So much for reforming OTB

• Share on
• 
• 
• 
• 

Reporting, analysis and commentary
by Jim Heaney, editor of Investigative Post

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 applied for the job. That might sound impressive, but then again, Investigative Post recently advertised for a part-time, $20-an-hour administrative assistant job and got some 80 responses. So I’m not impressed with 133 applications for a job paying in the neighborhood of $300,000.

OTB’s pool of applicants must have been pretty shallow, considering the other finalist for the job has no background in the gambling industry. Or did the selection committee refuse to advance the resumes of applicants with industry experience?

As J. Dale Shoemaker reported, four board members raised concerns/objections over the recruitment process during Thursday’s closed-door session that culminated in Brown’s unanimous selection. 

Brown’s hiring is contingent on the mayor and OTB agreeing on contract terms. He’s making $178,518 now while outgoing CEO Henry Wojtaszek’s salary is $299,000. So it’s safe to say Brown is in line for a big raise, even though he’ll be running an operation a fraction of the size of City Hall. Brown’s salary will not only fatten his bank account, but boost his state pension when he retires.

OTB officials cited Brown’s experience as mayor as a plus. I dunno, running the city into the ground financially and ignoring problems ranging from lead poisoning to police brutality don’t strike me as selling points. Officials said they anticipate Brown improving OTB’s transparency and relations with the media, not exactly strong suits of his as mayor.

A year-and-a-half ago, the state Legislature reconstituted OTB’s governing board to shift voting power from rural counties controlled by Republicans to urban counties and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester that are in the hands of Democrats. This was done in the name of reform. 

One Republican critic said at the time the move wasn’t about reform, but patronage. It turns out he was right. 

The Democrats are now in charge of OTB and their first “reform” was a process that resulted in the hiring of a Democratic mayor with no experience running a casino and harness racing track. But he knows patronage hiring and the other ins and outs of politics.

Take our online reader survey

Brown’s hiring lays bare just how insincere the Democrats are about reforming OTB. 

Timothy Callan, Erie County’s representative on the OTB board, whose weighted vote counts for more than any of the 17 directors, was among those who approved Brown’s hiring, while expressing concerns about the process. Callan’s boss, Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick, and Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz are complicit in this capitulation. They’ve complained about OTB’s operations, but when push came to shove, their boy fell in line. 

Bottom line: OTB is likely to remain a cesspool, one that Democrats are as comfortable swimming in as Republicans. 

The only way to depoliticize the operation is to privatize it. Good luck with that.

Jim Heaney