By Robert J. McCarthy
NEWS POLITICAL REPORTER
Chris Collins is proudly proclaiming repair of local roads and bridges as a major accomplishment as he runs for a second term as county executive.
But Mark C. Poloncarz said Thursday that his Republican opponent “failed” by refusing to spend adequately on rural and suburban highways.
Poloncarz, meanwhile, touts his comptroller resume as sterling credentials for the county’s top job. But Collins’ spokesman says Poloncarz is “incompetent” in his current post, claiming one audit uncovered only $500 in taxpayer savings.
That’s how the 2011 campaign for county executive stacked up Thursday as both sides aimed at the other’s perceived strengths.
It began with Poloncarz convening a news conference at George Urban Boulevard and Harlem Road in vote-rich Cheektowaga to point to the “the rapidly deteriorating and often dangerous conditions of our roads and bridges” — despite Collins ads that laud progress on roads and bridges.
“Many roads across Erie County are in extremely poor condition . . . yet Collins refuses to fix them,” Poloncarz said. “The people of Erie County who travel these roads know better and can’t be fooled by commercials that try to make things better than they actually are.”
Poloncarz noted that of the officially identified worst roads in Erie County, only a handful have been repaired. He also questioned why the county executive failed to focus federal stimulus money on infrastructure improvements.
The comptroller said that only now, with the election approaching, is he spending stimulus assistance on job creation.
Collins spokesman Stefan Mychajliw responded with a long list of completed county infrastructure projects, while noting that the county executive has paid cash for “routine” maintenance rather than borrowing, while quadrupling the county road fund.
“It is the height of hypocrisy for long-shot candidate Poloncarz to talk about roads, when in fact the comptroller wanted the Legislature to raid the road fund two years ago to pay for pet projects,” Mychajliw said.
The Collins campaign claimed Poloncarz has politicized the Comptroller’s Office by hiring marketing specialists rather than certified public accountants. That resulted in basic errors, Mychajliw said, in the jail audit Poloncarz released Wednesday.
Mychajliw said that while the Poloncarz jail audit pointed to expenses associated with jail overtime, it failed to factor the need to hire supervisors, pay for uniform allowance, lineup pay and other factors associated with the recommendation to hire 67 new guards. He also said the comptroller has paid more than $200,000 for assistance from an outside auditing firm, while the staff of past comptrollers performed the work themselves.
Poloncarz spokesman Peter Anderson said he was not surprised at the claims and was quick to point out the need for outside staff.