Comptroller Peter Franchot (D-Takoma Park) feels anyone should be allowed to purchase the Laurel racetrack, even if they don't support November's slots referendum.

"I am writing to ask that you release Dennis Mills, CEO of Magna International Development, from the commitment you apparently extracted from him to put slots at Laurel racetrack," Franchot wrote in an email to Gov. Martin O'Malley (D-Baltimore) on Friday and CC'd to state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller (D-Chesapeake Beach).

Voters will decide in November if the state constitution should be amended to allow up to 15,000 slot machine installations at five different locations across the state. Magna currently owns Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park, but is experiencing financial problems, according to WBAL-TV. Halsey Minor, a co-founder of CNET, says he wants to buy the race tracks from Magna, but is a staunch opponent of November's slots referendum along with Franchot. 

"I do not want slots. I will not take slots," Minor said at a press conference with Franchot earlier this week.

O'Malley and Miller are proponents of the controversial measure. They argue the money generated from slots would be used to  close the state's budget deficit. Mills backed Ballot Question 2 and told WBAL-TV  that he, "wouldn't go against the governor and the president of the Senate by entertaining a deal that would exclude slots." 

Franchot suggested Mills was under some sort of agreement with O'Malley and Miller.

"I encourage you to release Mr. Mills from any obligation he has with respect to slots and let the free market work here," Franchot wrote. "If a private company has the means and the desire to purchase Magna, restore its tracks here in Maryland and begin the rebirth of horse racing, without slots, the government should not be an impediment to this transaction."

Rick Abbruzzese, the governor's director of communications, shot back.

"We're not going to respond to every stunt of Peter Franchot over the next week and a half," Abbruzzese wrote in an email to PolitickerMD.com. "If the Comptroller took the time to review Senate Bill 3, instead of making completely false insinuations, he would see that it clearly delineates the competitive and well-regulated free-market process for awarding slots licenses if Question 2 passes on November 4th."

Miller could not be reached for comment.