There’s growing fear that Gov. Paterson is manipulating the bidding process for the long-delayed, multibillion-dollar contract for a massive video-lottery casino at the Aqueduct Race Track, The Post has learned.
Sources close to the high-stakes selection say they’ve been shocked by Paterson’s recent “flip-flop” on whether one of the six bidders — tied to influential Queens minister and former US Rep. Floyd Flake — is even qualified to be licensed by the state Lottery Division, which is vetting the contenders.
“A couple of weeks ago Paterson said that AEG [Aqueduct Entertainment Group] couldn’t be qualified by Lottery because of problems with one of its partners,” a highly knowledgeable source said.
“But then last week the governor told people that AEG could be qualified for Aqueduct by Lottery. The same partner is there, so why the change, why the flip-flop?”
One of AEG’s several partners is Empowerment Development Corp., created by Flake, who has close ties to state Senate President Malcolm Smith, who was a deacon in his church, US Rep. Gregory Meeks, who is his successor in Congress, and Paterson.
While Flake’s Empowerment Development isn’t the AEG partner with the vetting “problem,” the company’s presence on the AEG team was described by two sources as the reason AEG was still in the running.
“AEG has ties to Flake, to Malcolm, to Gregory Meeks, to the governor, so what other reason would there be for Lottery to say they’re not qualified and then to say that they are?” the source said.
Another source said, “It appears that the governor made promises to Flake’s group that he’s trying to deliver on now.”
Among the six major bidders for the Aqueduct contract are Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, Delaware North, MGM Mirage and SL Green, a major Manhattan real-estate development company that has partnered with Hard Rock Entertainment.
While Paterson’s decision is crucial to the selection of the casino operator, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Sen. John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), the Democratic Conference leader, must give their approvals as well.
Video lottery terminals at Aqueduct, in the works for several years, are expected to bring the cash-strapped state at least $100 million in immediate cash and as much as $400 million a year once the casino is fully operational.
*
Paterson, meanwhile, is expected to offer a “Chinese menu” of state budget spending cuts valued at more than $3 billion to the leaders of the Legislature this week and tell them, “Go ahead, make your choices,” according to a legislative insider.
“It’s part of the governor’s strategy to try to run against the Legislature next year, to set the legislators up as the ones who are responsible for all the painful cuts,” the insider said.
The legislative leaders have criticized Paterson for weeks for refusing to say how the state should close a massive budget gap, and he received more criticism last week when he gave the leaders until Wednesday to make their proposals public.
They all refused to do so.