Comptroller's Race

Tuesday is D-Day for all of these races, but the one I’m watching with particular interest is the County Comptroller’s race.

Obviously, I endorse my friend Mark Poloncarz.

I’m joined by Brian Higgins, who has achieved almost god-like status as WNY’s almost-universally-liked politician.

The issue in this race is independence. Specifically, independence from Joel Giambra. If Giambra got his way, he’d tax and spend this county further and further into fiscal disaster. He’s proven through 5 years’ worth of mismanagement and bullshit that he cannot be trusted to even navigate the county forward, much less right it.

Mark’s opponent is Giambra’s hand-picked candidate for Comptroller. He and Giambra have a close, personal 30-year friendship. Giambra asked Mark’s opponent, then a judge, to swear him into office in 2000. While Mark’s opponent airs gutter-dirty, false negative ads against Mark, he’s being almost single-handedly financed in his campaign by Hormoz Mansouri, a man whose company benefits from county contracts, and who is also a close, personal friend of Giambra’s, and is Giambra’s benefactor and fundraiser.

If we elect a Comptroller who is beholden to Joel Giambra and his benefactors, we lose that critical independence – we don’t need a lapdog, we need a guarddog. And Mark Poloncarz is that guarddog.

Mark Poloncarz will safeguard the people’s money and ensure that the spendthrifts in County Hall and the Rath Building don’t spend willy-nilly.

Please visit Mark’s website and examine his 10-point plan for safeguarding our money. You might swing over to his opponent’s site. If you do, you’ll see lots of resume, little plan. Well, it’s time to look forward, not backward. You’ll also not see his opponent’s record of censure for abusing his power as a judge in 2001. When’s the last time your employer censured you?

So, on Tuesday, I urge you to vote and to vote for

(Disclaimer: Mark is a friend of mine, but he did not pay for this endorsement.)