Articles for J. Dale Shoemaker

Feb 9

2024

Labor’s challenges and opportunities

Watch our panel discussion on organized labor. Video by Garrett Looker. Regardless of who wins the presidential election in November, it will be incumbent on workers and union members to fight for better pay, schedules and working conditions. And that’s to say nothing about addressing the effects of climate change and rectifying social injustices. In other words: The labor movement is going to have to save itself. That was one of the big takeaways from Investigative Post’s panel discussion on the labor movement Wednesday night. President Joe Biden may be better for labor than Donald Trump and the Republicans, the panelists[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 8

2024

Minimal discipline for problem Buffalo cop

In the space of 10 months, Buffalo police officer Davon Ottey cursed, wrongly arrested people, used excessive force, lied about brandishing a knife and sprayed hand sanitizer on a man who used a phone to record police, according to the New York State Attorney General’s office. Ottey’s conduct between June 2019 and April 2020 prompted five citizen complaints and was sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation, the attorney general’s office wrote in a Dec. 28 letter to Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia. For its part, the department sustained two complaints against Ottey, issuing a six-day suspension in one case and a[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 7

2024

Investigative Post sues FBI over records

Nearly a year after first requesting the records, Investigative Post filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against the Federal Bureau of Investigations, arguing that the agency is unlawfully withholding thousands of pages of documents. Some of the records are related to the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. which is currently under FBI investigation. The FBI says it has the records, but wants to take more than four years to review and release them. “The information contained in the requested records will allow Investigative Post to bring transparency and accountability to OTB and its public officials in order to protect the public[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Feb 2

2024

Unions, lawmakers renew push for IDA reform

Union officials, lawmakers and good-government groups gathered in Albany this week to announce a renewed push for industrial development agency reform. Photo by Arabella Saunders, New York Focus. A version of this story was first published by New York Focus, a nonprofit news publication investigating power in New York. Sign up for their newsletter here. The fight to curb tax breaks issued by industrial development agencies has a powerful new ally: labor unions. Good government groups, legislators, a local development authority board member and their latest allies from the statewide teachers union and the AFL-CIO gathered in Albany Wednesday to urge the[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 30

2024

Tonawanda Senecas to feds: Reject Plug Power loan

The Tonawanda Seneca Nation is urging the Biden administration to reject a $1.6 billion loan sought by hydrogen producer Plug Power, alleging the company is evading federal environmental reviews at its planned Genesee County facility. At issue is what Plug Power will spend the money on should the federal government approve its loan application later this year. Company executives have discussed the loan as essential for the company after it filed a statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November which stated “substantial doubt that we will have sufficient capital to fund our operations through the next 12 months.”[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 24

2024

Lawsuit accuses OTB of sexual harassment, wage theft

The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. was sued Wednesday on claims two executives sexually harassed a female employee and managers at Batavia Downs stole tips from her and other bartenders. Among the allegations lodged against Chief Operating Officer Scott Kiedrowski and Director of Security Daniel Wood: a pattern of sexual harassment that extended over several years. Kiedrowski invited female employees to attend Bills and Sabres games at OTB’s suites, which one plaintiff contends was an effort to seduce her. The lawsuit contends the alleged wage theft was brought to the attention of OTB management but, after correcting the problem, President[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 18

2024

Wojtaszek, OTB leadership get 2nd raise in a year

Dennis Bassett, chair of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. board of directors, left, and President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek. Photo by Garrett Looker. The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. gave its president and CEO Henry Wojtaszek a $15,000 raise Thursday, cementing him among the highest paid public employees in New York. Wojtaszek, 61, now earns an annual paycheck of $287,000. That’s more than New York City Mayor Eric Adams ($258,000); Gov. Kathy Hochul ($250,000); Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer ($193,400); Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown ($178,500); U.S. Rep. Brian Higgins ($174,000); and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz ($140,000). Wojtaszek is[...]

Posted 2 years ago

Jan 16

2024

Double standard involving OTB board

For more than a decade, the state Gaming Commission allowed political party leaders — all Republicans or Conservatives — to serve on the board of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. in violation of state law, Investigative Post has found. Then came Jennifer Hibit. Following major reforms by state lawmakers, County Executive Mark Poloncarz last June appointed the Democratic insider to the OTB board. But late last year, the Gaming Commission gave Hibit a choice: Resign from her leadership position in the Erie County Democratic Committee or leave the OTB board. She left OTB. Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney, a Democrat appointed by Buffalo[...]

Posted 2 years ago