By T.J. Pignataro
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
The gloves came off Thursday night in the battle for the top elective office in Erie County.
Republican County Executive Chris Collins and County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz, the Democratic challenger, traded jabs and landed a few body blows in a contentious hourlong debate at the WNED-TV studios downtown.
Collins, 61, worked for most of the debate to paint Poloncarz as the candidate beholden to union leaders who seek to roll back the successes that his administration has realized over the last four years by returning to “big government, more spending and higher taxes.”
Poloncarz, 43, challenged Collins as a “pay to play” executive who hands out lucrative county contracts to his political supporters, cares less about the cultural organizations or the Buffalo Bills and is out of touch with middle-class residents.
The candidates were quizzed by a trio of panelists: Buffalo News Political Reporter Robert J. McCarthy; Mark Leitner, an anchor at WNED-AM radio; and WGRZ-TV reporter Claudine Ewing.
The panelists questioned Collins and Poloncarz on a host of topics ranging from the administration of the Erie County Holding Center and the county’s lease with the Bills to the candidates’ financial supporters and the condition of county parks.
Collins and Poloncarz nearly always — except for their agreement on the success of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s first year in Albany — took opposing viewpoints.
The county executive unapologetically stood behind his four-year record of reducing the size of county government, which has included the reduction of 940 positions along with cuts to many smaller arts and cultural institutions and day care subsidies for dependent families.
He defended retaining more than $100 million in federal money, rather than spending it, as a way to balance the county’s budget and improve its financial stability. He also stood by his paying of overtime to jail deputies instead of hiring new ones and said libraries in Erie County are “properly funded.”
“Certainly, Mr. Poloncarz would like to hire more employees,” Collins said. “I’m working for taxpayers, not the municipal union.”
Poloncarz chastised Collins for failing to use federal stimulus funds to create jobs, which he said is what that money was designed to do.
“We could have put people to work,” Poloncarz said, “hundreds and thousands of people to work in 2009 and 2010.” Instead, he contended, Collins created “false surpluses” with the money.
“That was federal Medicaid relief,” Collins said. “That money was never intended for roads, bridges and infrastructure. … We created a balanced budget with those monies.”
Poloncarz also accused Collins of creating an environment for increased suicides at the Holding Center by his decision to allocate $10 million in overtime costs to what he described as overworked and overtired jail deputies instead of hiring additional personnel.
He went on to chide the incumbent, saying Collins was “waiting for the Bills to call” the county before beginning negotiations on a long-term lease, a posture he said put the team in peril of becoming the “Los Angeles Bills” or the “Toronto Bills.”
Collins refused to discuss details of the negotiations with the football team but acknowledged that he has been involved in them with Bills CEO Russ Brandon for a year.
“Mr. Poloncarz knows nothing of what’s going on in the negotiations,” Collins said. “I see a successful conclusion to these negotiations.”
Collins praised his first four years in public service after spending the previous 35 years building up companies and becoming a millionaire.
Since he has taken office, Collins said, the once “hard control board” in Erie County has been eliminated; the county has regained its financial footing and is balancing its budget; and it has gotten “out of the hospital business” at Erie County Medical Center and has brought about positive developments to the county’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, parks and beaches.
He also said his administration has brought about a reduction of $140 million in the county’s debt with an additional $100 million to come over the next four years.
Collins asked voters to judge him on his first-term results.
“My record speaks for itself — smaller government, less spending, lower taxes,” Collins said.
Poloncarz continually played up his “blue-collar roots” as the son of a steelworker in Lackawanna and repeatedly went after Collins as someone who doesn’t understand the needs of everyday residents.
“[Erie County citizens] want someone from Main Street, not Wall Street,” Poloncarz said. “We need a county executive who represents us.”
He said his “strong background” as the “watchdog” of the county’s finances positions him well for the role of county executive.
“Nobody knows Erie County’s finances more than I do,” Poloncarz said. “This is about like being in Triple A and moving up to Major League Baseball.”