New York’s casino wars intensified Thursday, as Nassau County published text messages that it said presented a “smoking gun” showing Hofstra University has coordinated with Steve Cohen in his bid to put a casino at Citi Field.
Hofstra, Long Island’s largest private university, has fought publicly to derail the county’s efforts to bring a casino to the Nassau Coliseum, which is located at the school’s doorstep.
Nassau County, in turn, subpoenaed the university for private communications from the university’s president concerning the state-run downstate casino bidding process. On Thursday, the Republican-led county released screenshots of texts apparently from Hofstra’s president, Susan Poser, that it said showed evidence of the school’s collusion with the Queens bidder.
“How can we help him and vice versa??” Poser texted a consultant, Robert McBride, after he sent her a message with a New York Post story about Cohen’s casino bid, according to County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s office.
Another text instructed McBride to relay a message about a step Cohen could make to “appear gallant,” according to screenshots. It was not clear what the step was.
At a news conference at the Nassau Coliseum on Thursday, Blakeman said Hofstra’s behavior was “shameful” and asserted that the school had “lied to the public” about its role in the process.
Hofstra pushed back.
“The text messages shared by County Executive Blakeman reflect informal reactions to press articles with Hofstra University’s consultant,” the school said in a statement.
The compliance director for McBride’s firm, Timothy Hendrickson, said in an email that any “suggestion – directly, indirectly, or otherwise that McBride Consulting has engaged in any improper conduct is absolutely untrue.”
The texts were obtained after a Nassau County Supreme Court justice signed off Tuesday on an order requiring Hofstra to provide an array of communications requested by the county. The subpoena was not as broad as one Nassau County had obtained last month, according to court documents.
The Nassau Coliseum bid and the Citi Field bid are viewed as two possible leaders in a packed field of about 10 contestants seeking a coveted downstate casino license from New York State.
Bidders are expected to sign an agreement with an anti-collusion assurance: “No attempt has been made or will be made by the applicant to induce any other person or entity to submit or not to submit an application or supplement to an application for the purpose of restricting competition.”
The downstate casino bidding process is a zero-sum game. Only one brand new casino is expected to receive a permit from the state, so if Cohen were to win a license, it would presumably mean the Long Island bid would die.
Blakeman has said a casino would bring jobs and economic growth to his county.
Cohen, the billionaire owner of the New York Mets, did not immediately respond Thursday to the disclosure of the texts.
In January, Nassau County first publicly accused Hofstra of colluding with Hard Rock International, which has joined Cohen’s bid to put a casino at Citi Field. Hard Rock has rejected the claim.
Last month, Blakeman cited a Newsday column that described a different consultant, Michael McKeon, saying in an email to Cohen’s office that he would communicate with Hofstra on a matter. McKeon declined to comment Thursday.
A spokesman for Hard Rock, Jonathan Goldman, issued a statement last month saying that “Hard Rock has not had any communication whatsoever with Hofstra University or its President related to Nassau.”
Last April, Hofstra filed a lawsuit in Nassau County Supreme Court seeking to block the Long Island casino bid.
Hofstra said the County Planning Commission had denied the school sufficient opportunity to provide feedback on a proposed lease transfer for the coliseum site.
A judge sided with Hofstra in the fall, quashing the 99-year lease agreement and leaving the bid in limbo. Nassau has appealed the decision.
“We are not deterred at all,” Blakeman said Thursday.
It is unclear if the half-century-old Nassau Coliseum, the 16,000-seat former home of the New York Islanders hockey team, would be demolished to make way for the casino. Las Vegas Sands, a deep-pocketed gambling giant, has pushed the Long Island bid.
A year ago, the state launched a high-stakes process to grant three $500 million downstate casino licenses to developers. Two licenses are expected to go to existing so-called racinos in Yonkers and southeast Queens with horse racing and digital betting, creating intense competition for the final license.
