Categories for News

Oct 23

2024

Brown’s OTB contract could rise to $315,000 in 2027

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Outgoing OTB CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, recently appointed CEO Byron Brown, center, and attorney Rajat Shah. Photo by Mark Scheer. Former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has the chance to boost his annual salary of $295,000 by another $20,000 within two years as the new CEO and president of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. At the start of Wednesday’s OTB board of directors meeting — the first attended by Brown since he resigned as mayor to head the public gambling agency — Brown released a copy of his employment contract. The three-year contract will, as has been previously reported, pay Brown[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 22

2024

Poloncarz blasts Brown for hiring Steve Casey at OTB

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The elected official with the greatest sway over Western Regional Off-Track Betting is “incredibly disappointed” that former Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown has brought a controversial former deputy with him to his new post as head of the troubled public gambling corporation. “Former Mayor Brown committed to the Board of Directors that he would move Western Region OTB towards transparency and accountability,” Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said in a statement to Investigative Post. Hiring Steven M. Casey — “an incredibly toxic force in Buffalo City Hall for decades,” according to Poloncarz — “moves Western Region OTB in the complete opposite[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 20

2024

Brown brings long-time aide Steve Casey to OTB

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Steven Casey, left, and Byron Brown, right. File photo by WKBW. Steven M. Casey — Byron Brown’s former deputy mayor and top political advisor — is following his old boss to a job at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. A source close to OTB leadership confirmed Casey, 58, is now working for the publicly owned gambling corporation and is on-site at Batavia Downs. The state comptroller’s office confirmed Casey began working part-time for OTB in September. OTB did not report a job title to the comptroller but projected his annual part-time wages would total $49,920. Casey — whose company pleaded[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 10

2024

Ryan leads the mayoral money race

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State Sen. Sean Ryan is seeking reelection this fall, but he’s certainly raising and spending money like a guy who’s running for mayor of Buffalo next year. Ryan raised $110,000 over the last three months, according to his campaign committee’s most recent filing with the state elections board. Campaign finance disclosures for candidates on the ballot in November were due last Friday. The reports cover the period from July 11 to Sept. 30.  Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown announced two weeks ago he’d accepted a new job as president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting. Brown indicated he’d step down[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 9

2024

A literal power struggle at STAMP

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Gov. Kathy Hochul, center, flings dirt into the air at Plug Power’s groundbreaking. Photo via governor’s office. The financial strife of Plug Power is causing headaches for a Western New York industrial park, leading economic development officials in Genesee County to seek state assistance and even court data centers in an effort to “save the day.” As it’s run dangerously low on cash, Plug Power has stopped construction of its hydrogen production plant at Genesee County’s Science Technology and Advanced Manufacturing Park, located halfway between Buffalo and Rochester. The company’s building has been paused since January. That has meant construction[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 8

2024

Buffalo cops rarely disciplined

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The officers “pulled up in a black Taurus” and started “beating and whipping people,” according to one of several witnesses to a May 2011 altercation between Buffalo cops and a crowd of people outside an East Ferry corner store. The cops used homophobic slurs, were “beating the shit out of people” and “kicking this boy in the face,” another witness said. A third witness said “a white male who works for housing” — later identified as Buffalo Police Officer Michael Acquino — “took his [phone] and deleted personal pictures and a video that he had recorded of the officers beating[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 3

2024

Lifetime health insurance for OTB’s departing Wojtaszek

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When Henry Wojtaszek, the president and CEO of Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp., steps down at the end of the year, he’ll take a gold-plated health insurance plan with him. The plan features no deductibles, a $25 copay for doctor, specialist and testing visits and drug copays between $5 and $40. Wojtaszek, according to the buyout agreement obtained by Investigative Post, can participate in one of two plans beginning Jan. 1. Wojtaszek’s employment contract states both he and his family can participate in the insurance plan. The buyout agreement lists no date for when Wojtaszek’s ability to use the health[...]

Posted 4 months ago

Oct 2

2024

Nepotism involving OTB boss Wojtaszek

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OTB President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek, left, Chairman Dennis Bassett, center, and Wojtaszek’s son, Jack, right, during a golf outing last month. Facebook photo.  Henry Wojtaszek’s Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. has hired his 23-year old son for a job paying $52,000 annually. The hiring of Jack Wojtaszek comes as the elder Wojtaszek plans to step down as OTB’s president and CEO on Dec. 31. A copy of Jack Wojtaszek’s application for a state gaming license, which he submitted in June, shows the North Tonawanda native works as customer relations specialist at Batavia Downs. Employees in that position are “responsible[...]

Posted 4 months ago
Investigative Post