If Byron Brown is a finalist for the OTB executive director job, no one will say so out loud (2024)

Is Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown one of three finalists under consideration for executive director of the biggest public gaming corporation in Western New York?

Dennis Bassett, chairman of the board of Western Region Off-Track Betting Corp., isn’t saying, nor is he interested to share many details on the recruitment process until the selection of new leadership is complete. But he did say he’s frustrated that rumors are spreading before the board can interview and hire the organization’s next leader.

“The process has been rock-solid and the process that I have used in corporate America,” he said. “It has no political overtones. Everything we are trying to do is aboveboard.”

Western Region Off-Track Betting Corp. oversees the operation of off-track betting sites, as well as Batavia Downs and its video gaming casino floor, hotel and live horse harness racing. WROTB serves a 15-county region. The revenue it collects supports its own operations and is also used to distribute hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to county governments and the cities of Buffalo and Rochester. Bassett said the organization has made record-breaking revenue each of the past several years but needs a new leader who will capitalize on future opportunities.

The board voted 16-1 in late June to approve buyouts totaling more than $500,000 for President and CEO Henry Wojtaszek, Comptroller Jacquelyne Leach and Administration Vice President William White. Bassett had indicated at the time that it was possible the positions held by Leach and White may be filled internally.

Since then, Bassett has led a five-member search committee tasked with nationally advertising for the executive director position and whittling down the initial group of applications to finalist candidates to be interviewed by the board on Thursday.

Bassett said the national search consisted of recruiting candidates through LinkedIn, a social media platform geared toward business networking, employment and recruitment.

Many candidates, including some from outside of the United States, applied for the job, he said. All candidates were vetted against a list of criteria to weed out individuals who lacked the expertise to do well in the job, then semifinalists were subsequently interviewed by the search committee via Zoom, he said. The remaining finalists are slated to meet with the full board on Thursday.

Some WROTB board members have stated the search committee is down to three finalists but said they have been admonished not to name any of them.

Other local news organizations have reported that Brown is one of the finalists for the position. Bassett declined to offer any indication. A spokesman for Brown did not respond to a request for comment from The Buffalo News.

Brown’s name is typically raised whenever high-profile positions have an opening since his unprecedented fifth term as mayor is winding to a close at the end of next year. Observers have pointed to his potential consideration for former Rep. Brian Higgins’ vacated seat in Congress and SUNY Buffalo State’s open president seat, neither of which Brown was chosen for.

Bassett declined to answer questions regarding the number of applicants who originally applied or the number of semifinalists and finalists, saying that complete information related to the search process will be shared after the board selects a new director.

“I’m not trying to dispel rumors,” he said. “I’ve learned in my 51 years in corporate America that you ignore rumors, and you work on the facts. And after the facts are out there, then you communicate what you’ve done. If I spent my time trying to dispel every rumor that I have heard in the last 10 days, I wouldn’t have time to eat.”

The WROTB is often the subject of political controversy and intrigue because of its well-compensated, politically connected employees; complaints from good government watchdogs; and ongoing complaints about the organization’s lack of transparency.