His words and actions sure make it seem like Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz has his eyes on running for Congress in either the NY 23 or NY 24 districts currently represented by Republicans Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney.
Poloncarz attended a community town hall outside Erie County in the NY24 district in Batavia Tuesday evening. It was an event organized by a concerned citizens group.
Earlier in the day, WBEN asked Poloncarz if he had intentions to run for Congress and asked if his purchase of a home outside Erie County was any indication of planning to do so.
"I’m a Buffalo resident, I’m not moving from Buffalo," Poloncarz said. "I bought a vacation home, that doesn’t mean anything.
Actually, where I bought it is not a district where I would run. Because it’s actually in the Syracuse area and it’s represented by a friend of mine."
The county executive also recently held a town hall of his own in the rural Town of Concord in southern Erie County, a Republican-leaning area in Langworthy's district. The site selection also raised political eyebrows and suspicions he was goading Langworthy, who has only been holding town hall discussions via telephone of late.
And on a day when there was a large 'Hands Off' rally in downtown Buffalo, Poloncarz chose to travel to Seneca Falls for a smaller rally in Tenney's congressional district.
"I think the people of the NY 23rd and 24th district deserve to hear from their elected officials and right now they have a couple ‘wimps’ in Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney who are refusing to show their face in public because they are afraid of dealing with their constituents," Poloncarz said Tuesday. "They like to hear right wing radio, they like to hear Fox News, but they don’t want to see their constituents, because their constituents are angry."
Poloncarz said many of his constituents are also Langworthy's constituents and they are angry, he said.
"If you’re an elected official and you’re too afraid to show your face in public and have a town hall meeting, you should resign, because you don’t deserve to be an elected representative of the public if you too afraid to show your face and talk to your constituents."
So, is he running?
"I certainly could do a better job, but that doesn’t mean I’m running."
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