Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz, who is running for Erie County executive against incumbent Chris Collins, doesn't believe the $2,560 contribution from UB to Collins' re-election campaign was an honest mistake, as UB officials have said.
"Shame on them for risking their tax-exempt status," Poloncarz said. "Shame on them."
The $2,560 donation came from The Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE), of UB's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which sold a business management strategy called Lean Six Sigma to the Collins administration for $449,250.10 in 2008.
Poloncarz said he won't need such a strategy if he is elected in November.
"I won't have to hire an outside consultant at half-a-million dollars," Poloncarz said. "I don't care what you call it – Alpha Bravo One Two Three. It's just bad business for the county."
Poloncarz, a Democrat, also said the Six Sigma strategy has not resulted in the projected savings that Collins, a Republican, had promised.
The $2,560 contribution was only one of many issues that Poloncarz spoke with WRUB radio and The Spectrum about on Monday.
On the radio
Though he was kind enough to speak to The Spectrum, Poloncarz's visit to UB was for an in-studio guest appearance on WRUB, UB's student-run radio station headquartered in the Ellicott Complex.
He was interviewed on senior political science major James Gibbons' Full Disclosure, a weekly talk show that streams live on www.wrub.org on Mondays from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Poloncarz spoke to WRUB about a range of topics, including his alma mater – the University at Buffalo.
"Advancing UB will advance Erie County," Poloncarz said. "People have got to see UB as an economic driver for the community. UB has a tremendous impact on the community."
One of the things Poloncarz would like to see is an expansion of the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) metro line, which currently ends at South Campus, into Amherst.
"The main research area is North Campus; it should be easily accessible," Poloncarz said.
However, he cautioned that since the government does not directly run NFTA, it might not be compelled to do anything. Poloncarz certainly encourages and supports the idea of running the metro line further into the suburbs, though. He'd also like to see the line run directly to the airport, which is in Cheektowaga.
Poloncarz also has plans for Erie Community College, which receives direct subsidies from the county. But he recognizes that these plans may call for tuition increases.
"It's important for UB to have a strong ECC, now that credits transfer from ECC to UB," Poloncarz said.
Poloncarz intertwined his vision for UB with his vision for his number-one goal: job creation, a task he designated as the "number-one responsibility" for the county executive.
He'd like to see the students of UB choosing to stay in the Buffalo area after graduation – settling down, making lives, and starting families in Western New York. But he admits that as long as the economy is suffering, that won't happen.
"Everywhere I go, the number one thing people want to talk about here is jobs," Poloncarz told The Spectrum. "Other things, like libraries, like cultural institutions, those are important too, but the number one thing here is always jobs."
Poloncarz is hoping that he will find himself with a new job as of Nov. 8, but he encourages everyone to get involved in the electoral process, regardless of who wins.
"You have to vote," Poloncarz said. "No matter what, get out and vote."
Poloncarz vs. Collins
Poloncarz also spoke to The Spectrum about his current race against Collins. Recent polls have shown it to be neck-and-neck, even though Collins' campaign has much more money than Poloncarz's.
"My supporters are enthused, and the Collins voters aren't, really," Poloncarz said. "It's a dead heat, and the momentum is on my side."
Poloncarz is a Lackawanna native, graduating from Lackawanna Senior High School in 1985. He grew up there, along with his two brothers, under the guidance of his father, Charles, a Bethlehem Steel worker, and his mother, Janice, a nurse. Poloncarz cites his ties to Western New York as one of his major differences from Collins.
"You need to have the pulse of the community," Poloncarz said on WRUB. "Chris Collins doesn't have those ties."
While it may be true that Collins wasn't born in Western New York (he was born in Schenectady, N.Y.), he has spent the past 35 years in the Buffalo-Niagara area developing and investing in private businesses.
Collins brought that mentality to his foray into politics. He was elected in 2007 after promising to "run the county like a business." Poloncarz, however, disagrees with such a platform.
"You can't run certain things like a business," Poloncarz said. "It's not the government's job to make money, but to provide services."
Gibbons and WRUB are waiting for the Collins campaign's reply after requesting for a similar interview with Collins.
Email: news@ubspectrum.com
