ERIE COUNTY, NY – As Election Day draws near, Chris Collins continues to spend his millions running manufactured and deceptive TV ads. His most recent commercial makes outrageous claims that Chris Collins “understands” what Erie County needs to create jobs because he is “not a career politician.” Even The Buffalo News* called out Collins on his rhetoric, stating, “The fact is that despite the platform he campaigned on four years ago, Collins is a politician.” Not only has Collins run for office four times, making him a politician by definition, the simple math shows that Erie County has 14,000 fewer jobs since the beginning of the Collins administration.
The commercials paint a picture that’s far rosier than the one residents are living through,” said Peter Anderson, spokesman for the Mark Poloncarz campaign. “Chris Collins’ TV propaganda can’t hide the fact that 14,000 county residents have lost their jobs since he took office, while he’s added a handful of jobs at his own companies. That’s a lot of people who’ve lost jobs while he’s fattened his own bottom line. It’s also a slap in the face to workers struggling to make ends meet.”
Mark Poloncarz, Democratic candidate for County Executive, recently unveiled an economic agenda that would revitalize Erie County’s skilled workforce, invigorate dormant trade ties with Canada, and initiate new partnerships to foster job creation. View Mark’s full economic development plan here: “Growing Jobs: Creating an Economic Development System that Works for Erie County”
Unemployment is up 3 percent since Chris Collins took office, jobs and people are leaving Erie County since he took office, and he’s been busy creating false realities to cover that up,” Anderson continued. “It’s another façade to fool voters. Look behind it and there’s nothing there. Full of empty promises, Chris Collins doesn’t work for Erie County.”
* The Buffalo News, “The business of politics,” October 5, 2011, http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial-page/article581918.ece