BATAVIA, NY – Senator George Borrello offered the following comments today in response to a statement issued by Senator Sean Ryan regarding the announcement that Western Regional OTB has offered Byron Brown a position as their next president and CEO:
“In a statement today regarding Mayor Byron Brown being offered the position of president and CEO of the Western Regional OTB, Senator Sean Ryan expressed his hope that the organization’s next leader would clean up the ‘culture of corruption’ at the entity. I take issue with that characterization.
The ‘culture of corruption’ is actually the way that Erie County and the City of Buffalo have rigged the Western Regional OTB board.
Batavia Downs is the only profitable entity in the entire WROTB. This is because of the support that Genesee County and the City of Batavia give Batavia Downs and the leadership of Henry Wojtaszek. A lot hangs in the balance now with this winning team being replaced with political patronage jobs.
Henry and his team ran all of the operations, including concessions, restaurant and banquet services. As someone who has been in the hospitality business for decades, I can tell you that is no easy feat.
If the new leadership decides to turn those operations over to a third-party, I suspect that Batavia Downs will also become a liability instead of an asset.
We will see the true ‘culture of corruption’ going forward if the Western Regional OTB now starts bleeding red ink.”
