Endorsements

Volker isn't running, I just love this picture at election time.

As Alan noted yesterday, it’s obligatory that the columnists at WNYMedia issue our annual slate of endorsed candidates in local races.  Unlike Alan, I think our endorsements matter, not necessarily as a means to effect votes, but as a part of the continuing development of alternative media in WNY.  30,000 people consume our content on our page or on numerous other aggregators, partner sites, radio shows, news readers and social networks each day.  We’re an informed part of the voting populace and we represent a growing constituency in this region, one that doesn’t regularly read Bob McCarthy’s column in The Buffalo News or watch the half-assed product of our local television news teams.  Politicians need to start working with us, not against us.

So, as a means to continue defining our presence, these endorsements matter.  Take ‘em or leave ‘em.

I’m only issuing endorsements on races I have been watching.  If I leave anything out it’s either because the race is non-competitive or I am not knowledgeable enough about the candidates to make an informed statement.

Erie County Comptroller

Mark Poloncarz.  Yes, he advertises on our site, but Mark is a big boy who gets new media and understands that reaching our readers and expecting our endorsement are two completely different things.  I’d gladly accept advertising money from Phil Kadet, but his campaign manager kept asking us to interview Phil for our “magazine”, so I don’t think they really understand the whole Internet thing.  I digress…

Mark has proven himself to be competent, professional and diligent in his role as County Comptroller and he has been a nice counterbalance to both County Executive Collins and the Erie County Legislature.  Much has been made by Kadet’s campaign that Mark is too political, but Kadet sure didn’t have any problem taking $10K from Collins’ Taxpayers First PAC which is funded by the BNP as well as associates of Steve Pigeon and Joel Giambra, did he?  He sure didn’t have a problem holding fundraisers in the living room of Chris Collins or having Chris pull money in from the Associated Building Contractor lobby or asking Collins to show up at his fundraisers as a special guest or pay for his advertisements with Greener and Hook, did he?  Yeah, Kadet is non-political, my ass.

I’m sure Phil Kadet is a nice guy, but he’s been suckling from the public teat as an adviser to the County for nearly two decades and was recruited by Collins to be a rubber stamp for his budgets, forecasts and policies.  I’ll stick with Mark and his cadre of bookish nerds in the Comptroller’s office, thank you very much.

Erie County Sheriff

John Glascott is my pick.  Did Glascott do enough to define himself as a candidate?  Who knows and who cares?  This election is a referendum on Tim Howard and his inability to perform the basic duties expected of a County Sheriff.  He has failed, epically.   His failures have been recounted on these pages regularly and it’s seems repetitive to mention them yet again.  If you were to make a documentary of Howard’s tenure as Erie County Sheriff, the soundtrack would undoubtedly be Yakety Sax.  At this point, I’d vote for Mike Hudson and his diseased liver over Tim Howard for Sheriff.

Erie County Legislature – 9th District

Christina Wleklinski Bove is my pick.  If you’ve driven through West Seneca at election time in the past few years, you’re familiar with the ubiquitous signs for Bove littered around the district.  She is a tireless campaigner and has a solid track record of finding efficiencies and implementing cost cutting strategies in West Seneca.  She’s innovative, dramatic, interesting and will certainly spice up the legislative chambers.  Her opponent Brian Wirth’s primary qualification appears to be that he is the grandson of longtime politician Sandra Lee Wirth.  He’s taken a few classes at ECC and has worked as a roofer for his Uncle and as a realtor for his Grandma.  He’s also endorsed by the local teabaggers, who are evidently not concerned with credentials, skills, education or anything like that…

Erie County Legislature – 10th District

I endorsed Kevin Hardwick shortly after he announced his candidacy and I stand by that endorsement today.  He’s a good man and will do a quality job serving the residents of his district.

Erie County Legislature – 12th District

Bob Reynolds has done a quality job as a county legislator and deserves to keep his seat.  Unfortunately, he opposed Chris Collins on several issues in the last year and thus earned a Collins sponsored challenge from former Channel 2 reporter Lynne Dixon.  Reynolds has 30 years under his belt as an employee of Ford and understands that there are benefits to implementing Six Sigma as an efficiency tool.  However, he has been outspoken in his criticism of how Collins has implemented Sigma as Collins is yet to demonstrate meaningful savings with his program.  Reynolds has been an advocate for the Distressed Property Task Force and a leader on labor and efficiency issues.  He’s a good government legislator and Dixon doesn’t have an edge in experience, qualifications or unique legislative proposals which would provide reason to replace Reynolds.

Erie County Legislature – 14th District

Tom Loughran might be the least dynamic man to ever hold office in the Erie County Legislature.  He’s a smart businessman and an effective legislator, but he is not a gifted retail politician or fundraiser.  Contrast with his opponent, Shelly Schratz, whose primary claim to fame is unpaid taxes, “stirring the pot”, and being shrill.  The Amherst Town Board is a model of inefficient governance and immaturity and she has been a major instigator of that silliness.  Do we really want to promote her to higher office?  Sure, she can impress a room of teabaggers with her small government buzzwords, but when it comes down to doing the business of a legislator, Schratz has proven ineffective. Loughran might not be interesting, but he has done good work in the legislature as a budget skeptic and advocate for sensitive environmental policy.

Orchard Park Town Supervisor

Patrick Keem is a lifelong Orchard Park resident and Chairman of the Erie County Citizens Budget Review Commission.  He has tirelessly campaigned for the office and has a detailed strategic plan for the Town of Orchard Park.   His opponent, Town Clerk Janis Colarusso, fought Kevin Gaughan every step of the way in regards to the vote to downsize town government and has spent 30 years working in the public sector as a party apparatchik.  She traffics in the sort of doubleplus ungood, non-committal reform speak of middle rung politicos.  You wouldn’t know any of this based on the tenor of the campaign, which has been professional, polite and focused on issues in the town, a refreshing rarity in the local political wars.

Mayor Of Buffalo

Unfortunately, the Erie County GOP has given up on the City of Buffalo and decided to depress urban turnout to benefit their countywide candidates by not running a candidate in this year’s Mayoral contest.  I’m advising everyone I know to write in “None Of The Above” in the Mayor’s race as a statement of dissatisfaction with both the middling performance of Byron Brown and the lack of choice in this year’s election.  If I had a choice between Byron Brown and Random Republican Guy with a pulse, I’d pull the lever for the Republican.  Since I don’t, it’s “None of the above”.