16 days ago
Incumbent Democrat Mark Poloncarz has been declared the winner of Tuesday's race for Erie County Comptroller.
The race between Poloncarz and Republican candidate, Phil Kadet, was close for much of the night - with Poloncarz holding a small lead.
The days leading up to the election were packed with criticisms from both candidates.
Throughout much of the campaign, including during a debate on wgrz.com last week, Poloncarz inferred Kadet could not be independent; charging that he was the hand picked candidate of County Executive Chris Collins.
Meanwhile Kadet claimed his background as a C.P.A made him more qualified for the job. Through TV ads, he criticized Poloncarz for fouling up numbers by projecting a deficit when there was a surplus.
Poloncarz explained during the debate that, "This is what happens in government. Sometimes you get numbers that change and this is exactly what happened. I was relying on the county executive's own numbers, and the county executives staff agreed with me."
"I'll accept your explanation. It probably makes some sense", said Kadet. "The reality is though that this is part of the politicization of the comptroller's office," he said, referring to his often made claim that Poloncarz's has hired assistants based on their political connections.
WGRZ-TV, wgrz.com
