by Paul Post

New York Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) was once a senior aide to former United States Representative Reverend Floyd H. Flake, whose company is part of a group bidding on Aqueduct’s proposed gaming facility.

Smith is one of three state leaders charged with naming a gaming operator. Governor David Paterson and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) are the others.

Smith worked for Flake from 1986-’91. A spokesman for Smith said the senator’s connections to Flake will not influence his decision making.

"Senator Smith is a long-time friend of the highly respected Reverend Floyd Flake, but their personal friendship has never and will never influence any governmental decisions the senator makes," spokesman Austin Shafran said.

Flake’s firm, Empowerment Development Corp., is part of Aqueduct Entertainment Group, one of six entities competing for the Aqueduct contract. Empowerment Development would co-develop the project’s non-gaming aspects such as retail and entertainment space. Empowerment wants to ensure that any Aqueduct development benefits the surrounding community as well as the state and horse racing industry.

A firm that Smith co-founded before he became senator is also part of Aqueduct Entertainment Group. Nine years before his 2000 election to the senate, Smith founded Smith Development Corp., which built housing, commercial, and recreational facilities in Brooklyn and Queens. In 1999, that firm merged with Darman Realty Co. to form the Darman Group. That organization is now part of Aqueduct Entertainment.

Shafran said that connection also poses no conflict.

"Senator Smith has been completely divested of any relationship to the Darman Group for nearly a decade and as leader of the state senate will continue to be fair and impartial throughout the bidding process," he said.

The Darman Group would co-develop the gaming facility with Aqueduct Entertainment’s other partners that include the Navegante Group, which runs Casino Niagara on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, and GreenStar Services Corporation of New York.

Other entities seeking the gaming contract are Penn National Gaming, Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn, Delaware North Companies, The Peebles Corp./MGM Mirage and SL Green Realty Corp./Hard Rock Entertainment.

State leaders have pledged to name an operator soon, but there is no formal deadline for reaching a decision.

Paul Post is a New York-based THOROUGHBRED TIMES correspondent