Ex-state senator Barone feels ‘vindicated’ in racing case

? A judge has ruled that Kansas gambling regulators had no grounds to bar a former state legislator from being involved with a dog-racing track in his hometown.

Jim Barone was a state senator when the Racing and Gaming Commission refused in 2007 to approve a background check on him. The decision kept Barone from serving on the board of a nonprofit group affiliated with Camptown Greyhound Park, in the southeastern Kansas town of Frontenac.

Barone responded by suing the commission. He said Monday he feels vindicated by last week’s ruling by Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis (tyce), who concluded the commission’s decision portrayed Barone in a false light.

The racing commission declined comment Monday.

Barone, a Frontenac Democrat, did not seek re-election in 2008.