Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - St. Joseph's Collegiate Institute will, once again, serve as host to another local political debate, this time for Erie County Executive.
Thursday morning at 9:30 a.m. ET, Democratic incumbent Mark Poloncarz will take the stage next to his Republican challenger Chrissy Casilio for the first time to debate and discuss the issues of Erie County.
The debate will air LIVE on WBEN 930 AM and on the Audacy app.
Will Poloncarz secure an unprecedented fourth term as County Executive, or will Casilio prevail?
WBEN spoke with political analyst and strategist Carl Calabrese on what he would advise Chrissy Casilio to do going forward in the debate and campaign.
"She's got to put forward a vision that she would pursue if elected, that's much different than the vision that Poloncarz has pursued," said Calabrese.
"When you when you look at executives, they fall into different types of categories. There's a category called the caretaker, the manager, and that's Mark Poloncarz, a day to day manager, not a visionary guy and then there's what's called the entrepreneurial leader, who has a big picture vision. I think that's where she's got to come down. What that vision is, I don't know, maybe she'll unveil it [during the debate], but it's got to be much different. It's got to be interesting, and it's got to be the type of vision that gets people excited and says, 'Yes, this is the way we should go.'"
What will Poloncarz have to do to win the debate? If you ask Ken Kruly from PoliticsAndStuff.com, it's to speak to what've he's been doing, to what he's accomplished.
"I think that he's in a position where he can discuss the things that have been accomplished in the 12 years that he's been county executive, the stability of the county of finances, increased credit ratings, taxes down a bit, improved additional Sheriff patrols and health care services. So he'll be discussing the things that he's accomplished and I think he'll be very comfortable with discussing that. He'll also be noting that he's been out there doing that consistently, unlike his opponent, who's skipped the last two debates."
What are the issues most likely to be discussed?
"Taxes, roads are always and issue and obviously, there have been some new issues that have been injected into the debate just in the last few months, the migrant situation, and I think Chrissy Casilio really has some opportunities to exploit that. For example, she should demand that Mark Poloncarz cover the shortfalls for all of the school districts that have had to pick up these extra costs [in educating migrants]," Calabrese notes.
The debate starts at 9:30 a.m. ET, and can be heard live on WBEN News Radio 930.
