The makeup of the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. board of directors is changing once again.
As a result of a New York State law prohibiting political party officials from obtaining a license from the state Gaming Commission to serve on the WROTB board, Jennifer Hibit, who was appointed to represent Erie County in June, has resigned.
Hibit is the secretary of the Erie County Democratic Committee.
WROTB President/Chief Executive Officer Henry Wojtaszek today confirmed that Hibit is no longer on the 17-member board and has been replaced by Deputy County Comptroller Timothy Callan.
Callan was not at this morning’s directors’ meeting at Batavia Downs Gaming because he has yet to receive his license from the Gaming Commission.
Following the meeting, Wojtaszek told The Batavian that the law covers two areas – someone who is a party officer and someone who is a public officer that potentially could have a conflict of interest.
“The law defines a party officer as someone with a national, state or county political committee, and that applies to Hibit as well as Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney (City of Buffalo representative),” he said.
Wojtaszek noted that Rodriguez-Dabney, who is the vice chair of the Erie County Democratic Committee, has not indicated whether she will be resigning yet.
Continuing, he said the when looking at the public officer portion of the law, it defines someone that could be ineligible as an elected or appointed official “who has a conflict due to dealing with the pari-mutuel betting process or taxation thereof.”
When exploring that section of the law, there are five current WROTB directors that fall into that category:
-- Terrance Baxter, Moravia (Cayuga County) town supervisor;
-- Edward Morgan, Orleans County legislator;
-- Paul Bartow, Schuyler County planning commission and historical society board member;
-- Michael Horton, Savona (Steuben County) Village Court judge;
-- Susan Way, member of the Wyoming County Board of Supervisors.
Wojtaszek said those five were required to sign a form indicating there was no conflict of interest, action that was confirmed by Morgan during a break in today’s meeting.
“They can stay on the board as long as they certify that there is no conflict and that the prohibition does not apply to them,” Wojtaszek added.
With Hibit not there because of her resignation and Rodriguez-Dabney also absent, the board needed the presence of Monroe County director James A. Wilmot to be in attendance – and he was -- to have a quorum. Erie County has 24 votes and Buffalo has 10 out of the 100 votes in the weighted voting system; Monroe County has 20 votes.
Hibit’s replacement, Callan, works for County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick, who has publicly spoken out against WROTB’s policies and practices.
In a report from a Buffalo-based publication, Hibit said she had disclosed her role with the Democratic Committee when she applied for the position, and a Gaming Commission official stated that it was an oversight until recently.
In a related matter, the board is scheduled to vote on a new permanent chairperson at its January meeting. Dennis Bassett (City of Rochester) has been serving as the temporary chair.
