La Mesa asks Supreme Court to hear racing-license appeal

The developer of a planned Raton racino who was issued the state’s final horse racing license in 2009 and then had the New Mexico Racing Commission declare in early 2011 that the license for the still unbuilt racino had expired in 2010 has taken his appeal of the lost license to the state Supreme Court. The attorney for Toronto-area developer Michael Moldenhauer filed a writ of certiorari in the state’s highest court Monday morning, the final day the case could be filed with the Supreme Court following a Court of Appeals decision last month. Such a writ asks the court to hear the case. Before the court will consider that request, the Racing Commission’s attorney will have 20 days to file a response to the writ, according to a Supreme Court clerk’s office employee, who added that it is unknown how long it might take the court to decide on the writ once it receives it and any opposing-party response. If the court does eventually agree to hear the case, attorneys will then begin the filing of briefs outlining their arguments. Meanwhile, the Racing Commission has a regular meeting Thursday at which it is scheduled to discuss the state’s “pending sixth racing license,” but the commission’s chairman told The Range Monday the commission will not act on anything related to the license. The item was earlier placed on the agenda after the state Court of Appeals last month upheld the Racing Commission’s decision regarding the license and lifted an injunction that had prevented the commission from accepting and considering applications for the license. A separate group of investors from Texas and New Mexico has expressed interest in applying for the license in order to develop a Raton racino. Other groups have said they would seek the license, as well. Applications are expected from groups who want the license for sites in Tucumcari and Hobbs, although the Hobbs group has said it would use the license simply to expand the number of slot machines it has at its existing racino. When Moldenhauer was initially pursuing the license for his La Mesa Racetrack and Casino in south Raton several years ago, applications were also received for proposed racino sites in Santa Fe and Lordsburg...more