BUFFALO, N.Y. — Lawmakers were quick to release statements when it was announced Thursday that Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown was selected as the next president and CEO of Western Regional OTB.
Brown hasn't formally accepted the offer yet but said Thursday night in a statement that he looks forward to negotiating with the chairman of the board.
In follow-up interviews on Friday, State Senator Sean Ryan and Assemblymember Monica Wallace each emphasized that they hope Brown brings a renewed sense of ethics and transparency to the public service corporation, should Brown accept the role.
"The leadership might have changed, but my position hasn't changed," Assemblymember Wallace said. "My position is still that there has been wasteful spending at best and potential corruption at worst at the OTB."
Senator Ryan echoed the sentiments of Wallace.
"I guess they did a nationwide search, but, you know, they ended up with the Mayor of the City of Buffalo," Ryan said. "The onus is on the mayor now saying, 'Are you going to come into OTB, and are you going to follow New York State law, and are you going to make OTB work for the people of Western New York, not just for the board members and their vendors and those of those people lucky enough to somehow get their side deals with OTB?'"
Recently, Ryan and Wallace formally sent letters to the state Attorney General and Inspector General asking for an investigation into the Western Regional OTB.
"I would hope that the new leadership at the OTB would be welcoming of an agency coming in and taking a look at everything and making recommendations as to what can be done better and things that are being done that should not be done," Wallace said.
The Attorney General's office hasn't confirmed whether or not an investigation has been opened.
Ryan and Wallace also admitted that recently passed reforms that were aimed at fixing any perceived corruption within the Western Regional OTB failed.
"The reforms, they didn't work," Ryan said. "So we need to go back and look at it again, but the OTB needs to commit to following state law."
One of those things that could be looked at, according to Ryan, is dissolving the OTB altogether.
"Remember the Western New York Regional OTB is your creation of the state legislature, they don't have to exist," Senator Ryan said. "Everything's on the table."