The General Election for county executive started as soon as the polls closed last night. I am proud of my record of strong leadership and fiscal discipline and look forward to a vigorous debate of the issues. Here are just a few things I’ve accomplished these past 4 years:
– Negotiated a Strong Bills Lease that kept the team in Buffalo following Mr. Wilson’s death;
– Lead the community through worst winter snow storm since the Blizzard of 77, 2 additional blizzards in 2014 and other storm events;
– Worked with my community partners to oversee the best economic turnaround our region has ever seen during our lifetimes: 30,000 new private sector jobs in the Buffalo-Niagara Region and the county’s unemployment rate has dropped from 8.9% to 5.7% as of July;
– Managed Erie County government successfully to ensure the People’s Mandates like good parks, libraries and roads are provided, and still ended every year with a budget surplus;
– Worked with our Legislature to reduce taxes for the 2015 Budget;
– Opened the Erie County Health Mall to offer high quality health care to an under-served population, which is helping to reduce Medicaid costs; and
– Created the first Medicaid Inspector General’s Office in Erie County to go after provider waste, fraud and abuse.
These are just a few of the many accomplishments of my administration which will be highlighted in the coming weeks. As I said, I look forward to the debate and running on my record of strong leadership and economic success.