The chair of the Minnesota Racing Commission (MRC) has resigned following a meeting with Gov. Tim Walz’s office that left her feeling “more and more angry.” Now, two state senators are raising concerns.
Dr. Camille McArdle served as the MRC chair since July of 2021 and had been on the commission since being appointed in 1993. The commission, which has existed since 1983, regulates the horse racing industry in Minnesota.
According to McArdle, she was recently called to the State Capitol for a meeting with the governor’s office; that meeting did not go well.
In a statement put out after the meeting, McArdle said she was “chastised for ‘allowing’ the Commission to approve a change in the card room floor plan for an existing card game (two years ago!) and to approve Historical Horse Racing (well over a year ago).”
After the MRC moved forward with Historical Horse Racing (HHR) in April of last year, members of the state’s tribes pushed back. They argued that the HHR terminals are essentially slot machines that violate their exclusive rights. In May of 2024, the Minnesota Legislature voted to prohibit HHR machines at Minnesota horse racing tracks.
McArdle said the horse racing industry has struggled in recent years and approving HHR was a part of an effort to “ultimately help the race tracks increase purses.”
Just one month after HHR machines were outlawed at horse racing tracks, Walz appointed Johnny Johnson and Melanie Benjamin to the nine-member MRC. Both Johnson and Benjamin are members of Minnesota’s tribes.
Discussing the meeting at the governor’s office further, McArdle also said she was “told that promotion and support of the racing industry should not be a priority. Our job was to regulate, period, and only do what the Executive Director told us was okay to do.”
McArdle noted that the commission has a mission statement which explicitly says the MRC “operates in the public interest to ensure the integrity of horse racing and card playing” and “works to promote the horse racing and breeding industry in Minnesota.”
That mission statement is currently on the MRC’s state government website.
“With every step as I walked from the Capitol building back to my car I became more and more angry,” McArdle said. “I will not be a puppet.”
“I cannot, and will not, abandon my support for an industry that has great people involved, contributes economically to the state, provides jobs for young people, presents clean and decent entertainment, and matters to so many,” she said. “I am disgusted.”
Republican senators concerned about governor’s involvement
Following McArdle’s resignation, Republican State Sens. Michael Kreun and Eric Pratt issued a statement with concerns about the governor’s involvement in the MRC. Kreun and Pratt’s districts are home to Running Aces and Canterbury Park respectively.
“The resignation of Dr. Camille McArdle from the Minnesota Racing Commission raises legitimate concerns about the boundaries between the executive branch and independent regulatory commissions,” said the two lawmakers.
The statement continued:
“Dr. McArdle’s departure fits a pattern under Gov. Walz in which administrative bodies that have traditionally operated with bipartisan support and minimal political direction appear to have been drawn into partisan policy disputes. Minnesota’s horse-racing industry is not a partisan issue. Nor is delivery of government assistance, funding transportation systems, or stopping fraud. Gov. Walz has turned delivery and administration of basic government services into his personal political machine, and it’s a disservice to the state.
“Governor Walz should resist the temptation to bully expert regulatory bodies into extensions of the executive branch or turn public policy into a political bully pulpit. Effective government is strengthened, not weakened, when independent agencies are permitted to fulfill their mandates without fear or favor from the Governor.”
Alpha News reached out to the governor’s office for this story but did not immediately hear back.
