Tag: OTB

Sep 19

2024

OTB may vote on Brown contract next week

Published by

The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. is expected to discuss — if not vote on — an employment contract for Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown at its board of directors meeting next week. Reporter J. Dale Shoemaker appeared on WCNY’s Capitol Pressroom to explain the latest. The Capitol Pressroom · Western NY OTB in period of transition The board, at a special meeting two weeks ago, offered Brown the OTB president and CEO job. He would replace Henry Wojtaszek, who has led the agency since 2016. Wojtaszek this summer announced plans to accept a $299,000 buyout and step down at the[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 8

2024

So much for reforming OTB

Published by

The Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. stayed true to form last week in hiring Byron Brown as its new president and CEO. OTB, perhaps the sleaziest government operation in Western New York, conducted what appears to be a sham recruitment process leading up to the mayor’s hiring. Officials have been largely silent about how they went about advertising the job, aside from Chairman Dennis Bassett telling The Buffalo News the agency posted the job on LinkedIn. LinkedIn? No ads in trade journals? No outreach through recruiters? If OTB did anything beyond LinkedIn, officials aren’t saying. OTB officials said 133 people[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Sep 5

2024

Byron Brown chosen to lead Western OTB

Published by

Mayor Byron Brown, incoming OTB chief. Photo by Garrett Looker. Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown today was selected to head the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.  Brown, 65, was one of two finalists interviewed by OTB’s governing board, which unanimously selected the mayor after five hours of closed-door interviews and deliberations. Elliott Winter, who represents Niagara County on the OTB board and served on the search committee, told reporters Brown is a good fit given his experience running a city government. “He oversees 3,000 employees with a budget of over $600 million. He’s worked in the same capacity for the last[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 28

2024

OTB holds off hiring Wojtaszek successor — for now

Published by

As the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp.’s board nears a decision on who the agency’s next president and CEO will be, there’s plenty of speculation about the finalists for the job – one of whom is said to be Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown. Our J. Dale Shoemaker discussed the latest with Michael Wooten on WKBW’s “Voices” newscast Tuesday evening. The OTB board of directors was scheduled to meet Thursday to discuss its search for a new CEO to succeed Henry Wojtaszek, but the agency canceled the meeting Tuesday morning. No explanation was given.  Several board members told Investigative Post the[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 23

2024

OTB set to discuss search for Wojtaszek replacement

Published by

OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett. Photo by Garrett Looker. If Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown is a candidate for the top job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., the chairman of the organization’s board isn’t saying so.  Following the board’s monthly meeting on Thursday at Batavia Downs, Chairman Dennis Bassett said Brown is welcome to “put his name into the pot” of candidates seeking to replace outgoing CEO and President Henry Wojtaszek, who has accepted a contract buyout and is expected to leave his post before the end of the year.  OTB’s board has called a special meeting next Thursday for a[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 21

2024

Lawmakers ask for state probe into OTB buyouts

Published by

OTB President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek. Photo by Garrett Looker. Two Western New York lawmakers — state Sen. Sean Ryan and Assemblywoman Monica Wallace — have asked the state’s Attorney General and Inspector General to investigate buyouts for three executives of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., arguing the packages are illegal. Citing a law Wallace helped pass in 2019 that bans so-called “golden parachutes” for leadership of public authorities, the lawmakers argue in a five-page memo to the Attorney General and Inspector General that the buyouts violate that and/or other state laws which prohibit gifts and large buyouts to[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Aug 2

2024

OTB chairman rescinds Pledge of Allegiance demand

Published by

OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett. Photo by Garrett Looker. The chairman of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has backed off his demand that those attending board meetings recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Dennis Bassett chastised an Investigative Post reporter after OTB’s last board meeting on July 25, contending he wasn’t effusive enough in reciting the pledge. “Why can’t you put your hand on your heart and recite the Pledge?” Bassett said to the reporter after the meeting. “Because if you can’t do that, I would like for you not to be in here when the Pledge is recited. You’re insulting[...]

Posted 1 year ago

Jul 26

2024

Recite the Pledge of Allegiance … or leave

Published by

OTB Chairman Dennis Bassett. Photo by Garrett Looker. If you want to walk into Batavia Downs, the price of admission is pretty obvious: You’ve got to have a few pennies for the slot machines. But the board of directors that runs the casino and harness track has decided there’s a new cost if you want to hear them discuss the business of the publicly owned Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation: Stand up, place your hand over your heart and recite the Pledge of Allegiance loud enough for Chairman Dennis Bassett to hear you.  If you don’t? Bassett doesn’t want you[...]

Posted 1 year ago
Investigative Post