Politicians object to WROTB buyouts

(Reprinted from Investigative Post. Written by J. Dale Shoemaker with help from Mark Scheer.)

State Assemblywoman Monica Wallace is calling the six-figure buyout for the Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corp. president and CEO, Henry Wojtaszek, “blatantly illegal” and said she will ask state Attorney General Letitia James to investigate the “golden parachutes” going to three top OTB leaders.

“There is no question that I will be asking the AG’s office, the comptroller’s office, and perhaps even the inspector general, to look into this,” Wallace, a Lancaster Democrat, told Investigative Post.

The OTB board of directors voted last week to “renegotiate” the contracts of Wojtaszek and two other top officials, who will leave the agency between December and next spring. Wojtaszek will earn a full-year’s pay — $299,000 — when he departs OTB at the end of year.

Longtime chief financial officer Jacquelyne Leach will depart early next year with a $122,000 buyout. Vice-president of administration William White will leave in April next year and receive a buyout of $87,000.

The payouts are equal to a year’s salary for Wojtaszek and a half-year’s salary for Leach and White.

Citing the “Severance Pay Limitation Act” she sponsored in 2019, Wallace said the law limits pay for any public employee leaving their job to three months.

“This is the latest . . . fiscal irresponsibility by this public benefit corporation that seems to be operating in the interest of the board members and the employees and not in the interest of the taxpayers who are entitled to the revenues from unspent funds,” she said.

A spokesperson for the AG’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Wojtaszek or OTB spokesperson Ryan Hasenauer.

Other officials, including Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, agreed with Wallace’s call for an investigation.

“If this is in any way a violation of the [Severance Pay Limitation Act] then it should absolutely be investigated,” said Poloncarz spokesperson Peter Anderson.

“I’m hopeful that Assemblywoman Wallace is correct,” Erie County Comptroller Kevin Hardwick added.

U.S. Rep. Tim Kennedy, who sponsored OTB reform legislation as a state senator, said there should be “accountability” for the buyouts.

“I imagine it’s something that the state Legislature is going to look into,” he said.