Is Byron Brown a candidate for OTB executive director?

Is Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown one of three candidates being considered for the position of CEO of the largest publicly owned gaming corporation in Western New York?

Dennis Bassett, CEO of Western Region Off-track Betting Corp., isn’t talking or interested in sharing many details about the hiring process until the new leadership is finalized. However, he said he’s frustrated that rumors are spreading before the board can interview and hire the organization’s next leader.

“The process was impeccable and the process I have followed in corporate America,” he said. “There are no political undertones. Everything we try to do is fair.”

Western Region Off-Track Betting Corp. oversees the operation of off-track betting sites, as well as Batavia Downs and its video gaming casino, hotel and live horse 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 the county and city governments of Buffalo and Rochester. Bassett said the organization has achieved record revenues in each of the past few years, but it needs a new leader to capitalize on future opportunities.

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

Bassett has since chaired a five-person search committee tasked with advertising nationally for the executive director position and narrowing the initial group of applications to the finalist candidates who will be interviewed by the board on Thursday.

Bassett said the nationwide search involved recruiting candidates through LinkedIn, a social media platform focused on business networking, hiring and recruiting.

Many candidates, including some from outside the United States, applied for the position, he said. All candidates were screened against a list of criteria to weed out those who lacked the experience to do the job well, and then semifinalists were interviewed by a selection committee via Zoom, he said. The remaining finalists are scheduled to meet with the full board on Thursday.

Some WROTB board members said there were three finalists left on the selection committee, but they had been warned not to release the names of any of them.

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

Brown’s name is usually invoked whenever high-profile positions open up, as his unprecedented fifth term as mayor comes to an end late next year. Observers have noted his potential consideration for former Rep. Brian Higgins’ vacant seat in Congress and the vacant SUNY Buffalo State presidency, and Brown was not selected for either position.

Bassett declined to answer questions about the number of candidates who originally applied or the number of semifinalists and finalists, stating that full information related to the hiring process will be released after the board selects a new director.

“I don’t try to dispel rumors,” he said. “I’ve learned in 51 years of working in corporate America that you ignore rumors and you treat facts as facts. And once the facts are out, you communicate what you’ve done. If I spent my time trying to dispel every rumor I’ve heard in the last 10 days, I wouldn’t have time to eat.”

The WROTB organization is often the subject of political controversy and intrigue due to its well-paid and politically connected employees, complaints from honest law enforcement officers, and persistent complaints about the lack of transparency within the organization.