously nonexistent system of
internal communications. We have a web site that is regularly updated
with current information to our members and we are informing our members
by mail and in every jockeys' room in the country of new policies and
issues as they arise.
We continue to represent our members vigorously at the
racetracks, before the racing commissions around the country, and in
front of state legislatures.
While we are not out of the woods yet and are still operating
on a day-to-day basis, every day we are making progress towards
restoring the integrity and strength of our organization.
Mr. Chairman, due to the determination of our members and
help from our friends-including the members of this Committee-the
Jockeys' Guild is moving in the right direction again.
Thank you again for the opportunity to be here today.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you, Mr. Haire.
At this time, I would like to recognize Mr. Broad for his opening
statement.
MR. BROAD. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my
name is Barry Broad, and I am legal counsel and legislative
representative of the Jockeys' Guild in California. My firm was
hired by former Guild National Manager John Giovanni in 1995, and I
continued to represent the Jockeys' Guild right through last fall.
A few days after Wayne Gertmenian's testimony before your committee,
I severed my relationship with the Guild, feeling that I could no
longer represent its membership in good conscience so long as
Dr. Gertmenian and his management firm, Matrix Capital Associates,
were employed by the Jockeys' Guild. I then volunteered my services
to those members of the Jockeys' Guild Senate and Board of Directors
who wished to remove Dr. Gertmenian. I was present during the
emergency meeting of the Jockeys' Guild that was held by telephone
conference call which resulted in the termination of Dr. Gertmenian.
I was then appointed by the new interim Board of Directors as
co-General Counsel of the Guild with Tom Kennedy of New York.
Thereafter, I was in constant contact with the Monrovia police
department and the FBI in the chaotic days following
Dr. Gertmenian's removal to try to help ensure that evidence was
preserved, and since then, I, along with many others, have been
working on a daily basis to help this organization recover so that
it can do its job of vigorously advancing the interests of
professional jockeys.
Let me just take a moment of personal privilege to say that it's
evident from what this committee does, I mean people get cynical
about government and politics and all that sort of stuff, but the
oversight role that you played made a real fundamental difference
in this organization. But for what happened here last fall, I
think that this organization would have been gone, completely gone
by now.
Today, I will fill the committee in on what we know about the conduct
of Dr. Gertmenian and his apparent alter ego, Matrix Capital
Associates. It has fallen on my shoulders, I drew the short straw,
I guess, to assist with the various investigations that have arisen
from Dr. Gertmenian's tenure. It is the position of the Board of
Directors that only through total openness and transparency can this
organization restore its credibility with your committee, State
regulators, the racing industry, and its own members.
First of all, it was immediately obvious that Dr. Gertmenian and the
Guild's then General Counsel Lloyd Ownbey failed on a massive level
to comply with your committee's subpoena. I set about establishing
a cooperative, professional, and mutually respectful relationship with
your staff and began to send documents that were responsive to the
subpoena to Washington. I also worked with the FBI, who had served a
subpoena, to help them locate Dr. Gertmenian and to give them
information on how to try to get compliance with their subpoena.
To this date, we have sent thousands of pages of documents to your
committee, and I have invited your staff to come to the Guild office
in California to inspect documents and to interview employees.
Until your investigation is formally concluded, you have our
commitment that we will continue to provide your staff broad access
to the Guild books and records. And I must say that I met with and
have talked many times with Mr. Feddo, and this was a most cordial
relationship, and it's sad that it ever got to the place that it
was. I find that incredibly baffling, or maybe not.
Anyway, the following are the major findings of what occurred during
the tenure of Dr. Gertmenian. There was a systematic effort to
mislead the Board of Directors and membership about the financial
state of the Guild. Dr. Gertmenian stated repeatedly that to Guild
members and to the board that the Guild had accumulated a $3.5
million war chest. On the day he was fired, he told the senators
that the Guild finances had never been better and again insisted
that it had a $3.5 million war chest. He said this when he knew
full well that the Guild assets were nearly totally depleted.
In another example of this pattern of misleading conduct,
Dr. Gertmenian hired an attorney to represent the Guild before this
committee and told members of his Board of Directors that another
labor organization was paying for the cost of the attorney, when in
fact the Guild paid for the cost. As this committee uncovered,
Dr. Gertmenian even attempted to assign an apparently inflated value
to the services of consultants and even volunteers as a means of
justifying the payments to Matrix.
On the day that Dr. Gertmenian was fired, he caused more than
$200,000 in checks to be issued to himself and Mr. Albert Fiss,
leaving the Guild with just a few thousand dollars in the bank.
These checks were written in direct violation of financial controls
that were imposed by the Board of Directors prohibiting checks other
than those to disabled riders to be issued in excess of $200 without
the express written approval of the treasurer, and he had been
following that in the week before. So it was clear that he had
knowledge of it.
He even arranged that employees loyal to him would receive layoff
notices so that they would qualify for unemployment insurance
benefits when they were in fact voluntarily quitting employment.
This could have the effect, we'll find out, of not only raising
the unemployment insurance rates for the Guild but for past
employers of those employees.
In addition, they left with media rights documents that belonged to
the Guild, which they only returned after I intervened with
Dr. Gertmenian's criminal defense lawyer; computers, which we
eventually got back; and financial records, some of which I think
are still missing; and such personal property, collectible types of
things reported in the press that seem to have disappeared as well.
Over the previous months and years, restricted trust accounts had
been spent down that should have been maintained. These included
trust accounts for health insurance reserves which were needed--which
needed to be maintained in order to preserve the fiscal integrity
of the Guild self-funded health insurance plan. You can't have a
self-funded health insurance plan and not have reserves against the
day when claims exceed the premiums that you receive.
Moreover, approximately $500,000 was depleted from savings accounts
for individual jockeys that had been deposited with the Guild as an
overpayment of dues. Some of these personal savings accounts had
balances of thousands of dollars, and at this point, until we
generate a budgetary surplus, we can only honor requests for
withdrawals on a partial basis when funds are available.
Matrix Capital Associates was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars
while Dr. Gertmenian was being paid a salary for full-time
employment. We suspect that little value was delivered by Matrix
for the large sums of money that were paid out.
In addition, associates of Dr. Gertmenian were paid tens of
thousands of dollars for consulting fees that apparently resulted
in the delivery of few actual services.
Dr. Gertmenian offered select members of the Guild free health
insurance, apparently in order to curry internal political
support. Such promises were made without the knowledge of the
Board of Directors, and of course, at any point in a self-funded
health plan that people stop paying health insurance premiums but
receive the benefits, it means you're passing the cost along to
everybody else. So you are imperiling the plan. It's a clear
problem.
Dr. Gertmenian allowed jockeys who failed to pay health insurance
premiums to remain covered by the plan. As a result, the amount of
unpaid premiums reached a level of approximately $700,000. This of
course meant that there was cost shifting to other jockeys who were
actually paying their premiums, causing the Guild's financial
situation to worsen.
Guild General Counsel Ownbey failed to inform his Board of Directors
and apparently offered no legal advice to them whatsoever about the
plainly oppressive terms of the personal services agreements with
Dr. Gertmenian and Matrix. Mr. Ownbey appeared to act as
Dr. Gertmenian's personal attorney, not that of the Guild.
Incidentally, when your committee subpoenas were delivered to the
Guild and Matrix, I called Mr. Ownbey and told him, in my opinion,
Dr. Gertmenian needed to secure separate legal counsel immediately
since his interests and that of the Guild were separate and that
Mr. Ownbey needed to represent the Guild's interests separate and
apart from that of the personal interests of Dr. Gertmenian and
Matrix. That advice was evidently ignored.
There were numerous--have I run out of time?
MR. WHITFIELD. You have. About 3 minutes over.
MR. BROAD. Would you like me to continue?
MR. WHITFIELD. Why don't you summarize?
MR. BROAD. I'm sorry. Let me just conclude by the few remaining
points. There were numerous acts of self-dealing in favoritism by
Dr. Gertmenian, including things that we are just now investigating,
like charging lots of meal expenses and so forth while he was not
traveling. The Guild, as your committee noted, paid double rent.
It rented two adjoining spaces, one occupied by Matrix, one occupied
by the Guild, and it paid both sides' rent, including a maintenance
fee to Matrix, another little profit center, if you will, but there
didn't seem to be any maintenance being delivered for that.
Basically, while Dr. Gertmenian professed to be an international
expert in business operations, he failed to operate the Guild in
the most basic manner consistent with common and well understood
business principles. For example, a few months ago, I was
horrified one morning when I found out that the Guild had had no
workers comp insurance for the entire period that Dr. Gertmenian
was there, which in California, I don't know in other States, it's
a criminal offense to willfully fail to provide that insurance.
These kind of things occurred.
Finally, basic accounting practices were ignored, accounts were not
kept up. We had no idea how much income the Guild had, who in
particular had unpaid premiums for health insurance and who they
were, and we've had to catch up to all of that.
I believe this gives you a flavor for what occurred during the
period. I am available to answer any questions that you might
have. Thank you for allowing me to testify today.
[The prepared statement of Barry Broad follows:]
PREPARED STATEMENT OF BARRY BROAD, NATIONAL LEGAL COUNSEL, THE
JOCKEYS' GUILD
Chairman Whitfield and Members of the Committee:
My name is Barry Broad and I am legal counsel and legislative
representative of the Jockeys' Guild in California. My firm was
hired by former Guild National Manager John Giovanni in 1995 and I
continued to represent the Jockeys' Guild right through last fall.
A few days after Wayne Gertmenian's testimony before your Committee,
I severed my relationship with the Guild, feeling that I could no
longer represent its membership in good conscience so long as
Dr. Gertmenian and his management firm, Matrix Capital Associates,
were employed by the Jockeys' Guild. I then volunteered my services
to those members of the Jockeys' Guild Senate and Board of Directors
who wished to remove Dr. Gertmenian. I was present during the
emergency meeting of the Jockeys' Guild that was held by telephone
conference call which resulted in the termination of Dr. Gertmenian.
I was then appointed by the new interim Board of Directors as
co-General Counsel of the Guild. Thereafter, I was in constant
contact with the Monrovia Police Department and the FBI in the
chaotic days following Dr. Gertmenian's removal to try to help
insure that evidence was preserved, and, since then, I, along
with many others, have been working on a daily basis to help this
organization recover so that it can do its job of vigorously
advancing the interests of professional jockeys.
Today, I will fill the Committee in on what we now know about the
conduct of Dr. Gertmenian and his apparent alter ego, Matrix
Capital Associates. It has fallen on my shoulders to assist with
the various investigations that have arisen from Dr. Gertmenian's
tenure. It is the position of our Board of Directors that, only
through total openness and transparency, can this organization
restore its credibility with your Committee, state regulators,
the racing industry, and its own members.
First of all, it was immediately obvious that Dr. Gertmenian and
the Guild's then General Counsel, Lloyd Ownbey, failed on a
massive level to comply with your Committee's subpoena. I set
about establishing a cooperative, professional, and mutually
respectful relationship with your staff and began to send
documents that were responsive to the subpoena to Washington.
To date, we have sent thousands of pages of documents and I
have invited your staff to come to the Guild's office in California
to inspect documents and interview employees. Until your
investigation is formally concluded, you have our commitment that
we will continue to provide your staff broad access to the Guild's
books and records.
The following are the major findings of what occurred during the
tenure of Dr.. Gertmenian:
1. There was a systematic effort to mislead the Board of Directors
and Membership about the financial state of the Guild.
Dr. Gertmenian stated repeatedly that the Guild had accumulated a
$3.5 million "war chest". On the day he was fired, he told the
Senators that the Guild's finances had never been better and again
insisted that it had a $3.5 million war chest. He said this when he
knew full well that the Guild's assets were nearly totally depleted.
In another example of this pattern of misleading conduct,
Dr. Gertmenian hired an attorney to represent the Guild before this
Committee and told members of his Board of Directors that another
labor organization was paying for the cost of that attorney when,
in fact, the Guild paid for the cost. As this Committee uncovered,
Dr. Gertmenian even attempted to assign an apparently inflated value
to the services of consultants and even volunteers as a means of
justifying the payments made to Matrix.
2. On the day that Dr. Gertmenian was fired, he caused more than
$200,000 in checks to be issued to himself and Mr. Albert Fiss,
leaving the Guild with just a few thousand dollars in the bank.
These checks were written in direct violation of financial controls
that were imposed by the Board of Directors prohibiting checks,
other than those to disabled riders, to be issued in excess of $200
without the express written approval of the Treasurer. He even
arranged that employees loyal to him would receive lay-off notices,
so that they would qualify for unemployment insurance benefits when
they were, in fact, voluntarily quitting employment. This could
have the effect of not only raising the unemployment insurance rates
for the Guild but for past employers of those employees.
3. Over the previous months and years, restricted trust accounts had
been spent down that should have been maintained. These included
trust accounts for health insurance reserves, which needed to be
maintained in order to preserve the fiscal integrity of the Guild's
self-funded health insurance plan. Moreover, approximately $500,000
was depleted from the savings accounts for individual jockeys that
had been deposited with the Guild as overpayment of dues. Some of
these personal savings accounts had balances of thousands of dollars
and, at this point, until we generate a budgetary surplus, we can
only honor requests for withdrawals on a partial basis when funds
are available.
4. Matrix Capital Associates was paid hundreds of thousands of
dollars while Dr. Gertmenian was being paid a salary for full-time
employment. We suspect that little of value was delivered by Matrix
for the large sums of money that were paid out. In addition,
associates of Dr. Gertmenian were paid tens of thousands of dollars
for consulting fees that, apparently, resulted in the delivery of
few actual services.
5. Dr. Gertmenian offered certain select members of the Guild free
health insurance, apparently in order to curry internal political
support. Such promises were made without the knowledge of the Board
of Directors.
6. Dr. Gertmenian allowed jockeys who had failed to pay health
insurance premiums to remain covered by the plan. As a result, the
amount of unpaid premiums reached a level of approximately $700,000.
This, of course, meant that there was cost shifting to other
jockeys, who were actually paying their premiums, causing the
Guild's financial situation to worsen.
7. Guild General Counsel Ownbey failed to inform his Board of
Directors and apparently offered no legal advice to them whatsoever
about the plainly oppressive terms of the personal services
agreement with Dr. Gertmenian and Matrix. Mr. Ownbey appeared to
act as Dr. Gertmenian's personal attorney, not that of the Guild.
Incidentally, when your Committee's subpoenas were delivered to the
Guild and Matrix, I called Mr. Ownbey and told him that, in my
opinion, Dr. Gertmenian needed to secure separate legal counsel,
since his interests and that of the Guild were separate and that
Mr. Ownbey needed to represent the Guild's interests separate and
apart from that of the personal interests of Dr. Gertmenian and
Matrix. That advice was evidently ignored.
8. There were numerous acts of self-dealing and favoritism by
Dr. Gertmenian, including charging meal and entertainment expenses
to the Guild when he was not traveling on Guild business.
Dr. Gertmenian caused the Guild to pay for the office rent of
the space adjoining the Guild's office which was occupied by
Matrix Capital Associates, a separate business entity, resulting
in the Guild paying roughly double the rent for the space that
it used. As if that weren't enough, Matrix added a "maintenance fee"
to the rent. However, there is no evidence that any maintenance
services were actually provided by Matrix. Indeed, there was no
written lease agreement between the Guild and Matrix or between the
Guild and the property owner. Gertmenian also apparently permitted
select employees to be reimbursed for personal expenses, including
car repairs, dry cleaning, groceries, and other personal expenses.
9. While Dr. Gertmenian professed to be an expert in business
operations, he failed to operate the Guild in a manner consistent
with adherence to even the most common and well understood business
principals. For example, apparently during the entire period of his
tenure, the Guild did not have a workers' compensation insurance
policy in place to cover its own employees. This exposed the Guild
to enormous potential civil liability. In California, the failure
to secure workers' compensation insurance is a criminal offense.
Fortunately, no employee of the Guild suffered a work related
injury. Similarly, the Guild routinely failed to enter into
written agreements for personal services agreements for its
consultants and apparently did not even have a fee agreement
with its General Counsel, Mr. Ownbey, contrary to California law
and ethical standards. Matrix Capital Associates was paid a
monthly fee, but did not submit invoices and did not specify
what services were being provided.
10. When Dr. Gertmenian was fired and the new management had access
to the accounting system, it was apparent that basic accounting
practices had been ignored. We did not even know which jockeys
had paid their health insurance premiums and which had not.
Large amounts of data related to jockey mounts had simply not
been entered into the system, thereby making it impossible to
ascertain how much money racetracks had forwarded to the Guild
in the form of dues and health insurance premiums.
I could go on and on, but I believe that you have the flavor of
what occurred under the tenure of Dr. Gertmenian.
I am available to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you for allowing me to testify today.
MR. WHITFIELD. Mr. Broad, thank you. I can assure you that there's
not anything you can tell us about Mr. Gertmenian that would surprise
us because it was quite obvious that he was totally ripping off the
Guild, and I do hope that the criminal investigations will continue
and he will be charged with something. That's not my decision to
make. But I want to commend all of you for the great work that you
have done in trying to maintain the integrity of the Guild and
hopefully rebuild it because it certainly has a vital role to play
in this industry.
Mr. Velazquez, I want to ask you a couple of questions. You were
injured recently at Keeneland, and one of the things that many of
us have been focusing on, we know that this industry is fragmented,
each State has different rules and each track operates in different
ways. Recently, for example, there was an accident up in Turfway
Park where a horse went down and the jockey was killed, and we know
that there have been a number of deaths over the last 4 or 5 years.
We also know that in the racing industry, it's not unusual that
horses are administered certain drugs before a race or at various
times, and we know that that is always a challenge and jockeys
frequently do not know what the horse has in his system.
When your horse went down, that horse was euthanized, is that
correct? MR. VELAZQUEZ. That's correct.
MR. WHITFIELD. Do you know if a necropsy was performed on the horse?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I'm sorry?
MR. WHITFIELD. Do you know if a necropsy was performed on the horse.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I don't know.
MR. WHITFIELD. It's my understanding, I may be wrong, it's my
understanding a necropsy was not performed. Also, when the horse
went down in Turfway and the jockey was killed up there, it's my
understanding that a necropsy was not performed.
I do find it hard to imagine that there is not some uniform rule
around the country that when these horses go down and jockeys go
down, I mean, it would be very easy for three or four horses to go
down if one goes down. I do think that something we want to continue
to look at is this whole policy of necropsies on these horses that
go down on the track.
I am assuming that, as a jockey and someone whose life is dependent
upon safety, that you would certainly welcome necropsies as a matter
of course on every horse that has to be euthanized on the track.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. We decided, actually, we started doing our own
research about how many horses have been breaking down and all this
stuff. So for us to receive a piece of paper or some sort of
response back that the situation with how the horses were treated
afterwards or how many was broke down is very difficult for us to
get any answers. Basically we don't get--
MR. WHITFIELD. I know you don't get any answers. The public doesn't
get any.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. We have been trying to implement new rules throughout
the country that we get this information. Obviously, until this
point, we haven't got much.
MR. WHITFIELD. It's not going to be done until the race tracks
and/or the racing authorities in each State or some Federal mandate
demands that it be done. Obviously, one reason it is not being done
is the cost involved.
I'm assuming, Mr. Haire, that you would value necropsies being
performed on these horses, is that correct?
MR. HAIRE. Absolutely, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Mr. Stupak had mentioned during his testimony
that we are looking for ways to address this, and I do firmly believe
from the analysis that I have done that the easiest, quickest way
to address this issue on insurance would be in the Interstate
Horseracing Act. I say that because the 1978 act which provided
the foundation is for simulcasting where most wagers are being
conducted today; that's where most of the purses are coming from,
that act allowed the horsemen's group, and we know that there is a
different horsemen's group in every State, but predominantly it is
the Horsemen's Benevolent Protective Association; that they have
veto power over the simulcast agreement between the track and the
simulcastors. Because of that veto power, they receive an
administrative fee for agreeing or not agreeing to the contract.
The head of the Kentucky HBPA testified in Congress that the
Kentucky HBPA alone receives right at a million dollars a year
for simply agreeing to the contract. To be truthful, if you
multiply that by 38 States and jurisdictions and the money being
paid to the horsemen's group, who certainly have an interest in
racing, but there isn't any group in my view any more important to
racing than jockeys, there is no reason that jockeys should not be
able to get a part of that administrative fee, and whether it's paid
directly to them or to a local racing authority with a mandate that
the authority adopt a policy, an insurance policy, I personally
think that would be the easiest, quickest, best way to go. And I
would just ask you all, you three and Mr. Saumell, if you want to
testify, what you think about that concept?
MR. BROAD. I think we wholeheartedly agree with that. The Jockeys'
Guild finances these various health and welfare programs from a
variety of different sources, most of which are depending on
maintaining, to be frank, an absolutely cordial relationship with
those with whom we may have an adversarial position on health and
welfare issues, and that makes it very difficult for us to do our
job. We need to operate at a respectful hands-off kind of
relationship, and that's what changing the law would allow.
MR. WHITFIELD. The reason the Horseracing Act is the way it is,
is because the HBPA had a part in the adoption of the passage of
that legislation, and I don't think the jockeys were at the table.
But would you support that kind of a concept, Mr. Haire?
MR. HAIRE. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. What about you, Mr. Velazquez?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Absolutely, sir. I think it would give us the
resources so we can help our members with the proper insurance.
Let me add, sir, that we help to bring a lot of revenue to the
race tracks and to the horsemen's group also. I can add myself
obviously as a jockey and being one of the top jockeys in the
country, we bring a lot of money to the table by the way they
sell the signal. Obviously not only by having the top jockeys
and the signals sell the way they are, but they also need the
lower jockeys that don't ride that many horses because they need
to have a full race, 10-horse field, so everybody contributes
to it. I think we need that little piece of the table.
MR. WHITFIELD. I mean, from my perspective, the HBPA in Kentucky
does not have any dues-paying members and yet they are speaking
for, they say trainers and horsemen groups or owners, and they
are the ones receiving the million dollars a year, and they are
not purchasing any insurance for anybody I can see, except their
own officers and no one else, and they are filing a lot of lawsuits
over a lot of issues that they don't like to deal with. If you
multiply it by the other States--I mean, the thing I like about it
is it would not take any additional money from the race tracks, it
would simply be a redistribution of the fee that is already being
paid. And I still do not understand why the horsemen's group would
be the exclusive group to receive the money.
Now let me ask you, the sad thing about what's happened to the
Jockeys' Guild, you all had a disability fund that had at least
over a million dollars in it at one time; is that correct?
MR. HAIRE. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. I'm sorry, Mr. Saumell.
MR. SAUMELL. A million-three.
MR. WHITFIELD. Then you had the race tracks, some of them had
policies that they were paying for in some States in addition to
the disability fund; is that correct?
MR. HAIRE. Paying for it.
MR. WHITFIELD. They were providing the coverage.
MR. HAIRE. In workmans comp States, yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. Some of the tracks were even making payments to
Jockeys' Guild in cash payments; were they not?
MR. HAIRE. The cash payments, the media rights.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Media rights, yes.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. And then, of course, after Gertmenian, the
disability fund was wiped out, the tracks lost confidence in the
Guild. I guess the media payments are still being paid to the
Guild; is that correct?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Some of them. Some of the race tracks. By the end
of last year, a lot of them stopped paying, and that's why we are
in the situation we are in right now.
MR. WHITFIELD. How many race tracks are there in the country? Does
anybody know the exact number? Okay, we'll get that. My
understanding is that some tracks voluntarily provide insurance
coverage, which we applaud, other tracks do not, so there's no
uniformity whatsoever. So this is definitely an area that there
needs to be some strong leadership in, and there is enough money
in this industry to address this problem. And, to me, it's not so
much about the racing industry per se, but we're talking about
health insurance here. When jockeys are injured and there is no
coverage, then they become a part of the Medicaid system, and the
taxpayers pick up the fee, and that's running out of control, and
we have a pool of money here that can address these problems, in
my view.
So I recognize Mr. Stupak for any questions he may have.
MR. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Velazquez, you indicated in your testimony that there's this
new jointly administered program to fund a fund for permanently
disabled riders. Who pays into that fund?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. It's going to be in the form of charities.
There are going to be charity events, and the racetracks are
going to donate some part of the money for disabled riders.
MR. STUPAK. Would this be a charity sponsored by the Guild,
the tracks?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. All of us. All of us, yes.
MR. STUPAK. Had any thought been given to doing something like we
saw this weekend for the Kentucky Derby, this 24 carat gold plated -
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I saw that on TV. Obviously, I'm hurt, so I was
watching that on TV.
MR. STUPAK. What did you think?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. When they announced where the proceeds were going to,
my mouth just dropped. It's great that we're doing something, and
I support it a hundred percent because I have done charities for
retired horses myself, but we have human lives, and we have
families, and we have children that depend on, and in this industry
there is so much money, and it saddens me that they forget us.
They always put the jockeys to the bottom of the list. It's always
the last thing they could think about.
Here we are, the human lives, a huge part of the business, and we
always are the last ones to get a percentage of the percentage of
the percentage.
MR. STUPAK. Have your charity check with Woodford Reserve, maybe they
will do something for you this year. Mint from Morocco, ice from the
Arctic Circle and sugar from the South Pacific, all served up in that
cup with a silver straw. Sounds pretty intriguing.
What do riders have for, including exercise riders, what do they have
for retirement? Social Security?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I'm sorry?
MR. STUPAK. Exercise riders, what do they have?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. No retirement, sir.
MR. STUPAK. All based on your earnings?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Earnings and whatever you pay into Social Security.
MR. STUPAK. The Chairman asked you if tracks were withholding
payments for a while, probably because they lost, I don't know why,
I guess we would have to ask tracks, but some are paying again and
others are not.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes. Some of them started paying the money received
from media rights.
MR. STUPAK. Is that mandatory?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. That's the problem that we had. The contract that we
had in the past with the race tracks for the media rights, it was
called--not mandatory. What was the word they use in this country?
MR. BROAD. Let me explain what it was. Historically, it was a
contract negotiated with the TRA. But then to make it enforceable
against any individual track, the Guild would then have to go from
track to track to track, and I think there are over a hundred
tracks, basically to try to make it binding on each particular
track. Otherwise, it was voluntary.
During the period of Dr. Gertmenian, and maybe slightly before,
these individually binding agreements were allowed to lapse so that,
at this point, none of them are actually obligated contractually to
pay anything. Some of them are paying voluntarily the amount they
owed under the existing agreement.
MR. STUPAK. So there's no real recourse.
MR. BROAD. No, there's not.
MR. HAIRE. Now that some of these race tracks with the million
dollar policy, or half a million, they are not paying the media
rights because they are paying the premiums, and that's their
responsibility, we feel. That's the cost of doing business to
take care of these jockeys, cover them, but now I guess they don't
think we have media rights.
Now they are saying that's always been a question in their mind, and
now some race tracks are paying, and there are a lot of race tracks
that are paying.
MR. STUPAK. But if a race track doesn't pay, you have no recourse
and riders, I should say jockeys, have to ride if they are going to
get paid, if they're going to make a living; right?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Exactly, yes. Basically, a lot of the money is used
for health insurance. Media rights is money--obviously, it was used,
most of it, for disabled riders, and part of the money will go for
health insurance. It was set up for many years. Obviously with the
health insurance coverage, it's tripled for the last 4 years. The
cost of living is much higher.
MR. STUPAK. I want to ask more questions about the tracks.
Mr. Saumell, you're the Jockeys' Guild representative for riders
in West Virginia at Mountaineer and Charles Town.
MR. SAUMELL. Yes, sir.
MR. STUPAK. Do you visit the jockeys' room at the racetracks
regularly?
MR. SAUMELL. I'm probably at Mountaineer six times a year, and
Charles Town six to eight times a year.
MR. STUPAK. Have you been to Mountaineer and Charles Town since our
hearing in last November?
MR. SAUMELL. I was there twice this year already.
MR. STUPAK. I want to ask you about exhibit number 3. Is there a
book with some exhibits? It would be a binder.
MR. SAUMELL. Number 3, sir?
MR. STUPAK. Number 3. In there, it says document number 3 is
titled: Questions from the Honorable Bart Stupak and answers from
Ms. Rose Mary Williams. I refer you to question 11, it reads,
"have you or anyone at Mountaineer that reports to you ever pressured
a jockey that objected to track or weather conditions to ride in a
way"--and it says please also note that the answer is supplied by
Ms. Williams--and she says, "I have never pressured a jockey to ride
if a jockey objected on the basis of weather or track conditions; to
my knowledge no one who reported to me has done so either."
Let me ask you, in your experience in talking with these jockeys,
do you have reason to believe what Ms. Williams told this committee
last November about not pressing jockeys to ride?
MR. SAUMELL. I would say that's an inadequate statement.
MR. STUPAK. Inadequate statement. What would you base your opinion
that this was an inadequate statement that she gave the committee?
MR. SAUMELL. Riders have been pressured to ride under inadequate
conditions.
MR. STUPAK. In what way?
MR. SAUMELL. Well, when a track condition is bad, it's bad. And it
comes down to when riders collectively want to join together and
cancel racing, it's come to the point where, in Mountaineer, they're
not allowed to do that.
MR. STUPAK. What do you mean they are not allowed to? How would
they be forced to ride if they don't feel it's safe to ride?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. They tell the riders go somewhere else.
MR. SAUMELL. They are not allowed to collectively join together
and discuss the conditions of the racetrack.
MR. STUPAK. If I'm a rider at Mountaineer, and I feel I don't want
to ride, do I have a contract, or is my ability to earn my income
based upon every race and every ride I may take?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes. You have to go and ride, otherwise you don't
get paid. When you get the conditions of the track unsafe or
whatever reason it is, now the guys are coming back, look, the
track isn't safe, unsafe for the horses, unsafe for the jockeys
themselves, so now they have to talk to management to agree on
something; we can't continue racing. Well, you can be forced. If
you don't go and ride, you have got to be out of here.
MR. STUPAK. I know very little about your profession, but if I'm
riding, don't I work for an owner of a horse, don't I work for that
owner of that horse?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes, yes.
MR. STUPAK. Wouldn't it be in my best interest to say not only is it
unsafe but wouldn't it also be unsafe for the horse?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. Can race track owners or owners or managers at let's say
Mountaineer or Charles Town, if I said I'm not going to race, could
they assign a different rider to race my horse?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. But isn't the contract or the agreement to ride between
me and the owner?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Basically, if you're not riding, you say I'm not
riding for whatever the reason. They go and ask the next guy. If
you don't ride here, you have to go somewhere else. Basically what
happens is they usually get the guy that does not get to ride that
many races or does not do as well. So now he's put in a bad place
where, if I don't ride here, I have to go somewhere else.
MR. STUPAK. But if I feel as a jockey that it's unsafe for me, it's
also unsafe for the horse.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yeah, but they add pressure to it.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. It happens everywhere in the country.
MR. STUPAK. Sure.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I was told 3 years ago on one racetrack if I didn't
do what they wanted me to do--I'm a jockey. The last 3 years in the
country I was told by somebody, one of the managers, that if I didn't
take a picture after the winner's circle, which has nothing to do with
me, I was not to ever ride on that racetrack again. This is me,
that--
MR. STUPAK. So what--without some kind of legal rights and, as I've
mentioned before, collective bargaining, National Labor Relations
Board, what recourse do you have now?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. What resources?
MR. STUPAK. What recourse. How can you stand up to the track owners
or managers?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. None. You can't do anything.
MR. SAUMELL. We have no collective bargaining rights. You meet,
and you decide, the riders, take it upon themselves because the
riders are the ones that if it's that dangerous, they don't want to
ride --
MR. VELAZQUEZ. That's the only way we take care of one another.
The message is, we go out there and try to kill ourselves, or we
take care of one another and just walk out of here all together.
That's the only way.
MR. STUPAK. Mr. Velazquez, you're one of the top riders. Wouldn't
it be in the track's best interest to keep you happy and keep you
riding at that track?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Somebody else will take my place, sir.
MR. STUPAK. Sure. But aren't you sort of a draw, much like the
horse you may be running or riding?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I'm sorry?
MR. STUPAK. Aren't you, yourself, being one of the top jockeys in
the country, being a draw?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. Wouldn't people love to see you ride?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes, I would believe so. But if I would not go out
there, they will put somebody else to fill my place. They will take
the chances. The revenue would be lower, obviously, but they still
have the race. That's how they break it up all the time.
MR. STUPAK. That's what I'm learning in this third hearing we've
had now, Mr. Chairman. I'm finding it interesting as I'm learning
more and more about this industry. Thank you.
MR. WHITFIELD. I want to ask a few more questions. Mr. Velazquez,
we had talked about how you work for the owner of the horse, but I
think practically speaking, while technically that may be true,
in actual practice you really work for the trainer, don't you?
I mean, doesn't the trainer really make a lot of the decisions?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. A lot of them do, but a lot of owners do as well.
It has to be a communication between the trainer and the owners.
I mean, basically we work for everybody in the racetrack.
MR. WHITFIELD. Right.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I mean, we have to follow the rules.
MR. WHITFIELD. Right.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. We can get fined if we're not on time for whatever
reason. We can be thrown out of the racetrack for whatever reason
if you don't follow the rules. We get fined if you get up--let's say
that I'm going down the lane, and my horse is not going well, and
he's just not going well. And I know for a fact the horse is not
going well. Now I have to hold him together so he doesn't break
down, so he doesn't fall down.
MR. WHITFIELD. If your horse is not going well during the warm-up,
don't you have the option of just saying--
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Oh, I could do that, too, but it would have to be
really bad for the horse not to race though. But it could happen
during the race.
The horse could warm up right now, sir. You gallop to the gate,
the horse warms up perfect, nothing wrong with it. It would break
from the gate and would clip another horse's heels, or hit
themselves or whatever reason; it could stumble out of the gate.
Now the horse is not going well. Now you are taking the chance,
letting him see how it feels. Now they're changing the stride.
Now they're not going well at all. So let's say I'm going towards
the wire now, and he's not feeling very well, it's getting wobbly
underneath myself, and I have to stand up before the wire, and God
forbid lose, third or fourth place, and they are calling to the
stewards or racetrack or whatever it may be. Now I'm getting fined
because I'm standing up before the wire because I cost the bettors
the place. So who am I working for? I'm working for the owners.
I'm working for the racetrack. MR. WHITFIELD. So you would be
fined. MR. VELAZQUEZ. I'm getting fined by just trying to save
myself, saving the horse, obviously. I think more damage if I
continue riding the horse. MR. WHITFIELD. How much of a fine?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. It could be from $100 to $250. It all depends on
where you are. MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Were you scheduled to ride
in the Derby before your accident? MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. Who were you scheduled to ride?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. The horse that finished second. Bluegrass Cat.
MR. WHITFIELD. Yeah, Bluegrass Cat. Okay.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. By the way, I'm speaking here because I think a
voice needs to be heard, and this is going to hurt me more than
anything else.
People, they're very influential and very powerful in the business,
that I know for the fact me talking to you and the way I'm talking
and exposing all this out, there are people that would never ride me
again, maybe take a year or two. I mean, I was warned by Gary Bailey,
Jerry Stevens when I took this job early January, December, be careful
what you said because there will be people in this industry that
never ride you again.
MR. WHITFIELD. You are taking a position with the Jockeys' Guild,
you could theoretically be blacklisted by certain people.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Well, could be. At least I have a good job that I
have really good owners that I ride for, and I have a good trainer
that I have good relationship, and, I just didn't believe that
something like that would happen to me. But, I'm going to take my
chances and see what happens, and whatever comes with it, I think
I'm a big boy and that I take whatever comes to me.
MR. WHITFIELD. Well, we know it's a dangerous sport. We know it's
a popular sport. We know there's a lot of money in it. And I think
all of us have a responsibility to do everything we can to make it
as safe as possible with the guidelines and provide adequate
insurance for people involved, and I think there's enough money to
do that.
How many jockeys are there in the U.S.?
MR. SAUMELL. Approximately 1,800 that are licensed.
MR. WHITFIELD. Eighteen hundred?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Twelve hundred riders actually do ride like--the
races, yeah.
MR. WHITFIELD. So, 1,800 jockeys and warm-up riders, is that what
we're saying? Or 1,800 jockeys?
MR. HAIRE. Eighteen hundred riders who are licensed.
MR. BROAD. Some of them ride very few races. Would you say,
gentlemen, it's about 1,200 are the ones that are riding maybe more
than 100 races a year or something, ride the vast majority?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. A lot of them, they carry jockey license, those
could be S.S.I. riders and the--also, but they have a license where
they can go and ride a race or two.
MR. WHITFIELD. Let's say that Mr. Stupak and I are jockeys, which
no one would ever hire us, but if we're jockeys, we can voluntarily
pay our $4 mount fee to the Jockeys' Guild. We don't have to do it.
MR. HAIRE. That's correct.
MR. WHITFIELD. It's up to us. If you can do it. Hopefully we're
in a position you can get insurance.
MR. HAIRE. Representation.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Okay.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Yes, sir. Can I have another minute, another find
that I have just last year to see who will I be working for, because
I don't understand it if it's just the owner or the trainer or the
racetrack.
Let me tell you that last year, it was the fall last year--the year
before, I'm sorry. This is about a year and a half ago. Obviously I
ride a lot of horses for the owners. I don't remember which one it
was, and he put a few horses up. Just open up. To tell you the
truth, I hate it. I don't like working all day, and I have to go
work at night.
So I was supposed to go and ride the stake. So he named me on a
couple horses before the stake, and he ended up scratching the horse
and the stake. So he told me, look, you don't have to go. I'm
going to take you off the other horses. And I was naming a horse a
friend of mine which I didn't have to go. I didn't have any
commitment to go because that's a place I don't like to go. So he
said to me, you don't have to go. But the next day I'm called by
the stewards and the Meadowlands, and they told me that I needed to
pay a fine because I didn't complete my business. I didn't fulfill
my--
MR. SAUMELL. Your obligation.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. My obligation. And I said, excuse me, sir? I wasn't
even supposed to go there. I was named on the horses by my trainer,
who told me that I didn't have to go. So I talked to him myself.
I said, what happened? They're fining me for not going that night.
He said, I told them I was taking you off the horses. If anyone
needed to be fined, it was me, because I was the one that put you on
the horses.
Well, I didn't pay the fine, sir, because I didn't think it was my
fault by whatever. So a month later they called--actually, it was
Aqueduct. A month later they called, Aqueduct Racetrack. The
steward called me in. If I did not pay the fine, I was not allowed
to ride in New York because I didn't pay the fine in Jersey.
So who am I working for? I mean, we have so many bosses, you don't
know where it's coming from.
MR. WHITFIELD. Yeah, I understand.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. Ultimately I ended up paying the fine so I could
ride at Aqueduct.
MR. WHITFIELD. Well, thank you for sharing that with us. That does
provide some additional input.
MR. SAUMELL. I just would like to clarify a statement earlier
because I noted Johnny has--rides a lot of different racetracks
and a lot of higher-quality racetracks than some of the ones that
I represent, but when I was trying to get to the fact about
Mountaineer, if their conditions aren't up to the standards of the
rest of the racetracks in the country, they are below most
standards. The racetrack and the track superintendent might be one
of the worst in the country. Talking to him, you get no response;
and the jockey get no respect there whatsoever.
MR. WHITFIELD. Could you give us some examples of something that's
below standard?
MR. SAUMELL. Standard? Well, the clods can be about as big as
this microphone on the base of it, a clod that big where--
MR. WHITFIELD. Ordinary clod on the track?
MR. SAUMELL. Yeah. All over the racetrack. And they'll tell you
they're not there. I say, well, I guess everybody else just doesn't
see them, or all the jockeys are wrong because--
MR. WHITFIELD. Is there any uniform reporting of accidents on a
racetrack?
MR. SAUMELL. Well, in 2000, Mountaineer had the highest accidents
in the United States.
MR. WHITFIELD. Do you know the number?
MR. SAUMELL. Thirty-one percent of all the accidents in the United
States happened in Mountaineer in 2000.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thirty-one percent of all the accidents on the
tracks in the U.S. happened on Mountaineer?
MR. SAUMELL. Um-hum, and that was by Mather & Co.
MR. HAIRE. I used to attend that racetrack about 3 years ago, 3
or 4 years ago. When I started going there, the riders right away
would come to me and say, Darrell, you don't know what goes on here.
We are so intimidated in the middle of winter when the racetrack's
bad, the weather's bad, the general manager would come in and just
tell us, basically you need to go out there and ride; otherwise
pack your tack and leave. And they would be intimidated. That's
all I would hear. They would leave and they had nowhere else to
go. So they were more or less had to make a living and go out there
against their will. But they're telling you, if you don't like it,
then leave. We don't need you here.
MR. WHITFIELD. Well, are there plenty of jockeys that would ride?
Wouldn't that stop their race meet if the jockeys left?
MR. SAUMELL. Well, I'll give you an example, sir. Every other
racetrack in the country where slots have been implemented, the
racing colony has progressively changed and gotten better and
better and better. The racing colony at Mountaineer is the same
racing colony that they've had the last 10 years. Riders don't go
to Mountaineer. There has to be a reason, because there's an awful
lot of money given away, but you don't see new faces. If you go to
Charles Town or Prairie Meadows or Delaware Park, some of the top
riders in the country are going to those racetracks to ride. You
don't get the top riders in the country going to Mountaineer to
ride.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you. We will certainly get into more in
this, and we want to maintain dialogue with you all.
I want to ask one more question, and then I will recognize
Mr. Stupak. And I haven't talked to Mr. Stupak in great detail
about this, but if Mr. Stupak and I came to an agreement and
introduced legislation to amend the Interstate Horse Racing Act so
that the jockeys had some say so over approving the simulcast
agreement; and as a result of that, you received a certain
percentage of the money that the horsemen's group receives, and/or
the racing authority received that with a mandate that they provide
insurance for the jockeys, for the backside people and so forth,
conceptually, is that something that you all could support?
Recognizing that there's some details to--
MR. HAIRE. Absolutely. Absolutely.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. I support it, sir; but I have to say that it's not
going to sit very well for my business, if you will. It's going to
be a lot of horsemen who will be mad about, that they're losing
their revenue, and they're going to take it out somewhere.
But also, I think there's a lot of issues they should be covering
also. They put it on and wear a helmet and risk their lives as
well by working in the racetrack. I think they should be covered
also.
MR. WHITFIELD. I haven't really figured out myself who the
horsemen's group really represents, since they have no dues-paying
members.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. So it's very difficult for us. I support anything
that's going to help our Guild and our members; and obviously, we
need some sort of resources that they will help better to--to
support disabled riders and their families, obviously. So it's
just a very touchy situation when we go and lose something like that
against the horsemens.
MR. WHITFIELD. I know, but let me just say this. But if the
jockeys had been organized back in 1978 and were sitting there
working on this legislation, it would have been very easy to have
included them as well as the horsemen's group as a recipient of some
of these funds.
MR. HAIRE. I'm a little confused about how that--we weren't even
included. I guess the jockeys aren't included--or not horsemen.
Jockeys aren't horsemen? We were never even included. And when I
bring this up to some horsemen, they'll say, well, you are included,
Darrell, in the purses. You know--
MR. WHITFIELD. They're included in the purses, too.
MR. HAIRE. We had no say-so, and I guess jockeys aren't horsemen.
MR. WHITFIELD. Well, I'll recognize Mr. Stupak.
MR. STUPAK. Mr. Broad, last hearing or so I remember hearing
something about an endowment fund that the guild had. And it seems
to me that contributions were supposed to be made; nothing could be
paid out until it reached a certain limit. What has happened to
that fund? Was it funded during Dr. Gertmenian's reign, or what
happened there?
MR. BROAD. Money was transferred from the Disabled Jockeys Fund
that the Guild had into that endowment. Fortunately the money was
preserved in it. There was also additional money that came in as a
result of legislation that we got passed in California that was
adding money to that endowment.
We did have to go through a little struggle after November to get
new people elected to the Board of Directors of that endowment; and
we finally succeeded in getting Mr. Shapiro, the Chair of the CHRB;
and John is on there, Velazquez; Darrell is an ex officio member.
Who else did we get on there? Lafitte and Kay--so that we felt
confident that it was--there was great resistance from Mr. Fiss
about leaving. We got him to resign, and so we feel that money is
safe. What's a little problematic is its bylaws remain the same,
and it can't pay out anything until it reaches $10 million in the
corpus of that endowment, and we probably would need that sooner
than that.
MR. STUPAK. Where are you now with the corpus? How much?
MR. BROAD. I believe it's about $2 million.
MR. STUPAK. Long ways to go.
MR. BROAD. Is it 1.5?
MR. VELAZQUEZ. 1.3 and change.
MR. BROAD. 1.3, all right.
MR. STUPAK. So it's a long ways to go.
MR. BROAD. It's got a long ways to go.
MR. STUPAK. The Chairman said in his opening statement--and I can't
remember exactly. He said something like $116- or $161 million.
Almost was his wage and weekly.
MR. WHITFIELD. One hundred nineteen on the Derby alone.
MR. STUPAK. One hundred nineteen in the Derby alone. But there's
no workman's compensation in Kentucky for riders, right?
MR. HAIRE. No, sir. Almost. Almost.
MR. BROAD. And what's worse, we're facing a problem in Louisiana,
which is a State without workers' compensation, where someone has
introduced legislation that is moving through the Louisiana
legislature that would also make it impossible for jockeys to sue
for negligence. So they could neither recover for negligence, like
if they got poor medical treatment, or get workers' comp.
MR. STUPAK. Other than this benefit you put together through your
charitable organization to help raise some money for those people
who are permanently disabled, has any other measures come forward
since we've had our last hearing--I think the last one was in
November--to help out the jockeys? Anything further to--any other
States talk about workers' comp, try to run some legislation? Any
other innovative ways to try to help you out?
MR. BROAD. Yeah. In the State of Ohio, several of the tracks
actually went out and created--under a kind of law sort of unique to
Ohio--which allows independent contractors to buy workers' comp on
themselves, and a couple of Ohio tracks created a program in which
they assisted the jockeys in purchasing the insurance and basically
signed an agreement that they would pay the premium.
MR. STUPAK. Who'd pay the premium, the tracks?
MR. BROAD. The tracks.
MR. STUPAK. So would it be the regular riders, or if Mr. Velazquez
came and rode in Ohio, would he be covered under that ride, or only
those regularly riding?
MR. BROAD. It would be anyone who rides there, I believe.
MR. VELAZQUEZ. That's the problem. I don't think we're completely
secure on that yet.
MR. HAIRE. My understanding is they do have to sign up when they do
come in to ride; they have someone that's waiting to sign them up.
MR. STUPAK. Ohio tried. What happened? Did it work?
MR. BROAD. It seems to be working. Listen, we'll take it any way
we can get it. I mean, at this stage if we can get people covered
for workers' comp--because even with $1 million of insurance
benefits, if you're in an accident and you're a quadriplegic, for
example, you can get to $1 million and blow through $1 million of
healthcare coverage in the first year or so. And workers' comp
covers you for the loss of income and so forth and gives you
lifetime medical care. So it's far superior.
MR. STUPAK. Let me ask you this: You had the Kentucky Derby, and
Kentucky doesn't have any kind of workers' comp for the riders.
What do you have next, Preakness? Preakness, do they have workers'
comp there? And in Belmont. So the only big one left is the
Kentucky Derby we have to get.
I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WHITFIELD. Four or five States have workers' comp programs.
MR. BROAD. Mandated.
MR. SAUMELL. New Jersey, New York, Maryland.
MR. HAIRE. California and Ohio.
MR. BROAD. And California since 1940.
MR. WHITFIELD. Right. And this is a pretty old sport.
MR. BROAD. Yeah.
MR. WHITFIELD. There's not a lot of fast action on this.
Well, listen, thank you all so much. And we look forward to
maintaining contact with you as we move forward. And if there's
any additional information you think would be helpful to us, we
would appreciate your letting us know.
And I would just ask one other question, Mr. Broad. Do you have any
current information on the law enforcement investigation, Federal
or State or local, as it relates to Mr. Gertmenian?
MR. BROAD. I believe that the local police department has deferred
to the FBI. The FBI is continuing its investigation. Beyond that,
I don't know the state of their investigation or how far they've
gotten or what more they need. Every time they ask for information,
we give it to them; and we have supplied them, for example, with
computers that we've received so that they can do analysis of the
computers and that sort of thing; but we don't know whether they're
close to--
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay.
MR. BROAD. --the end or whatever.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Well, thank you all very much.
MR. STUPAK. Thank you very much.
MR. WHITFIELD. This time I'd like to call our second panel, which
includes Ms. Rose Mary Williams, who is the Director of Racing for the
Mountaineer Race Track & Gaming Resort in West Virginia.
And, Ms. Williams, thank you very much for being here today. I'm
sorry that we felt like a subpoena was necessary, but we genuinely
appreciate your being here. Now, I know that we wanted you to be
here probably more than you wanted to come. So I don't know if you
have an opening statement that you would like to make or--
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. I'm just here to answer your questions.
MR. WHITFIELD. All right. Well, then. As you know, this is an
Oversight and Investigations hearing, and it is our policy to take
testimony under oath. And, of course, under the rules of the House
and the rules of this committee, you are entitled to be represented
by legal counsel. And do you have legal counsel here today?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I do, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. And who is that?
MS. WILLIAMS. Mr. Stan Brandd.
MR. WHITFIELD. Mr. Stan Bran. Okay. And he will not be testifying,
but will be giving you legal advice. So if you would stand, I would
like to swear you in at this time.
[Witness sworn.]
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you very much. Ms. Williams, first of all,
we'd like to ask this question. The earlier panel referred to and
said that 31 percent of all accidents on racetracks in the country
occurred at Mountaineer last year. Is that accurate, or do you have
any comment on that?
MS. WILLIAMS. I do not know that that is accurate. I will comment
that Mountaineer runs more races than any track in the country. We
run 10 races a day. We run about 232 days a year. A lot of tracks
only run a 30-day meet.
MR. WHITFIELD. So you run 10 races a day, 232 days a year.
MS. WILLIAMS. Approximately, yes.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, what about the comment that the Mountaineer
track is below the standards of most other racetracks from a safety
issue? Do you have a comment about that?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know where that's coming from. I know that
right around 2000, we redid our track down to the base. We put in
a new limestone base, and we resurface every year.
MR. WHITFIELD. How many accidents occurred at Mountaineer track last
year?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know that off the top of my head, but I can get
that information for you.
MR. WHITFIELD. But you are the Director of Racing.
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I am.
MR. WHITFIELD. Whose responsibility is it to keep up with those
numbers?
MS. WILLIAMS. That actually goes through our legal department.
MR. WHITFIELD. Well, would you provide the committee with the
number of accidents that occurred on the track last year?
MS. WILLIAMS. I sure will.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, if a horse goes down, is euthanized on
the track, is a necropsy performed on the horse?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not that I'm aware of. That falls under the West
Virginia Racing Commission and the State vet.
MR. WHITFIELD. So the track does not have the authority to do a
necropsy if it decides to do so?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. It goes through the State veterinarian.
He's in control of that.
MR. WHITFIELD. And no necropsy is performed?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not that I'm aware of.
MR. WHITFIELD. You would be aware of it, though, if it was on your
track?
MS. WILLIAMS. If I was paying the bill, absolutely I would be aware
of it.
MR. WHITFIELD. And you are not paying any bills?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, I'm not.
MR. WHITFIELD. And what do they do with the carcass of a horse that
is euthanized on the track?
MS. WILLIAMS. It is taken to a landfill, I believe.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Because I think the necropsies should be done
because you can often tell what caused the accident. Would you
agree with that?
MS. WILLIAMS. I agree with that.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, who negotiates the simulcast contract
for Mountaineer?
MS. WILLIAMS. For the exports?
MR. WHITFIELD. Yeah.
MS. WILLIAMS. That would be Debbie House.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, the horsemen's group under the Interstate
Horse Racing Act within the State of West Virginia, is that the HBPA
or is that TODLA or--
MS. WILLIAMS. That's HBPA.
MR. WHITFIELD. HBPA. And do you know what amount of money they
receive each year for their administrative fee for approving the
simulcast contract?
MS. WILLIAMS. On the simulcast race, they get half of the agreed-to
rate.
MR. WHITFIELD. And what is the agreed-to rate?
MS. WILLIAMS. It can vary.
MR. WHITFIELD. Is it around 2 or 3 percent?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yeah. It's as low as 2-1/2 to 3.
MR. WHITFIELD. And do you know approximately the dollar figure for
that each year?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not off the top of my head, I do not.
MR. WHITFIELD. Would you provide the committee with that exact number?
MR. WHITFIELD. Do you have any idea what the number is?
MS. WILLIAMS. Just for the simulcast alone?
MR. WHITFIELD. Yeah.
MS. WILLIAMS. No, I do not.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Well, we would ask you to provide that to the committee.
MS. WILLIAMS. I will.
MR. WHITFIELD. Now, who owns Mountaineer Race Track?
MS. WILLIAMS. It is owned by MTR Gaming.
MR. WHITFIELD. MTR Gaming? And is that a West Virginia corporation or a Delaware or what?
MS. WILLIAMS. I think it was incorporated in Delaware.
MR. WHITFIELD. Delaware.
And how many tracks does MTR own?
MS. WILLIAMS. We own Scioto Downs, Mountaineer, Jackson Harness--
we're 90 percent in Jackson Harness. We have the license to build
Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania, and North Metro in
Minneapolis, Minnesota.
MR. WHITFIELD. So a total of how many tracks?
MS. WILLIAMS. It will be five when everything's up.
MR. WHITFIELD. Five. And is MTR a publicly traded company?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, it is.
MR. WHITFIELD. And who's the Chairman?
MS. WILLIAMS. Ted Arneault.
MR. WHITFIELD. Ted Arneault. Is that A-R-N-O-U--
MS. WILLIAMS. A-R-N-E-A-U-L-T.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. And at this time how much insurance does MTR
or Mountaineer provide for jockeys that might be injured on the track
in an accident?
MS. WILLIAMS. Currently it's $1 million.
MR. WHITFIELD. A million dollars. And when did that become
effective?
MS. WILLIAMS. I believe it was at the end of 2005.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. So any jockey that's--is there any kind of
deductible for the jockey, or is he covered from first dime spent?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. There's no deductible.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Okay. And does Mountaineer pay these image
payments to the Jockeys' Guild that was referred to earlier?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. We do not.
MR. WHITFIELD. Do not. Some tracks evidently pay that, and some do
not. How is it determined who pays it and who does not?
MS. WILLIAMS. It was done through an agreement with the
Thoroughbred Racing Association, the TRA, and members of the TRA
agreed to that, from my understanding. There was a contract, I
believe.
MR. WHITFIELD. A contract between, or an agreement between the
tracks and the TRA.
MS. WILLIAMS. And TRA.
MR. WHITFIELD. And so not every track in the country entered into
that agreement, I take it.
MS. WILLIAMS. Not every track is a member of the TRA.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Are you all a member of the TRA?
MS. WILLIAMS. No. We are a member of the NTRA.
MR. WHITFIELD. Oh, you are a member of the NTRA. That's the National
Thoroughbred Racing Association?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. And NTRA, what is that?
MS. WILLIAMS. National Thoroughbred Racing Association. The other one
is the Thoroughbred Racing Association.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. So the NRA--National Thoroughbred Racing--I
mean, National Racing Association is an association of racetracks?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's correct.
MR. WHITFIELD. And the NTRA is the one that D.G. Van Clief is the
President of; is that correct?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes. I think he just resigned, but--
MR. WHITFIELD. But this payment for images of jockeys is made with,
through the agreement with the NRA?
MS. WILLIAMS. The TRA.
MR. WHITFIELD. NTRA.
MS. WILLIAMS. The TRA.
MR. WHITFIELD. The TRA.
MS. WILLIAMS. I think that agreement has lapsed. I'm not sure on
that.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. But you all don't make that payment and do
not feel that you're legally obligated to make the payment?
MS. WILLIAMS. We have never been a member of TRA, not that I'm
aware of.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Well, I would ask you to provide the
committee with the dollar amount paid to the horsemen's group and
the number of accidents on the track from the year 2000 through
2005, and the number of horses euthanized on the track.
MS. WILLIAMS. Okay.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you.
At this time I recognize the gentleman from Michigan Mr. Stupak.
MR. STUPAK. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Ms. Williams, how long have you been an employee of MTR?
MS. WILLIAMS. Twenty-two years. I'm sorry, it's been longer than
that. It's been about 27.
MR. STUPAK. And how long have you been Director of Racing at
Mountaineer?
MS. WILLIAMS. Since 1997.
MR. STUPAK. So when the previous panel testified that 31 percent of
all accidents occurred in 2000--31 percent of all accidents of
jockeys in 2000 occurred at Mountaineer, you dispute that?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know that for sure.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. You will check that and get it back to us?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I will.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. You have a packet of documents there, the book
there. Let me have you go to some selected pages from the
transcript of the hearing held on November 17. This would be
Exhibit Number 1. There should be two pages there, page 71 and page
90. Do you have them?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I do.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Will you read the excerpts on those pages out
loud, please?
MS. WILLIAMS. Mr. Stupak: "Okay. Did Mountaineer turn down the
insurance policy from AIG was my understanding from the testimony
earlier?
Ms. Williams: "No, sir."
Mr. Stupak: "Was $100,000 being too expensive?"
Ms. Williams: "No, sir. We have $100,000."
Mr. Stupak: "Okay. Did you turn down the offer--the offer was to
go to $1 million, and you guys turned that down."
Ms. Williams: "We actually went back to our broker and asked for
them to look at it, and they would not quote us a price on that."
MR. STUPAK. "Was that AIG?
"No, it wasn't."
MR. STUPAK. Okay. And then page 90, if you would, please.
MS. WILLIAMS. Mr. Stupak: "Okay, Ms. Williams. Just two more
questions, ma'am. Do you think Mountaineer should have a
million-dollar policy for jockeys? Do you think they should?"
Ms. Williams: "As I said before in my testimony, I said we went
to the broker and asked them about the million dollars, and they
wouldn't quote us on that."
"Why wouldn't they quote you on that?"
Ms. Williams: "I can't answer that. I don't know."
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Do you have any reason to believe that these
are not accurate transcripts of the hearing we had on November 17
reflecting your answers?
MS. WILLIAMS. No. I believe they're accurate.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Turn to the document marked as Exhibit Number 5,
if you would. And it's a fax memorandum dated February 16, 2005,
from John Eunick of Johnson and Anton insurance brokerage firms to
Sandra L. Brokaw, legal assistant for Mountaineer, with a carbon
copy to you as Director of Racing at Mountaineer Park, is it?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, it is.
MR. STUPAK. Could you please read that e-mail?
MS. WILLIAMS. "With regard to your memorandum as to the jockeys
accidental insurance coverage, please find attached copy of the loss
runs at Mountaineer Park, Inc. Kindly provide a quote from
Mountaineer Park, Inc., at your earliest convenience, and return the
same to me via fax at (304) 387-8306 or by mail: Legal Department,
Mountaineer Park, Inc., P.O. Box 358, Chester, West Virginia 26034."
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Now, please find the fax cover sheet that's in
Exhibit Number 6, dated 2 days later, February 18, 2005; and it's to
you, Rose Mary Williams, slash, Sandra Brokaw. And the memo reads,
"I usually work with e-mails. Sorry for the handwriting. It closes
your proposal. Call me at my cell anytime to discuss. It will be
the entire weekend." Is that how that reads?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, it does.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. And after that, there's a document still in 6,
because this was attached to the fax sheet, titled, A Proposal of
On-Track Accident Insurance for Mountaineer Park, Inc., dated
February 18, 2005, attached to the fax; is that correct?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's correct.
MR. STUPAK. And before testifying today, I take it you've seen
that 2000--excuse me--February 18, 2005, proposal?
MS. WILLIAMS. I actually saw this when the legal department brought
it over when they prepared the statement that was sent in to you
just recently.
MR. STUPAK. So is it your testimony you did not see it before
testifying in November?
MS. WILLIAMS. I didn't recall seeing this. It went to the legal
department. I believe there was conversation about it.
MR. STUPAK. Why would it go to the legal department if it's
addressed to you?
MS. WILLIAMS. Because that's where it was faxed to, and Sandra
Brokaw is in the legal department.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Do you work in the legal department?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, I do not.
MR. STUPAK. (304) 387-8306, whose fax is that?
MS. WILLIAMS. The legal department.
MR. STUPAK. And that fax machine is located in the legal department?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I believe it is.
MR. STUPAK. So Ms. Brokaw then, since she's a legal assistant,
would she have brought that proposal to you?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know that for sure.
MR. STUPAK. Would Ms. Brokaw know that you had inquired about this
proposal?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't believe it was me that inquired about it. I
believe it was Helen Brancazio from the legal department. I gave
her John Eunick's name after we met at a conference.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. So who did you tell then to contact Mr. Eunick
if you gave him the name?
MS. WILLIAMS. Helen Brancazio.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. So you told that to Helen. Does Sandra work
for Helen?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, she does.
MR. STUPAK. Is Sandra Brokaw still working for Mountaineer Park?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, she is.
MR. STUPAK. And is her job position still legal assistant?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, it is.
MR. STUPAK. So if Sandra received this, then she would have
brought it to Helen; is that your position?
MS. WILLIAMS. It would have gone to Helen first, yes.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. So after questioning you on November 17, 2005,
did you ever go back and inquire from Sandra or Helen whether a
proposal ever came from AIG?
MS. WILLIAMS. I did on May the 2nd, I believe it was.
MR. STUPAK. So like 1 week ago?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm not sure exactly when it was. It was when we
sent in additional information.
MR. STUPAK. So did you receive the questions Mr. Whitfield and
myself wrote to you on your testimony?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. Those questions, then, make you interested in why we'd
ask about AIG?
MS. WILLIAMS. And I believe that's the time I went back to her.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. When did you receive those questions from us;
do you know?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know offhand.
MR. STUPAK. Do you have it in front of you there? You or your
attorney have those questions?
MS. WILLIAMS. They're here, but there's no date on it.
MR. STUPAK. Well, it appears that your response to questions
posed by me arrived on--I sent them to you in November--looks like
we received them on or about December 20. So to answer these
questions from us, you never asked about AIG, you never saw this
proposal, your first testimony the first time you saw it was
May 2, like recently?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm sorry. I misspoke on that. I was looking at
this memo that I have, and it's dated that day. The first time we
talked about AIG was when--
MR. STUPAK. Was that the hearing November 17 I asked you
specifically about AIG?
MS. WILLIAMS. You asked me specifically about the broker that we
were with.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Go ahead.
MS. WILLIAMS. And then --
MR. STUPAK. Let's go back to page 71, the testimony you read. I
asked you about specifically about AIG, page 71. I think that was
Exhibit 1. Remember you read it for us?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I did.
MR. STUPAK. Didn't Mountaineer turn down the insurance policy from
AIG--that was my understanding from testimony earlier--and you said
no. So how did you know then on November 17--you didn't turn down
the proposal from AIG, but yet you are telling us you didn't know
the proposal existed until May 2?
MS. WILLIAMS. When you were talking, I thought you were referring
to AIG as the insurance that was covering everybody. Our insurance
was with Mather & Co. The $100,000 was with Mather & Co., a
different broker.
MR. STUPAK. But you knew who I meant when I mentioned AIG because,
according to your testimony here today, you actually gave
Mr. Eunick's name, who works for AIG, right--
MS. WILLIAMS. That's correct.
MR. STUPAK. --to your staff.
MS. WILLIAMS. I gave it to the legal department.
MR. STUPAK. And that was before November 17, 2005?
MS. WILLIAMS. I believe it was.
MR. STUPAK. Because they solicited a proposal in February of 2005,
some 9 months earlier.
MS. WILLIAMS. Like I said, I met him at a conference.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. So your testimony here today is this proposal
from AIG you never saw until May of 2006?
MS. WILLIAMS. No. I saw this when Helen prepared the answers to
send back on the timeline on insurances.
MR. STUPAK. So would that have been on the 16th? Because that's
when they sent those questions, request for a proposal of increased
track coverage.
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes. It's whenever they responded to those questions.
MR. STUPAK. And then Mr. Eunick here responded, according to
documents before us here, 2 days later, right?
MS. WILLIAMS. I saw the AIG proposal when Helen Brancazio submitted
the information to this committee.
MR. STUPAK. When they submitted to this committee.
Okay. Let's go back to Exhibit Number 5, February 16, 2005, from
the Mountaineer Race Track. This is John Eunick. Okay. It's from
Sandra Brokaw. Did you ever see this?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not that I'm aware of. Not that I can remember.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Lost run history. Where would Sandra Brokaw
get that?
MS. WILLIAMS. From Mather & Co.
MR. STUPAK. Mather & Co., that's your insurance company, right?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's our broker.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. That's your broker. All right.
So for over a year, probably about 15 months, there's a proposal,
and you don't know anything about it, even though you're copied
that we're submitting a proposal for AIG in February 16, 2005?
MS. WILLIAMS. Like I said again, I'm not sure that I saw this
proposal. If I did, I don't remember it. And it wasn't for over
a year. We started negotiating again with AIG at the end of the
year.
MR. STUPAK. The end of what, 2005?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. Well, when would your policy with Mather have expired?
MS. WILLIAMS. It would have expired at the beginning or the end of
2004.
MR. STUPAK. 2004?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. When did Gary Birzer get hurt?
MS. WILLIAMS. He got hurt in July of 2004.
MR. STUPAK. And there was no policy in effect then?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir. There was.
MR. STUPAK. There was? Was that with Mather?
MS. WILLIAMS. That was with Mather.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. And Gary got hurt in June; is that correct?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's correct. July.
MR. STUPAK. Hurt in July 2004, and Mather's insurance ran until when?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm not sure on that. I would expect it would have
expired at the end of 2004, the beginning of 2005. Director of
Racing, isn't part of your responsibility to see that the insurance
is there?
MS. WILLIAMS. No. That is handled through our legal department.
MR. STUPAK. So what would you have to do with insurance then?
MS. WILLIAMS. What do--I'm not sure what you're asking.
MR. STUPAK. You're the Director of Racing, right?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I am.
MR. STUPAK. You oversee it, the racing activities, correct?
MS. WILLIAMS. I oversee the racing activities, yes.
MR. STUPAK. And that would include providing benefits for the riders?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. It does not.
MR. STUPAK. It does not? Do you have a job description?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I do.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Can you provide that to the committee?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I can.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. If you have nothing to do with insurance, why
would you be carbon copied on February 16, 2005? Why would
Mr. Eunick, who you've met at a conference, make the fax cover
directly to you with a slash to Sandra Brokaw? Why would these
other people assume you had something to do with insurance,
including your own legal assistant Sandra Brokaw?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't think Sandra did. I think Mr. Eunick did--
MR. STUPAK. We know February 16, 2005, from John Eunick to Sandra,
and she carbon copies you. Why would she think you needed to see
this if you had nothing to do with it?
MS. WILLIAMS. It sounds like it's in regard to a memo that was sent
from Keith Camberland on the jockey accidental insurance coverage
to me.
MR. STUPAK. Exhibit Number 5, you're saying it's from who?
MS. WILLIAMS. It says, "with regard to your memorandum to
Keith Camberland on the jockey accidental insurance coverage,
please find the attached copy of the loss run Mountaineer Park,
Inc."
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Carbon copied to who?
MS. WILLIAMS. It's carbon copied to me.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Why would you receive it if you have nothing to
do with insurance?
MS. WILLIAMS. I imagine because Sandra thought that it was because
of the loss run.
MR. STUPAK. Okay.
MS. WILLIAMS. They do copy me in on the policies and things like
that after they're--
MR. STUPAK. Right. So you've said. How about a Tamara Cronin,
C-R-O-N-I-N. Cronin, am I saying that right?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, you are.
MR. STUPAK. Who is she?
MS. WILLIAMS. She is our PR director.
MR. STUPAK. Let me show you, if I may--do we have another copy?
If not, we'll have this gentleman bring this down to you. Because
you even talk about--let me read your quote. You're quoted.
Tamara's head of Director of Public Relations, and you're being
quoted right here.
"We recognize that jockeys are involved in a perilous sport, and
that injuries are a possibility each time they ride." In fact, the
gentleman right there is giving it to you. Stated December 20.
This is a news release from Mountaineer.
"We recognize that jockeys are involved in a perilous sport, and
that injuries are a possibility each time they ride," said Rose
Mary Williams, the Mountaineer Director of Racing. "We are
concerned about the current lack of coverage provide by the Jockeys'
Guild and want to make every effort to ensure that the jockeys and
their families have disability protection in the event of
catastrophic injury."
So it sounds like you know a little bit more about insurance than
what you're telling this committee, or subcommittee.
MS. WILLIAMS. Well, after Gary's accident, who wouldn't be
concerned? I mean, we are concerned about--
MR. STUPAK. Exactly.
MS. WILLIAMS. --catastrophic accidents.
MR. STUPAK. And 7 months later a fax comes to you, addressed to you
as a prime person with a 15 page proposal. And if you're so
concerned after Gary's accident, you never paid any attention to
it, you're telling this committee?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm not saying that.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. What are you saying then?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm saying that I'm not sure that I saw this proposal.
I know that when I talked to Helen, she said that she was working
on that proposal; she was talking to John Eunick. John Eunick told
her that there was an agreement being talked about with the NTRA
over the insurance.
MR. STUPAK. Right. But you're concerned about your riders;
therefore, you want to make sure they're covered. How about before
you came to testify on November 17, 2005. Did you talk to Sandra
about insurance coverage for riders?
MS. WILLIAMS. I've talked to Helen about it.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Not Sandra, just Helen?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. You knew November 17 insurance would be something we
would ask about? Did you not anticipate those questions from this
subcommittee?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I did.
MR. STUPAK. So you never made any inquiry to see if you had any
insurance then on November 17?
MS. WILLIAMS. The inquiries I made were about our current--at that
time was our current coverage with the broker, Mather & Co., and the
$100,000 and why they would not increase that coverage, because
Helen had gone to them and asked them for an increase.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Does Helen report to you, or does she--
MS. WILLIAMS. No. She's our in-house counsel.
MR. STUPAK. Well, if you didn't know about this proposal, why did
you testify then when I asked you specifically about AIG, and I
asked if it was too expensive, you said, "no, sir, we have
100,000." And I said, "but did you--the offer was to go to a
million, and you turned it down." And you said, "we actually went
back to our broker and asked for them to look at that, and they
would not quote us on that." And I said, "was that AIG"; and you
said, "no, it wasn't." So who's your broker then when you
testified on November 17 then?
MS. WILLIAMS. Mather & Co.
MR. STUPAK. So did Mather provide insurance through 2005 for
Mountaineer?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, they did.
MR. STUPAK. In the form of $1 million?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, $100,000.
MR. STUPAK. Just that $100,000. Okay. And Mather would not quote
you on more than $100,000?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's my understanding. That's what Helen
Brancazio's told me.
MR. STUPAK. And you had no idea anyone's inquired about any other
insurance company, even when I asked you about AIG?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know for certain that I have any knowledge of
receiving that letter. I know that I went to AIG--John Eunick when
we were at a conference, and we talked about insurance. I asked him
to get ahold of us on providing coverage.
MR. STUPAK. And that was in February, obviously, when you contacted
on both coverage, someone did, on behalf of Mountaineer?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't know the exact date. All I know, I was at a
conference when we spoke.
MR. STUPAK. Sure. Well, then, why were you so sure then on page
71 when I asked if it was AIG, and you said, no, it wasn't?
MS. WILLIAMS. Because our broker is Mather & Co.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Okay. All right. So who is the individual or
entity at Mountaineer that makes decisions on insurance?
MS. WILLIAMS. Helen Brancazio.
MR. STUPAK. And you said you're not her supervisor, or she doesn't
report to you?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir. She does not.
MR. STUPAK. Would she consult with you on insurance issues?
MS. WILLIAMS. We may have talked on occasion.
MR. STUPAK. Well, how about after Gary Birzer's accident, did you
talk to her then?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes. We talked about the coverage that was available
to Mr. Birzer.
MR. STUPAK. So it's your testimony here today, the only insurance
you knew you had on November 17 was $100,000, and that was from
Mather?
MS. WILLIAMS. The only insurance coverage that Mountaineer had on
jockeys on November 17 was from Mather & Co.
MR. STUPAK. And you had no knowledge of any quotes or requests from
any insurance other than Mather about any coverage for $1 million or
more?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not that I can remember.
MR. STUPAK. So you may have, but you just can't remember it today?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't remember that.
MR. STUPAK. Would you have taken notes while you were discussing these matters with Helen or Sandra?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not necessarily.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. I have no further questions, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WHITFIELD. Ms. Williams, if the jockeys or representative from
the jockeys came to you with an issue relating to safety on the
track, what would be the general procedure that you as Director of
Racing would take at that point?
MS. WILLIAMS. We have a committee formed that meets every--I
believe they switched it to Saturdays now. They meet in the
jockeys' room. It's the track superintendent, the HBPA president,
and it's two of the representatives from the jockeys' colony. And
they meet, and there's documentation of those meetings.
MR. WHITFIELD. And you would discuss at that time any issue that
the jockeys may have raised regarding a safety issue?
MS. WILLIAMS. That's correct. They meet, and they discuss that.
And then if there's any problems, or if they want the track watered
more, they relay that to the track superintendent, and it's followed
through.
MR. WHITFIELD. And do you attend those meetings?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, I do not.
MR. WHITFIELD. And do you get a report of those minutes?
MS. WILLIAMS. I get a copy of the minutes.
MR. WHITFIELD. Do you normally read them?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, I do.
MR. WHITFIELD. What are some of the issues that have been raised,
say, in the last 5 or 6 months.
MS. WILLIAMS. Some of them have been the water issue, jockeys
wanting more water when horsemen don't. There's been an issue,
they feel there's an uneven spot in the track. They bring that
to our attention. A lot of the times we--some of the jockey
colony doesn't even show up for the meeting, or the HBPA
representative doesn't show up for the meeting, and that's
documented, too.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. What about security at the track from the
perspective of--I'm assuming that in West Virginia certain drugs
are allowed to be administered to horses at particular times, and
others are disallowed.
What steps does the track take to ensure that those State
regulations are adhered to?
MS. WILLIAMS. We don't. That falls under the West Virginia
Racing Commission, and they have an inspector on site. They have
three stewards and a State veterinarian.
MR. WHITFIELD. So the racetrack does not have any legal obligation
to do anything to make sure that drugs administered to horses comply
with State law?
MS. WILLIAMS. No. That falls under the Racing Commission's
umbrella.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Now, I just want to ask you once again, you
will provide us with a list, a number of all accidents, the year
2001 through 2005?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. 2000, 2005. And we want to know the amount of the
annual payment to the HBPA, pursuant to the simulcasting agreement,
over the last 3 years.
MS. WILLIAMS. And do you just want that for export or export and
import both?
MR. WHITFIELD. I want them both. I want the total paid, export and
import.
MS. WILLIAMS. And live?
MR. WHITFIELD. And live.
MS. WILLIAMS. Okay.
MR. WHITFIELD. And broken down.
MS. WILLIAMS. We can do that.
MR. WHITFIELD. Right. And then one other question. Mr. Stupak was
asking about how Helen--and I forgot how you pronounce her last name.
MS. WILLIAMS. Brancazio.
MR. WHITFIELD. What is her title?
MS. WILLIAMS. She's in-house legal counsel for Mountaineer.
MR. WHITFIELD. She is the in-house--
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, sir.
MR. WHITFIELD. After Gary Birzer's accident, I'm assuming that
someone with authority at the track met and decided to raise the
policy from $100,00 to a million? Didn't a million-dollar policy
go into effect in December of 2005?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, it did.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. And what is the annual premium on that?
MS. WILLIAMS. It's over a half million dollars.
MR. WHITFIELD. Half million. Okay. But you have more races than
any other track in the country?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes, we do. I would say more than most tracks. I
don't know that there's anybody else that has more.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Okay. All right.
Do you have any anything else? Okay.
MR. STUPAK. Ms. Williams, were you aware that the Jockeys' Guild
had no such supplemental insurance policy in place at the time Gary
Birzer was injured?
MS. WILLIAMS. I don't think any of us were aware.
MR. STUPAK. I'm asking you though. You were?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, I wasn't.
MR. STUPAK. Your answer is no then? Okay.
Is it true that Mountaineer never paid any money from Mountaineer's
revenues to the Guild as other tracks had for insurance policies?
MS. WILLIAMS. I'm not sure.
MR. STUPAK. Mountaineer never paid anything to the Guild, Jockeys'
Guild?
MS. WILLIAMS. Not for insurance--I don't think anybody pays anything
for insurance policies.
MR. STUPAK. Or how about media rents?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, sir.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. Has Mountaineer contributed any money to Gary
Birzer as a result of his 2004 accident?
MS. WILLIAMS. We provided the $100,000 in insurance, and we've
done some fundraisers with jockeys and horsemen, and then we also
built ramps at his house in West Virginia.
MR. STUPAK. Do you know what the total value of those payments or
services has been to Gary Birzer?
MS. WILLIAMS. No, because I didn't see all the amounts going in.
Like I said, we helped with some of the jockeys, raised some of
the money, and the HBPA provided giveaway things and stuff like
that.
MR. STUPAK. Who would be your immediate supervisor or boss?
MS. WILLIAMS. Ted Arneault. Edson Arneault.
MR. STUPAK. That's the Chairman of the Board?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. STUPAK. Did you ever discuss the AIG proposal with him?
MS. WILLIAMS. It was in, I believe, November of 2005 or early
December. Right before we did sign up for the million-dollar
coverage.
MR. STUPAK. Why would you be discussing it with him if you didn't
have anything to do with insurance?
MS. WILLIAMS. It was brought to me through Helen, and I went to Ted
with it.
MR. STUPAK. Okay. So if that was November of 2005 or early
December, when did Helen come to you with this AIG proposal?
MS. WILLIAMS. It was around the same time.
MR. STUPAK. Before or after our hearing?
MS. WILLIAMS. After.
MR. STUPAK. Could you provide us the date of that meeting?
MS. WILLIAMS. Sure.
MR. STUPAK. Do you have a schedule you keep every day?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes. A lot of the appointments.
MR. STUPAK. How about with Helen?
MS. WILLIAMS. No.
MR. STUPAK. You're a pretty small operation.
MS. WILLIAMS. We're all in the same area.
MR. STUPAK. Right. How many fax machines do you have there?
MS. WILLIAMS. I can't tell you offhand. There's quite a few.
MR. STUPAK. You have a small area but quite a few fax machines?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes. Every office has a fax machine.
MR. STUPAK. What is your fax number?
MS. WILLIAMS. 304-387-8303.
MR. STUPAK. Okay.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
MR. WHITFIELD. I just have a few more questions. Then we will
conclude for the day.
I want to make sure that we are talking about the same thing on
this Interstate Horse Racing Act. Under the Interstate Horse Racing
Act as a condition precedent to an agreement being finalized for
simulcasting the horsemen's group, you would have to reach an
agreement with the horsemen's group on that contract.
As you know, we are considering some legislation, and we are looking
at the Interstate Horse Racing Act. How often do you actually pay
the HBPA pursuant to the fee that they have for approving the
contract? Are they paid monthly or yearly?
MS. WILLIAMS. Weekly.
MR. WHITFIELD. They are paid weekly.
MS. WILLIAMS. The money actually goes into the purse account.
MR. WHITFIELD. Into the purse account. Then they withdraw it
from the purse account?
MS. WILLIAMS. I think they get 2 percent; 1.5 percent goes to their
trust, and I believe some administration costs, and then the half
percent stays with the HBPA. But they do have a trust fund for
horsemen on the back side.
MR. WHITFIELD. Now, in Kentucky, that money for the horsemen on the
back side comes through in-cash tickets. What happens to in-cash
tickets in West Virginia?
MS. WILLIAMS. They actually go to the Racing Commission, and
they're used for capital improvements at each facility.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. When you provide us that information on the
amount of money that actually goes to the HBPA outside of the
purses, their fee as a condition precedent, would you also just
give us a detailed paragraph of exactly the way it works and how
the amount that you pay to them weekly is calculated?
MS. WILLIAMS. Yes.
MR. WHITFIELD. Okay. Okay. With that, thank you, Ms. Williams
for your testimony. And with that, the hearing is concluded. The
record will stay open for 30 days, and the documents, without
objection, will be entered into the record. The record will stay
open for any follow-up questions, and we would, if we have those,
we'll be getting those to you as well.
[The information follows;]
MS. WILLIAMS. Thank you.
MR. WHITFIELD. Thank you very much.
[Whereupon, at 4:02 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]