By James Fink
November 9, 2011
Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz pulled off the second major Democratic Party upset victory in the past six month as he ousted incumbent Chris Collins, his Republican challenger, in a bitter campaign for Erie County Executive.
Poloncarz, with over 90 percent of the votes tabulated had 53 percent of the vote to Collins’ 47 percent. Collins conceded the race but did not personally call the County Executive-elect.
Poloncarz, who came from blue-collar, working-class roots in Lackawanna while working his way through law school, will be inaugurated on Jan. 1.
“We can have differences on issues, and I will always give credit to someone willing to stand up in the fray; willing to take a shot,” he told a raucous crowd at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in downtown Buffalo.
The Poloncarz victory comes after a Collins-backed candidate, state Sen. Jane Corwin, a Republican, lost to then-Erie County Clerk Kathy Hochul, a Democratic, in a special election in May for Rep. Chris Lee’s former Congressional seat. Lee’s seat is a heavily Republican district.
Poloncarz was considered a long-shot candidate when he entered the county executive race this spring. His message of returning previously cut county services and allocations resonated with voters. A poll released by Siena Research Institute last month showed the gap between the two narrowing until they pair were statistically tied last week.
Poloncarz received major backing from many labor unions and high-profile Democrats like Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Sen.Charles Schumer and Rep. Brian Higgins.
“This election is about one thing — change,” Cuomo said during a Poloncarz rally on Nov. 4 in Amherst. “Mark Poloncarzgets it. He says ‘I believe in government’.”
Collins becomes the first county executive to only hold his position for a single four-year term. It also returns the politically-strong post to the Democratic Party for the first time since 2000.
At Republican Party headquarters, it was a quiet scene with a heavy tinge of bitterness in the air.
“I just don’t think Chris was able to fully get his message out,” said John Mills, an Orchard Park businessman who is also Republican minority caucus chair of the Erie County Legislature. “Poloncarz was able to get all the negatives out.”
Former National Fuel Gas chairman and current Erie County Industrial Development Agency chairman Phil Ackerman, a close Collins confidante, said he felt the voters didn’t appreciate Collins no-nonsense, business-like approach to running $1 billion a year county government.
“The loss is probably a symbol that the majority of voters still want hand-outs,” Ackerman said.
For his part, Collins was gracious in defeat.
The county executive said he is proud of the fiscal stability he brought to Erie County.
“It is in better today than it was four years ago,” Collins said. “It was a journey. The public has spoken. We accept that. This is a democracy.”
Collins, who owns and operates seven local businesses plus other outside the region, said he will remain a Western New York resident. He will not re-enter the political world, though.
“I’m going back to the private sector,” Collins said. “I know how to create jobs.”