Ken Maddy was a California state senator who carried the ball for the racing industry with the passion and commitment of a man deeply in love with the game. In his youth you could find him on a shank or in a stall, working for trainer Mel Stute. As an influential senator he shepherded legislation vital to the overall health of the industry. Upon his death in 2000, at just 65, he was described by fellow office-holders as "a man of grace, good humor and a man of extraordinarily good judgment" whose constituents suffered for his loss.
"One of the worst things to happen politically to the people of California was Ken Maddy not being elected to the office of governor," said one colleague.
Maddy was a Republican, and those were the Democrats.
As a builder of political consensus and grassroots advocacy, Maddy would be as out of place today as a polar bear in a barn dance. People worked with him because he was straightforward, bracingly selfless, and ridiculously honest.
Want to know why he lost the Republican primary for governor in 1978? Because he admitted to a couple hits of marijuana, and the opposition framed Maddy as some sort of louche liberal in Republican drag. He still got nearly 20% of the vote in a four-man race. For context, Cheech & Chong's "Up in Smoke" was released that same year and did $76 million at the domestic box office.
Even as a leader of the minority party, Maddy got literally dozens of bills passed through the California legislature that pertained to racing, including enabling laws for racetrack license relief and full-card simulcasting. A race at Santa Anita Park was named in his honor. So was an award given to state legislators by the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association. And Maddy was among the first honorees when the CTBA Hall of Fame was revived in 2007 after a long hiatus.
Racing rarely finds an advocate like Ken Maddy. Usually, legislative allies are secured at the other end of a PAC contribution or the approach of a lobbyist, goodies in hand. Lately, horse racing has been a toxic climate for politicians concerned with pressure from deep-pocketed supporters in the animal rights sector, although it has been refreshing to see Gov. Kathy Hochul show up at her New York tracks to advocate for the industry.
The latest elected official to stick his toe in racing's troubled waters is Clay Higgins, member of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 3rd Congressional District. It was Higgins who introduced the Racehorse Health and Safety Act in September, a piece of legislation that would repeal the law enabling the Horseracing Integrity & Safety Authority and its enforcement arm, the Horseracing Integrity & Welfare Unit, and replace it with a state-by-state option to enter into a national compact with similar aims as HISA.
The RHSA is being strongly pushed by the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, which also has gone to court in an effort to have HISA declared unconstitutional. Tapping Higgins to carry the bill made sense, since Louisiana is among a handful of racing jurisdictions who are challenging the authority of HISA in high-profile court actions.
Higgins is a former law enforcement officer who has been an occasional lightning rod for statements made via social media and public forums. He is a staunch supporter of laws restricting abortion and opposes most forms of gun control. He criticized the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, that interrupted the certification of the 2020 presidential election, and then, when Congress reconvened, Higgins voted along with four of his fellow Louisiana representatives to overturn the election in favor of Donald Trump. He also roughed up a protester at an outdoor press conference near the Capitol last May and was roundly criticized for filming a video inside the gas ovens at Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp in Poland.
Tom Rooney, a former congressman and currently president and CEO of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, observed in an open letter to the industry that the RHSA has little or no chance of becoming law.
"In order for any bill to become law, it needs a lot of support, support that comes in the form of 'cosponsors,'" Rooney wrote. "HISA had more than 260 co-sponsors and was supported by both Republicans and Democrats. RHSA only has one, and both are Republicans. In fact, the member of Congress who has been working to garner support for this bill for months has decided he can no longer support it. Without bipartisan support and many cosponsors, bills don't go anywhere in Congress."
Still, you can't fault the National HBPA for giving it a try. Their opposition to HISA has long been on record, and HISA has not helped its own profile after a series of stutter steps during its infancy, most recently a problem with consistent test levels among approved labs.
Higgins' sudden interest in horse racing, however, seems to come from nowhere, despite his statement accompanying the Sept. 23 introduction of the bill.
"I grew up on a horse ranch," Higgins stated. "I love horses, and the horse racing community is special to me. It's part of who I am. While the federal government may have had good intentions in passing HISA, in practice it ended up obstructing best practices in the horse business. I will not sit by and allow horses to be harmed while government crushes the families that have built their lives around the horse racing industry."
Admirable sentiments, but Higgins has failed in the simplest test of concern for the welfare of horses. Were he truly on the side of the animals, he would be among the 121 co-sponsors—21 of them fellow Republicans—who signed on in support of the SAFE Act introduced last May in Congress that would amend an earlier farm bill to ban all aspects of the horse slaughter business in the U.S.
But he is not. Higgins, who has no particular record of support for any form of animal welfare, is OK with horse slaughter.
Even though the National HBPA found a useful accomplice to carry their Hail Mary legislation, their best hope to overturn HISA remains in the courts. Still, everyone is known by the company they keep. Did I mention how much we miss Ken Maddy?
