Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - It's full speed ahead for Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz as he navigates his reelection campaign for a 4th term in office.
Poloncarz talked a lot about numerous issues facing Erie County in a wide-ranging interview on WBEN's Hardline Sunday with Joe Beamer. One thing he never discussed was his opponent, Republican Chrissy Casilio, a newcomer to the political scene who is hoping to stop Poloncarz at the end of this term.
Why another term?
"There's more work to be done," said Poloncarz in summing up why he is fighting to remain in office for a 4th term. "I feel like I still have a lot to give."
Poloncarz describes his current term as 'a lost term', blaming the pandemic, response to the racially-motivated mass shooting at Tops and the two historic snow storms in 2022.
"We really just couldn't do much because of having to respond to all these terrible events."
COVID : Would he do anything different?
The COVID pandemic was laced with decisions that were made about how to respond to the unprecedented health care crisis. When asked about how Erie County responded, Poloncarz stood by his decisions and said they were made with the best information at the time.
"You have to go by the information that is presented to you at the time," Poloncarz said as he recalled a number of decisions made during the pandemic that we can now look back at and describe as unnecessary. Washing food, for example, as a way to ward off COVID proved to be unnecessary as it became known that the virus was transmitted airborne and not via solid surfaces.
When asked about local businesses and if they will get any assistance in making a comeback after the devastating restrictions placed upon them during the pandemic, Poloncarz said his administration has supported local businesses more so than other counties.
"The county has probably put in more than $25 million since the pandemic began, just on small businesses."
Poloncarz noted more than 3,000 Erie County residents lost their lives to COVID.
Overtime
Poloncarz addressed the hundreds of thousands of dollars in overtime that was paid to Health Commissioner Dr. Gale Burstein during the course of the pandemic by pointing out that the highest overtime earnings were for a member of the Sheriff's office.
"There was a lot of critique about one individual, but it ran that way for all of the departments and offices in Erie County," said Poloncarz. "We have to follow the Fair Labor Standards Act of the Federal government and NYS labor laws."
Poloncarz did acknowledge that as a result of the overtime issue, changes have been made to avoid such substantial payouts to managerial-confidential employees in the future.
"Everything has been adjusted to address these in the future."
Rift with the mayor
In the days following the December 2022 blizzard in Buffalo, Poloncarz lashed out at Mayor Byron Brown during a press conference, attacking city snow clearing efforts and blaming the mayor for mismanagement during the storm.
Poloncarz subtly acknowledged the rift by mentioning that most people were aware of it. "The mayor and I have talked about it," he said. "We patched it up."
There are no county roads in the City of Buffalo, Poloncarz noted, and he pointed out that the county was integral in ultimately getting city streets reopened after the storm.
"In the blizzard, we came in and basically, with the city and New York State, opened up the city of Buffalo in 36 hours."
Bills lease/stadium
"The Bills will be here through 2055," proclaimed Poloncarz as a result of the lease and stadium deal recently negotiated with the NFL franchise. The complicated deal between the county, New York State and the team is all but completed, only awaiting a final and expected vote of approval from the Erie County Legislature, likely next month.
"It's a 30 year lease with an exceptionally strong non-relocation agreement that requires them to stay here and if they try to move, then we go to a court of law to enforce the non-relocation agreement."
Seeing the stadium construction begin and ultimately completed on his watch it one of the key reasons he mentioned in wanting to run for a 4th term in office.
Cash vs. Borrowing
Thanks to a bipartisan agreement recently reached between the Democrats and Republicans in the Erie County Legislature, the busy road reconstruction season is getting underway with funding in place.
There was a deep-seeded disagreement between Poloncarz and the Democrats who wanted to borrow for many of the necessary construction projects instead of paying cash from a fund balance, as Republicans thought would be more prudent.
"We prefer to borrow it so we can pay it off over a 5 or ten year period, rather than just use all cash up front," Poloncarz noted.
"Twitter is dying, it's as simple as that," Poloncarz told Beamer when asked about his Twitter feed and the toxic nature of social media.
"There are many different ways to reach people. The vast majority of the people and voters in Erie County, are not on Twitter. There's a very small percentage of people who are on Twitter."
As quick as he was to claim Twitter is dying, he also said he has among the largest Twitter followings of local politicians and admitted the social media giant is a great way to get information out fast.
When asked if he feels he should tone down his posts on Twitter at all, Poloncarz said, "There are tweets I have never sent, and if I had I would want to have done the undo button."
Going Electric
It's no secret Poloncarz is a staunch supporter of New York Governor Kathy Hochul.
On of the key issues that is leading to disagreement in Albany and no agreement yet on a new budget is the Hochul administration's insistence that the state move away from fossil fuels, including natural gas, first in new buildings and ultimately in all structures statewide by 2035.
"There's no such thing as an electric snow plow that works," quipped Poloncarz when asked about the issue. "We're sill purchasing vehicles that are diesel based."
Poloncarz noted there are some struggles in making a shift away from fossil fuels but supports a move toward reducing the county and state's carbon footprint. He said Erie County is in compliance with parameters set by the Paris Climate Accord.
"We need to do a better job as a community."
Support for Biden
It's also no secret Poloncarz is a strong supporter of President Joe Biden and he said he would support him in his expected bid for reelection.
Based on current polling, Poloncarz expects former President Donald Trump to be the Republican nominee for President. "I believe Joe Biden is a strong candidate to run against him."
Poloncarz points to the legislation put forth by Biden as a main reason for supporting him, noting specifically the infrastructure bill and Inflation Recovery Act."
"Yeah he's older, but he's been a very consequential President."
What's Next?
Poloncarz no longer faces a primary challenge after Democrat Nate McMurray dropped from the race shortly after Casilio announced her candidacy for county executive.
Election Day is November 7, 2023.
