By Sandra Tan | News Staff Reporter | @BNschoolzone
on October 14, 2015 – 7:59 PM, updated October 15, 2015 at 7:48 AM
The race for Erie County executive may not be glamorous, but the broadcast debate Wednesday night pitting Republican challenger Raymond W. Walter against Democratic incumbent Mark C. Poloncarz was enough to keep voters engaged.
The hourlong debate, the only one of the campaign, touched on everything from economic growth and taxes to snowstorms and football stadiums.
Both candidates acquitted themselves respectably in the live debate held in the WNED-TV studio in downtown Buffalo, with neither caught flat-footed or grossly uninformed on many issues raised by journalists from The Buffalo News, WGRZ-TV and WBFO radio.
But Walter, an assemblyman from Amherst, clearly had the tougher challenge – to decisively take down a four-year incumbent with a scandal-free administration and fiscally sound record.
County Republican Chairman Nicholas A. Langworthy said Walter distinguished himself by presenting a concrete plan to lower property taxes.
County Democratic Chairman Jeremy J. Zellner, meanwhile, said Poloncarz stayed ahead of the game by reminding county residents that they have enjoyed a stable, functioning government devoid of the types of chaos or controversy that have plagued predecessors.
Early on, Walter went on the offensive against Poloncarz’s record during last November’s devastating lake-effect snowstorm. Poloncarz touted the county’s tireless and rapid response to the historic storm, his prompt enlistment of state support, and the county’s storm readiness looking to the future.
But Walter downplayed Poloncarz’s efforts, saying:
“You’re running for county executive in a county that gets a lot of snow. Keeping the roads clear is practically in the job description. So running around, patting yourself on the back for keeping the roads clear is a little much.
“But for as many people who can say you did a great job, we’ve talked to people throughout the county … (who) said they were practically ignored during that storm.”
However, Walter found himself on the defensive after holding a news conference Tuesday and again asserting during the debate Wednesday that the state Attorney General’s Office was looking into possible criminal wrongdoing in the county’s Department of Public Works when the Attorney General’s Office has made it clear that is not the case.
“Leadership sometimes means not going out there and jumping to conclusions when you don’t have all the facts,” Poloncarz said.
Poloncarz pointed to 12,000 new jobs created in the county under his administration, although fact-checkers later determined that some of those figures are offset by job losses and retirements.
Walter did not deny Poloncarz’s claims about increased employment but said the county executive benefited from a global expansion that has led to job growth across the country.
“Mark Poloncarz had as much to do with creating those jobs and I did in recruiting Jack Eichel for the Sabres,” Walter said, referring to the NHL team’s star rookie forward.
A unique aspect of this debate was the use of a team a journalists in the “Rapid Response Room” who served as fact-checkers and periodically broke into the debate to assess the truthfulness and context of each candidate’s responses.
For instance, a key area where Walter tried to gain an edge was his plan to reduce property taxes and encourage job growth by pushing a new sales tax revenue distribution formula, which would equally distribute sales tax revenues to communities based on population.
Such a shift also would contribute more money directly to public schools, including the Buffalo Public Schools, but it would otherwise pull more revenue away from a shrinking city such as Buffalo and send it to the suburbs.
Poloncarz criticized the concept as “a bad plan that will do more harm than good,” especially for Buffalo, which is considered one of the poorest cities in the nation.
Fact-checkers later stated that the county already contributes less revenue to Buffalo than other county governments contribute to the smaller cities of Syracuse and Rochester.
The county executive, meanwhile, touted his hiring of additional case workers to address personnel shortages in the county’s Department of Social Services.
Poloncarz said caseloads have fallen from a peak of more than 50 per caseworker to an average of 22, but fact-checkers determined that this ratio is still 30 percent higher than state guidelines recommend.
Both candidates were given the chance to ask each other one question – an opportunity that Poloncarz used to great advantage. The county executive referred to Walter’s record as a county legislator during the administration of Republican Chris Collins, now a congressman.
“You truly were the hatchet man for Chris Collins, where you helped him cut programs like health clinics, like libraries, like arts and cultural institutions,” Poloncarz said.
“How can you now say you’re going to give everything to everyone when your proven track record is otherwise?”
Walter responded that the Democrats were unwilling to partner with the county executive and reach compromises.
The Republican challenger then asked Poloncarz if he would promise not to raise taxes over the next four years.
“I have no intention to,” Poloncarz said. “It’s as simple as that.”
email: stan@buffnews.com