Committee in support of prohibiting dog racing accuses tracks of ‘phantom’ campaign

By Jeremy P. Jacobs, PolitickerMA.com Reporter

The committee campaigning to convince voters to ban dog racing in Massachusetts this November accused dog racing advocates, including racetrack owners, on Tuesday of an illegal and hidden campaign aimed at persuading voters to vote against the measure.

At stake is the third question on this year's November ballot that would ban all dog racing in Massachusetts. The Committee to Protect Dogs, the organization in favor of the question, told PolitickerMA.com that the racetracks are using a covert campaign to derail its efforts.

"There's a phantom effort being made to undermine Question 3," said Christine Dorchak, co-chair of the committee.

Dorchak said the racetracks have organized a campaign that has purchased television air time, run a newspaper ad in Monday's Boston Globe and launched a website, www.ProtectDogsAndJobs.com, that has since been taken down. That address now redirects to the Committee to Protect Dogs' website.

"But no committee has been registered with the Office of Campaign and Political Finance," Dorchak said. "There is no accountability. This is a violation of the law."

Dorchak also charged that the coalition has produced a YouTube video and has changed its name several times. First, it was named the Committee to Protect Dogs and Jobs, which closely resembled Dorchak's committee's name. That was "an obvious attempt to rid on top of the publicity we've generated," Dorchak said.

They then operated under the "Massachusetts Animal Coalition," Dorchak said, but that group already exists and it has endorsed Dorchak's effort.

Calls and emails to Bay State racetracks were not immediately returned. PolitickerMA.com will publish their response if it is provided.

Dorchak also strongly objected to the information in the ad in Monday's Boston Globe. The ads states in bold letters that "Massachusetts Greyhound Racing Achieves a 100 Percent Adoption Rate" and that Massachusetts racetracks have contributed $1.34 million to promote greyhound adoption of retired racing dogs.

Dorchak said a 2006 report published by the Massachusetts State Racing Commission stated that there is a 14 percent adoption rate for retired dogs. More, she said that the $1.34 million came from a de facto state tax that takes a fraction of of the money gambled at racetracks and diverts it to greyhound adoption efforts. That money is distributed by the Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources, Dorchak said.

"In effect, this money is a tax on gamblers," Dorchak said. "It does not come from the tracks itself...The claim that they have given over $1 million for adoption is ludicrous."

George Carney, the owner of the Raynham-Taunton Park, told the Boston Globe Tuesday that the numbers are accurate. "If we said it's ‘100 percent,' it's the truth. Period," he said. "We have no reason to lie."

Jeremy P. Jacobs is a PolitickerMA.com Reporter and can be reached via email at noreply@politicker.com.

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