"I don't care as long as he's not there"
Steve Donner currently has "zero" involvement in the management or finances of the ESL Centre, and that's just the way Jack Driscoll wants it.
Driscoll, a county legislator who serves as the president of the centre's board of directors, told me today that Donner — whose Rochester Sports Group teams are in dire financial trouble and whose Amerks frequently use the centre — "has no connection at all" to the ESL Centre at this point.
"He was gone when I got there," Driscoll said. "Whether or not they removed him, or he removed himself, I don't care as long as he's not there."
Donner was heavily involved in the construction and early management of the ESL Centre but reportedly was out of the picture by 2002 or 2003.
Driscoll said the Amerks have no financial debts to the centre — "They owe us nothing," he said — but that's because the centre reached a settlement with the team that basically forgave any debt the team had. That was done, Driscoll said, because it was obvious the Amerks were unable to meet their financial obligations.
"Trying to collect blood from an empty bucket didn't seem to make much sense," Driscoll said.
He said the Amerks' current bills for using the ESL Centre are covered when the centre sells tickets to the team's exhibitions and other events at the facility. Driscoll said he and other centre officials want to do anything they can to make sure the Amerks stay in operation despite Donner's alleged managerial ineptitude.
"We are trying to be as pliable as possible," he said. "I see the Amerks as an asset to the community, unlike Mr. Donner."
He added, "I hope Mr. Donner is cut out of this thing entirely."
Driscoll, a county legislator who serves as the president of the centre's board of directors, told me today that Donner — whose Rochester Sports Group teams are in dire financial trouble and whose Amerks frequently use the centre — "has no connection at all" to the ESL Centre at this point.
"He was gone when I got there," Driscoll said. "Whether or not they removed him, or he removed himself, I don't care as long as he's not there."
Donner was heavily involved in the construction and early management of the ESL Centre but reportedly was out of the picture by 2002 or 2003.
Driscoll said the Amerks have no financial debts to the centre — "They owe us nothing," he said — but that's because the centre reached a settlement with the team that basically forgave any debt the team had. That was done, Driscoll said, because it was obvious the Amerks were unable to meet their financial obligations.
"Trying to collect blood from an empty bucket didn't seem to make much sense," Driscoll said.
He said the Amerks' current bills for using the ESL Centre are covered when the centre sells tickets to the team's exhibitions and other events at the facility. Driscoll said he and other centre officials want to do anything they can to make sure the Amerks stay in operation despite Donner's alleged managerial ineptitude.
"We are trying to be as pliable as possible," he said. "I see the Amerks as an asset to the community, unlike Mr. Donner."
He added, "I hope Mr. Donner is cut out of this thing entirely."
posted by Ryan Whirty at
12:13 PM
4 Comments:
Ryan, your best bet is to try to talk with a few former and current ESL employees if they will talk with you. Much of the current maintenance, and on going financial mess that they are facing goes back to the financial mess Donner created. That settlement along with Donner dropping all his involvement at ESL was basically to pay off Christa and avoid court proceedings for embezzlement.
That is what you see reflected in Mr. Driscoll's (and other public officials) comments and attitude. If I were them I would feel that I betrayed the public interests by cutting such a deal with Donner. My take on this is that they tried to avoid a mess in public and felt this was a solution. In retrospect, it was not a very good one for either ESL or the public.
Aside from Donner, that is also a major reason to try to shed some light on this because as political insiders there have been a lot of elected and appointed officials who knew things and failed to take their oaths of office seriously and the tax payer are the ones paying ... for things like the deals between the Amerks and the city, the "loan / investment", Paetec Park.
I think that is why you get the reactions you do because the good old boys club had their inside solutions they don't want th public to know and the more this is talked about in the media the more anxious they all become and that is also why Steve Donner acts like he does; the more that comes out exposes them in all of this and it offers him to possibility of saying see it wasn't just me ...
The best example is the city's "loan" to the Amerks. Donner openly says that Jeff Caulkins told him the city had to write it up that way since "investment or "gifts" for the public good to business and organizations like the Amerks are not allowed in NY state. Donner claims that the solution, after the fact was to rewrite it as a loan and then he was told "You will never have to repay it."
Do you think Caulkins will ever admit to that unless it is under oath? Do you think that Caulkins did that on his own? For sure others, we may never know of, told him to go ahead and do it. All of this raises a question about why Caulkins is still in his position. Who knows if similar deals were worked out at the War Memorial . Who knows if similar deals have been used in other business deals the city and / or county have. Who knows what politicians (like Alesi and other state level officials) are also involved. You can be sure it is a were tangled web they all want to go away and Donner is just bold enough to stand tall in it all since he knows they will not push it due to the implications.
That is why I think the current city administration is finally taking the smartest solution and not offering the Donner-Amerks / RSG a new lease. If they cave in the mess will continue and it will be they fault for continuing to deal with him when public interest seems to imply they end it .
(Back to ESL) Insiders tell me that the corners that were cut to skim off the top in the initial building is now creating issues that ESL and it current management (a nation wide management corporation, Advanced Arenas) have limited funds to deal with.
By
Anonymous, at 5:39 AM
I'm no Donner fan but the last poster is wrong about Jeff Calkins.(note: this is the correct spelling of his name)Jeff works for the current arena management and previous management co.'s. They have no involvenment what so ever in the loan to the Amerks. You may want to check back under the Mayor Johnson Administration 'FY94 or'95.
By
Anonymous, at 9:25 AM
I told you before...you have to interview Ray Maluta. GM of ESL
By
Anonymous, at 3:48 PM
I've been trying to talk to Ray Maluta for a couple weeks — I've left several messages for him but have not heard back. I'm guessing that he's in a very delicate situation, because he owes his job to Donner and/or Christa and/or other figures who are embroiled with the whole mess. As a result, he might be very hesitant to talk to anyone in the media.
By
Ryan Whirty, at 10:47 AM
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