While admitting that mistakes have been made, the City of Rochester representative on the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. bristled when “alleged corruption” was brought up during his talk with the media following today’s directors meeting at Batavia Downs Gaming on Park Road.
City of Rochester representative Dennis Bassett – who was elected as the temporary board chair through November -- took exception to a Buffalo-based reporter’s query about whether the revamped board was intent “on instituting some reforms and cleaning up alleged corruption.”
“Well, we've got not only (new directors) from Erie (County) and (the City of) Buffalo, but we got a new member from Monroe County, which based upon the way the vote goes, that’s pretty good,” Bassett said, referring to the weighted voting system that was put in by New York State mandate last May. “I’d like to say we've got new board members from Erie, from Buffalo, from Monroe County that add new blood.
“And I think corruption is a is a very strong term. I've been on this board, as I said 14 years, and I don't see corruption. We’ve seen some honest procedural mistakes … and we should be held accountable for that. I'd like to say we did everything perfectly, but we haven't. But I think we -- with good intentions – made mistakes.”
Bassett said the board has addressed the problems such as the use of sporting event tickets, the way mileage is reimbursed and health insurance for board members.
“There's been some stubbing of the toes. And yes, I'd like to say we have done … everything right, but we haven’t,” he offered. “We’ve stubbed our toe. But I can also say that in those areas where we’ve had problems, we have corrected them. And that’s the key thing. We’ve listened. We’ve made some very – I would call it -- enthusiastic decisions, whether it be mileage, whether it be our entertainment, whether it be the things that we can control.”
When asked about the former board, which was dominated by Republicans, he said, “Well, you know, to the victor goes the spoils.”
“I'm a Democrat, registered Democrat, and most of the board members during my time were Republicans. And guess what? I never once felt slighted. I will continue to say on this board, we make business decisions. We owe the municipalities and the two cities to make the best business decisions we can so we can put money in their coffers.
“We don’t stand and say this is a Republican decision or this is a Democrat (decision). Is it a good business decision? And that has been our mantra since I’ve been on the board.”
When he was asked whether spending hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past two years on lawyers and lobbyists was a good business decision, Bassett said the board didn’t have “the skill set” to ascertain the correct answers.
“We've had to hire counsel because of some of the things – whether it be the Nolan lawsuit (a wrongful termination suit by former WROTB executive Michael Nolan) … and the (FBI) investigations, sadly to say we had to do some of those things because we didn’t have the skill set to answer the questions that were proposed. But I think we’ve weathered that storm, and I don’t think we’ve got to continue down that path,” he said.
Bassett said he sees the “new blood” as a positive for the board. Actually, six new directors joined the board after the shakeup that terminated the previous board – Jennifer Hibit (Erie County), Crystal Rodriguez-Dabney (Buffalo), James Wilmot (Monroe County), Terrance Baxter (Cayuga County), Paul Bartow (Schuyler County) and Charles Zambito (Genesee County).
“I think it’s good,” Bassett said. “And just the new change we made with having people who are really younger and working, for us to be able to Zoom committee meetings so people can take advantage of getting their ideas (out there) is a big step,”
During this morning’s meeting, the board agreed to give directors the option of attending future committee meetings via Zoom videoconferencing.
It also will be looking into a suggestion from Hibit to livestream the board meetings to, as she said, “make the board more transparent and accessible to the public.”
Bassett emphasized that there will be more transparency going forward and talked about having a strategic plan in place beyond one or two years.
“I've shared with the team that we're on top of the world now,” he said. “We're making good profits. We’re having good numbers. But we need to put together a strategic plan so that we can look out for more than one year, and look at more than several months. How do we look in three and four or five years?
“The world is not going to be the same two and three years from now? So how are we planning? How are we getting ourselves ready for some of the things that may happen that cause us not to be having these record earnings.”
