By Joseph Popiolkowski
Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz returned to his hometown and embraced his blue-collar roots Saturday in announcing his Democratic candidacy for county executive.
“Like so many of you here today, I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth,” he said outside the Lackawanna Public Library. “As the son of a steelworker and a nurse, it was a steel spoon.”
Poloncarz repeatedly portrayed his Republican opponent — incumbent Chris Collins — as a “divisive figure” out of touch with voters, during a 15-minute speech to a crowd of more than 100 supporters that included his parents, brother, Buffalo Common Council members Michael P. Kearns and Michael J. LoCurto, Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, and party leaders from throughout the county.
“Despite his rhetoric, folks, the truth is this county executive raised your taxes and decimated necessary services you rely on, like libraries. At the same time he gave significant raises to his patronage appointees,” Poloncarz said.
After the announcement, Poloncarz embarked on a daylong tour of Erie County to reinforce his campaign’s promise to address the different needs of its urban, suburban and rural residents.
In Cheektowaga, he stood with homeowners on Zurbrick Road, which has been closed to traffic since it started to collapse into county-owned land more than three years ago.
Collins should have used federal stimulus funding to help repair the road and perform other infrastructure projects rather than pad the county’s budget surplus, Poloncarz said.
“It’s quite clear that the county has dropped the ball on this,” he said.
The road is not the county’s responsibility since it is owned by Depew and Cheektowaga, countered Grant Loomis, Collins’ spokesman.
Later, at the African American Cultural Center on Buffalo’s East Side, Poloncarz said Collins was disconnected from the needs of inner city residents.
High voter turnout from solidly Democratic Buffalo will be crucial for Poloncarz in the Nov. 8 election. But many city races may be decided in the Democratic primary if Republicans fail to mount candidates.
Hoyt, whose district includes much of Buffalo, promised to mobilize his supporters on Poloncarz’s behalf and called on other elected Democrats to do the same.
“I have to imagine that all good Democrats will support Mark Poloncarz even if they weren’t here today,” said Hoyt.
Meanwhile, the Collins campaign issued an opening salvo Saturday blasting the comptroller’s record.
“Mark Poloncarz has built a record of being on the wrong side of taxpayers time after time,” it read in part. “Poloncarz has politicized the Comptroller’s office with audits that provide no value to taxpayers and has proven incompetent at the basic functions of his job.”
In his role as the county’s “independent taxpayer watchdog,” Poloncarz has conducted audits to find savings for taxpayers and uncover fraud, waste and abuse, said Jennifer Hibit, spokeswoman for the Poloncarz campaign.
“Collins is going to attack us because he doesn’t want an opponent,” she said. “We’re going to fight to show the voters of this county that we’re going to work hard to make Erie County a better place and we’re going to do a better job than he has as county executive.”