Over the years I have been involved in many campaigns for Erie County Executive. The county is geographically large, has a very big budget, and runs dozens of programs that most county residents come in contact with at one time or another.
If a candidate has had some experience in or around county government then there is a comfort level in discussing programs in detail and offering up plans for what the candidate would do. If the experience is lacking the campaign is a long and hard journey.
County Executive Mark Poloncarz has mentioned at events that he recently met his Republican opponent, Chrissy Casilio, on the campaign trail. She told him it was “hard.”
Casilio entered the race at the end of February, nearly six months ago. During that time she has regularly posted pictures of her campaign appearances on Facebook. She only had a handful of press availabilities. She just recently began posting to her 331 Twitter followers. Her pre-campaign posts as Chrissycaboom raised a stir by circulating conspiracy theories that she said were intended to promote public discussion.
More recently Casilio has focused her attention on the matter of asylum seekers being housed in Erie County. She has attacked Poloncarz as being “responsible for 50+ deaths during the Buffalo Blizzard & the migrant crisis we are experiencing in our community today.”
Her campaign website includes “Chrissy’s Plan,” which is basically five bumper sticker-like bullet points about spending and taxes; growing our economy; improving public safety; getting politics out of county government; and supporting families. There are no details about anything.
Casilio’s most recent public appearance was on WGRZ-TV this past Sunday where she again attacked Poloncarz about the asylum seekers issues. Channel 2’s Andy Paden had a basic question: what is your plan for dealing with this? Her response: “It’s hard to imagine what I would do in the situation but any decision I would make ever at any point puts the interests of Erie County residents first.”
Hard to imagine?
It is hard to imagine how she would implement a ten percent property tax cut she proposed earlier this year that would require significant cuts in county programs.
It is hard to imagine how she would implement her proposal for the county executive to suggest to local school districts how they should spend the sales tax revenues that the county, via a decades-old contract, passes on to the districts.
It is hard to imagine how she would manage the myriad of county programs ranging from public health clinics; to libraries; to homeland security matters; to road projects; to business assistance; to senior and youth activities; to parks; and on and on. If a campaign is hard, imagine how hard it is running a billion and half dollar organization day-to-day.
There’s just over 80 days until the general election. Early voting starts in about 10 weeks. Imagine that.
The News follows the rule on dumping bad information
Anyone involved in government and politics recognizes an unwritten rule when it comes to bad news: send it out on a Friday evening. Most folks are done with work and looking forward to the weekend, so paying attention to what’s happening in the community or world usually moves to the back burner.
This past Friday at 5:31 pm I received an email from Buffalo News President and Publisher Tom Wiley informing me that the cost of my seven-day home delivery would increase 29 percent effective at the end of August. Wiley’s explanation:
“The Buffalo News is where your story lives. Thank you for being a valued subscriber. We’re updating our prices to bring you more coverage of our region and new offers from local businesses… Our newsroom’s unmatched depth and experience makes it uniquely able to cover these historic times – we’ve only just begun.”
This blog on several occasions has expressed support for maintaining a strong local newspaper. The News has some great beat reporters. The editing changes that they are implementing, however, are poor – like a front-page story about local government that flips to page A5, which happens to be a full-page ad for a liquor store; or a front-page headline about tennis star Jessica Pegula that contradicts an inside story; or the incomplete sports reporting that indicates the previous day’s games were night games, no matter when they were played. There is never a box score for the Buffalo Bisons.
The Bills will play a minimum of six night games this season. The paper will be printed in Cleveland starting this fall. Read all about it two after the game?
The good news about the News is that it is now easier to change your subscription online. Just don’t stop at the first alternative option they offer you.
X/Twitter @kenkruly
Threads kenkruly
