A good political attack ad goes after your opponent’s record. A bad one concedes the election two months before voters ever head to the polls.
That’s exactly what Republican Lynne Dixon managed to inadvertently accomplish in her newest campaign ad.
Bottom line… pay raise for the County Executive position don’t take effect until after this upcoming election.
So that means either one of two things:
- It’s a blatant lie and local TV stations shouldn’t allow it to air
- She’s not planning on ever winning the election.
Our second TV ad is on the air! We're paying record high taxes, yet our roads are a mess. Mark Poloncarz promised to invest and fix our roads, but instead he orchestrated a pay raise for himself. We all deserve better. pic.twitter.com/hKggj7wKsI
— Lynne Dixon (@votelynne) September 10, 2019
Not unlike President Trump and Republican’s across the country, the Erie County Republican committee candidate continues her campaign of lies and misinformation.
The new ad shows Republican Dixon driving around in a dirty SUV while lying about how current Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz “gave himself a raise” instead of fixing roads.
Truth is that since 2012, Erie County has spent $450 Million on County road repairs. That sounds like a major investment if we’ve ever seen one.
Secondly, Mark Poloncarz didn’t give himself a raise. it was the County chartered (Since 1986) Citizens Salary Review Commission that recommended the pay raises and the Legislature who passed them.
The Citizens Salary Review Commission was established in 1986 as Article 22-B (now Article 22-A) of the Erie County Charter. The commission consists of nine members representative of taxpayer, civic, labor, business, professional, financial and minority groups in the county of Erie. Five (5) members of the commission are appointed by the County Executive. Two (2) members of the commission are appointed by the Legislature’s Majority, one (1) member is appointed by the Legislature’s Minority and one (1) member is appointed by the County Comptroller.
According to the County Charter, “Such a review of salaries must occur during every even year starting with 1986”.
It was this Citizens Salary Review Commission who recommended pay raises for the County Executive, Comptroller, and Sheriff positions. The commission did not suggest raises for all county officials — nor did it recommend raises as high as what prior panels endorsed. Instead, it recommended raises based on its research of other communities of similar population and wealth.
The recommendations were then passed by the Erie County Legislature with the new salaries going into effect after the next election cycle for each position.
So in order for Mark Poloncarz to receive the raise that Dixon claims he gave himself, he first needs to win re-election.
How fast do you think Dixon will be giving that pay raise back if she happens to win in November?
Similar to a Dixon victory, not very likely.
