NYTHA Counters Finley’s ‘Flawed Election’ Claims

By T.D. Thornton 

Terry Finley’s protest to reconcile what he claims was a flawed-process loss in the 2014 presidential election has been met with a legal riposte from officials at the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. 

Among the highlights in 244 pages of affidavits and exhibits released Friday are: 1) details of how NYTHA officials believed they took reasonable steps to ensure the maintenance of a complete and accurate voter list; 2) Documentation that NYTHA officials were bracing months in advance for a protest from Finley; 3) Evidence from NYTHA legal counsel explaining how the election board even granted Finley some deadline-related leeway when he failed to provide paperwork that technically should have disqualified him from running. 

Finley, the president and founder of West Point Thoroughbreds, lost the Dec. 1 NYTHA presidential election to incumbent Rick Violette Jr., 625-611. 

Within a week of his defeat Finley protested the results, alleging that as many as 1,700 ballots were mailed either late or not at all to eligible voters. He also accused election committee members James Gallagher, Alan Foreman and Craig Gegorek of conflicts of interest that prevented a fair election. 

Reams of documentation from both sides (click here) have now been posted on the NYTHA website. All of it is considered fair game to be used as evidence in a Feb. 10 closed-session hearing the organization has scheduled to address Finley’s demand for a new election. 

“All of my actions were proper and in good faith and I am absolutely satisfied that the election was fair and in accordance with the bylaws,” NYTHA executive director Gallagher wrote in an affidavit. “I knew that Mr. Finley would later inspect everything I did under a microscope, so I made sure that things were done correctly.” 

Foreman, NYTHA’s legal counsel, wrote in his affidavit about an Aug. 8 morning coffee meeting he had with Finley in the Saratoga grandstand at which, “Finley told me that he was going to win the election for president of NYTHA and that he believed the only way that he could lose was if the election was rigged against him.” 

Based on that conversation, Foreman wrote that he told Violette NYTHA should consider engaging outside counsel to oversee the election. 

“It was clear to me that Mr. Finley was going to challenge every aspect of the election, and that he would file a protest if he did not win and that he would accuse me of bias,” Foreman wrote. 

The NYTHA documentation includes confirmation that 3,410 ballots went out, and an explanation as to how that number came to be considered the most accurate tally of eligible voters. 

NYTHA officials detailed the difficulties of maintaining a current roster of members, which they claimed is continually complicated by 1) Owners and trainers rotating in and out of licensure; 2) The state’s refusal to release mailing addresses based on privacy concerns; 3) The lack of timely cooperation from partnerships and syndicates to provide NYTHA with contact information for individual partners. 

Gallagher’s affidavit recounted a Nov. 16 email exchange in which Finley proposed a friendly one-dollar wager on what voter response would be for the election. 

“Inasmuch as this was a well-publicized election, I replied 30%,” Gallagher wrote. 

According to Gallagher’s affidavit, Finley replied: “OK. Your number is 1,200. That’s right about where I think it will be. Super.” 

The final number of votes cast was 1,236. 

At several points in the NYTHA affidavits, reference was made to Finley’s post-loss claim of receiving an “avalanche” of complaints from eligible voters who didn’t get to cast a ballot. 

“Based on the evidence presented by Mr. Finley, the only ‘avalanche’ subsequent to the 2014 NYTHA election has been the outpouring of rhetoric, character assassinations, and unsubstantiated claims from the Finley camp,” Violette wrote in an affidavit. 

Finley, when reached for comment on Friday, wrote in an email, “I remain confident that when all of the facts come out, the key points we made in my initial protest submission will be confirmed as accurate, and that a new and fair election will be required.”