Russ Brandon - Leaving Role as President of Bills & Sabres due to workplace behavior and allegations of personal misconduct

[CommonCents]

7 minutes ago, TXBILLSFAN said:

 

No doubt, there is and should be zero tolerance regardless of company.

 

But, let's not put our heads in the sand here because there isn't several videos or a parade of women coming forward, where there is smoke there is fire and many on this board, including Russ apologist Kirby Jackson have all but admitted as much.  And let's not forget the reporting has said more than just inappropriate relationships, this could get into embezzlement or some other business crime.  Again, no proof, but a lot of smoke

Embezzlement and skimming off the top or whatever you are going on about is a bit sloppy unless you have some further knowledge of the situation. Don’t yah think

[stevewin]

13 hours ago, stony said:

As long as Kim changes the goal song at Sabres games, I'm cool with it.  

 

 

And gets rid of the train whistle at Bills games

[May Day 10]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

The uttering of those words associated with Brandon in the hiring of Rex are given more weight than they deserve. The owner was foolishly captivated by Rex. The owner wanted to give a boring and colorless franchise some identity. It was a dumb decision by a new owner who was out of his depth. If you recall you were also enthused with the hire. (I'm not criticizing you because many people were excited with the hire.) 

 

As you noted Pegula was new to the business. And it was demonstrated by his hiring decisions. On the positive side it appears that he has learned from his mistakes. But as the McDermott hire also illustrates is that it is the owner who makes the big hires based on what he wants to do  and not because of the people who are at his side. 

 

Dont discount Brandon's role in the rift between him/whaley/marrone.  Marrone wanted to modernize the organization, and pulled a power play to get things done his way.  Whaley/Brandon wanted to keep their power/status quo.  We would have had Polian as a consultant to build some of the front office including GM, with Marrone as a HC working with him.  Instead we got a few years of a Whaley/Rex circus.  

[eball]

4 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The uttering of those words associated with Brandon in the hiring of Rex are given more weight than they deserve. The owner was foolishly captivated by Rex. The owner wanted to give a boring and colorless franchise some identity. It was a dumb decision by a new owner who was out of his depth. If you recall you were also enthused with the hire. (I'm not criticizing you because many people were excited with the hire.) 

 

As you noted Pegula was new to the business. And it was demonstrated by his hiring decisions. On the positive side it appears that he has learned from his mistakes. But as the McDermott hire also illustrates is that it is the owner who makes the big hires based on what he wants to do  and not because of the people who are at his side. 

 

Oh, I freely admit my many mistakes "trusting" that the Bills were making the right decisions.  I'm a fan.  I've also learned that what comes out of the mouths of guys like Russ can't be trusted.

[stevewin]

13 hours ago, PetermanThrew5Picks said:

Looks like TBD is finally in harmony . We needed this boys. 

What was Russ's completion percentage?

[TXBILLSFAN]

10 minutes ago, Commonsense said:

Embezzlement and skimming off the top or whatever you are going on about is a bit sloppy unless you have some further knowledge of the situation. Don’t yah think

 

"Going on about ?" --- 

 

No, I'm repeating what was reported that this was more than just inappropriate relationships -- who knows what it means, but,  keep that head in the sand and keep defending

 

 

[davspo]

14 minutes ago, stevewin said:

And gets rid of the train whistle at Bills games

 

If this is the only thing that comes out of the firing, it will have been well worth it.  

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, eball said:

 

Oh, I freely admit my many mistakes "trusting" that the Bills were making the right decisions.  I'm a fan.  I've also learned that what comes out of the mouths of guys like Russ can't be trusted.

With respect to the football side of the operation I don't know what he has said over the past few years that has been meaningful or wrong.  There is a notion that has been promoted by many that he has been influential on the football operation. I just don't see it; and I don't understand why he has been so vilified. 

 

There was a period of time at the last stages of the Ralph ownership where he was more visible. That visibility was forced on him because of the circumstances of the owner's waning health. While others criticize him for being more prominent I give him a lot of credit for keeping things together while the operation was in a holding pattern because of the owner's health status. My interpretation of the situation with respect to Brandon is different from most. I give him credit for holding things together while many people see his conduct as being more sinister. I'm thankful he was there and appreciative for his efforts in a very challenging time. Many others see it differently with more jaundiced eyes. 

[C.Biscuit97]

1 hour ago, eball said:

 

No, what was pathetic was Russ the GM, Russ the snake oil salesman, and Russ the promoter of Whaley and Rex.  Only last season -- when Russ was finally and rightfully moved to the sidelines -- did the culture change.  I bought into the "Russ doesn't really make football decisions" line of thinking for a good while, until he screwed this franchise over for another two years with the Rex fiasco.  Good freaking riddance.

The Pegulas hired Rex.  Whaley brought a bunch of talent to this team.  

 

I never got the outrage people had with Brandon.  He did his job fairly well.  He seemed like a guy very loyal to the area.

 

obviously if he did something inappropriate, he deserves to lose his job.  By man, I never got the hate for him.  In the world of pro sports/ nfl, Buffalo (which I love) is like a 3rd world country.  And hopefully, Kim won’t remain the the president for too long. 

[mannc]

34 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

Just a note that in the corporations I'm aware of, for an executive to have one consensual relationship with one subordinate would indeed be grounds for termination under their terms of employment.  The reason, as previously noted, would be that an assymmetrical power relationship is held to cloud consent (from a legal POV).  That's why companies explicitly prohibit this and provide their "people managers" training saying "don't do this, here's why"

 

I have no information as to the quantity or quality of RB's misbehavior or whether he is a predator.

I can tell you that, regardless of the strictness of the company’s written policy, it would be highly unusual for an executive to be terminated simply for having a consensual affair with one subordinate, especially an executive with a written employment agreement.  There had to be a lot more to it than that—lying about it when confronted, giving blatantly preferential treatment to the subordinate, a pattern of multiple such relationships, or something altogether different such as non-consensual harassment of multiple employees.

[C.Biscuit97]

29 minutes ago, stevewin said:

Look at that smug mug. He thinks he’s better than the fans.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 minutes ago, C.Biscuit97 said:

The Pegulas hired Rex.  Whaley brought a bunch of talent to this team.  

 

I never got the outrage people had with Brandon.  He did his job fairly well.  He seemed like a guy very loyal to the area.

 

obviously if he did something inappropriate, he deserves to lose his job.  By man, I never got the hate for him.  In the world of pro sports/ nfl, Buffalo (which I love) is like a 3rd world country.  And hopefully, Kim won’t remain the the president for too long. 

 

I mean he was basically in charge from 06 on - once they fired donahoe he got a big promotion.  The team's general lack of success or direction in 10+ years has to be somewhat attributed to that.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

15 minutes ago, TakeYouToTasker said:

I understand the standard, I'm saying that the standard is wrong.

 

As I said upthread:  I reject a guiding philosophy under which businesses get to dictate how people should behave in their personal lives based on how willing others are to sue them, and the hands-in-pockets, strangely humanist-yet-Puritanical, untrusting outcomes all of this dictates.

 

Just kind of curious: how sincere is that rejection?  Do you refuse employment at all companies which have rules about employee behavior?  And how do you distinguish between personal behavior and employee behavior?  If your company has a clause against speaking to the press, and you're leaving the building after hours and say something into a microphone, is that personal, or employee behavior?  If you're doing relationship stuff (making a date, bringing flowers, a little canoodling) on company time, is that personal or employee behavior?  My point is that the line between "personal behavior" and "employee behavior" has never and will never be that clear cut.

 

Speaking for myself, as a former project leader and people manager, there are very hard-nosed and practical, performance-based reasons why companies have made these rules.  I kind of chuckle at the high-falutin' "strangely humanist-yet-Puritanical" lingo.  If you'd ever been charged with delivering a manufacturing process to meets tight specs on a short timeline and Employee C is complaining that Employee B and A aren't holding up their end because they're courting on the job, or Employee B and Employee A broke up and Employee A now refuses to work the night shift in the pilot plant with B as her supervisor and the schedule is AFU (because the job requires training and certification and you can't just grab two bods off the street), or Employee D was placed on a performance plan because his work sucks but he's countering that his supervisor's intimate relationship with Employee A influenced that year's performance reviews,  you'd know there's a very hard nosed practical side to all this.  Corporations are driven by legal liability, sure, but at heart they're bottom-line driven and legal liability is only part of the performance issues that drive bottom line.

[CommonCents]

35 minutes ago, TXBILLSFAN said:

 

"Going on about ?" --- 

 

No, I'm repeating what was reported that this was more than just inappropriate relationships -- who knows what it means, but,  keep that head in the sand and keep defending

 

 

I’m not defending Russ Brandon, I don’t know the guy. Seems a bit slanderous to accuse him of anything outside of what has been written. Couldn’t the more than just inappropriate behavior been a bunch of different things? Perhaps lying to the Pegulas when he was approached?

Edited May 2, 2018 by Commonsense

[John from Riverside]

1 minute ago, Commonsense said:

I’m defending Russ Brandon, I don’t know the guy. Seems a bit slanderous to accuse him of anything outside of what has been written. Couldn’t the more than just inappropriate behave been a bunch of different things? Perhaps lying to the Pegulas when he was approached?

This is entirely possible...which should be more then enough

 

If an employee lied to me they would be immediately disciplined or terminated depending on which strike they were on in the discipline process.

[Lurker]

25 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Many others see it differently with more jaundiced eyes. 

 

 

[BillnutinHouston]

1 hour ago, colin said:

 

Kim being the one to handle this situation is hypocritical, and if she wanted to no longer be the "other woman" who gets the keys to the castle, she should at least recuse herself on this matter.

 

 

I'm stunned that even anonymous posters would say things like this, far ahead of all facts being known.  I know, I shouldn't be. 

 

To assert that Kim's background is even remotely analogous to what Russ was doing with the staff is an embarrassment to this site.  I feel dirty just reading some of these posts. 

[BRH]

Bottom line:  this man has a wife, and kids.  Has had both for quite some time, in fact.  And not a single person who knows him -- and I know a few who do -- tells me they are surprised by these allegations.  He avoided consequences in the community for a long time because of the power he held.  Who doesn't want to be able to say they know/are on good terms with the president of their favorite teams?  He lit his life on fire, but far worse is what he did to his family.

 

Someone on Twitter put it best yesterday:  the reason so many of us disliked him is that as our teams got steadily worse and approached dumpster-fire status, he just seemed to get more powerful and more important.  And when Adam Schefter tweeted yesterday just after the news broke that Brandon wouldn't be unemployed for long... well, that's exactly how he managed to last this long here.  He played the charm/PR game like no one else, and he himself was always his most important client.  He finally met someone who wasn't impressed.  Good for Kim for seeing through it all.

 

 

1 minute ago, BillnutinHouston said:

 

I'm stunned that even anonymous posters would say things like this, far ahead of all facts being known.  I know, I shouldn't be. 

 

To assert that Kim's background is even remotely analogous to what Russ was doing with the staff is an embarrassment to this site.  I feel dirty just reading some of these posts. 

 

Me too.  And people wonder why women don't come forward.

[ToGoGo]

Smells like a scorned woman who was upset he wouldn't leave his wife.

 

Brought the pillow talk to the Pegulas, and they fired him for whatever shady stuff she told them he was doing behind their back. 

 

Just my read on the situation.

[John from Riverside]

1 minute ago, musichunch said:

Smells like a scorned woman who was upset he wouldn't leave his wife.

 

Brought the pillow talk to the Pegulas, and they fired him for whatever shady stuff she told them he was doing behind their back. 

 

Just my read on the situation.

If that was the case then so be it....you reap what you sow

[5 Wide]

You don't just open an investigation into a guy of Brandons stature in the organization.  I wonder if the Pegulas were souring on him which led to employees feeling emboldened to speak up about Brandon's alleged bad behavior.  If you think about it, the Sabres have been a nightmare from a PR perspective with the World Juniors Tournament Flop and all the bad press the Arena has been getting as a dirty dump.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

18 minutes ago, Commonsense said:

I’m not defending Russ Brandon, I don’t know the guy. Seems a bit slanderous to accuse him of anything outside of what has been written. Couldn’t the more than just inappropriate behavior been a bunch of different things? Perhaps lying to the Pegulas when he was approached?

 

Agreed.  I assume by "written" you mean the press release or reported in reliable press (Wawrow, AP etc)

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

3 minutes ago, 5 Wide said:

You don't just open an investigation into a guy of Brandons stature in the organization.  I wonder if the Pegulas were souring on him which led to employees feeling emboldened to speak up about Brandon's alleged bad behavior.  If you think about it, the Sabres have been a nightmare from a PR perspective with the World Juniors Tournament Flop and all the bad press the Arena has been getting as a dirty dump.

 

He wasn't in the draft room from what i could tell.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

9 minutes ago, musichunch said:

Smells like a scorned woman who was upset he wouldn't leave his wife.

Brought the pillow talk to the Pegulas, and they fired him for whatever shady stuff she told them he was doing behind their back. 

Just my read on the situation.

 

It might be, it might not be.  No way we know.  What is factual is that in most of corporate America, it's enough if an executive is having any kind of sexual relationship in his or her reporting line.  Doesn't have to involve scorned lovers, shady stuff, any of that.  Now of course bosses do have relationships at work and avoid consequence to their jobs, but they're taking their chances there.

 

Me I'll wait and see what comes out. 

1 hour ago, Commonsense said:

Embezzlement and skimming off the top or whatever you are going on about is a bit sloppy unless you have some further knowledge of the situation. Don’t yah think

 

It's speculation, correct.

[May Day 10]

5 minutes ago, 5 Wide said:

You don't just open an investigation into a guy of Brandons stature in the organization.  I wonder if the Pegulas were souring on him which led to employees feeling emboldened to speak up about Brandon's alleged bad behavior.  If you think about it, the Sabres have been a nightmare from a PR perspective with the World Juniors Tournament Flop and all the bad press the Arena has been getting as a dirty dump.

Why not just get rid of him then, like they did with Ted Black, LaFontaine, etc?

 

Why the need to search for warts in the organization?

 

It seems they needed to investigate, found stuff, found other stuff (which was alluded to in the AP report), he lied to their faces, and it was enough to pressure him into resigning.

[JackKemp]

18 hours ago, Klaista2k said:

Why is okay for Josh Allen to make racial and homophobic statements but it's not ok for Russ Brandon to hook up with a female employee? 

It isn't okay. However, he did it at 15 years old. A lot of growing up happens between 15 and 21 years of age. Russ is a grown man in a position of power that it appears as though he took advantage of young ladies. Bigggg difference. You may want to consider stopping being manipulated by media people with an agenda.

[SectionC3]

4 minutes ago, JackKemp said:

It isn't okay. However, he did it at 15 years old. A lot of growing up happens between 15 and 21 years of age. Russ is a grown man in a position of power that it appears as though he took advantage of young ladies. Bigggg difference. You may want to consider stopping being manipulated by media people with an agenda.

 

Well said! 

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