CLARENCE, N.Y. — The Republican candidate for Erie County Executive, Chrissy Casilio, spoke to 2 On Your Side about her run for office and her past postings on social media.
We actually spoke with the candidate about a variety of topics stemming from her plans if she would be elected as county executive.
We'll begin now with her social media philosophy and comments.
Casilio admits she tweeted about various issues. They include the injury for the Bills' Damar Hamlin and what her tweet referred to as potential related fake PR stunts, who was actually involved in the January 6th incident where demonstrators gained access to the U.S. Capitol, and the credibility of the 2020 presidential election.
That was all before she announced her candidacy and that account was since deleted. So now what does she have to say about it?
"You can confirm them, have you seen some of the things that have been printed?" 2 On Your Side's Ron Plants said.
"I have seen them and I'm taking full accountability," Casilio said.
"Okay, so you did text or tweet those okay? What was going through your mind when you did that?"
"Simply put - as a private citizen at the time and just in general - the way social media works - you participate in conversation. Whether I made the right decisions or not - that is yet to be determined. But that's part of the fun of social media. Is engaging, poking, stirring the pot."
"Even as a private citizen - it does kinda raise questions of judgement? Can't you see that?" Plants asked.
"I could see where they use it as the judgement but social media, especially as a private citizen it is a different bear. What they should be seeing is the record and the status of Erie County. And hopefully their decisions are going to be made based on what will be best for Erie County," Casilio said.
But we at 2 On Your Side wanted to go beyond this issue of social media and campaign rhetoric to help you as a voter.
We also interviewed Casilio to hear about her plans if she wins election as Erie County Executive.
First off, one of the first specific campaign positions we have heard from Casilio regards a favorite political discussion - taxes.
"One of the things I'm planning on doing is to cut property taxes by 10%. That will address inflation, that will address having hopefully some more money in people's pockets. We are taxed in Erie County - we pay more taxes than 80% of the country. So let's address that and figure out how we can get a little bit of relief for our family members," she said.
However the prospect of a potential looming recession and past examples of risky decisions like the infamous red - green budget of the Giambra administration which lead to county service cuts, that lead us to ask what she would say to people who are thinking "let's be careful here."
"We definitely need to be careful and this is where my experience (applies) as a business owner of 10 plus years. I'm balancing budgets for my clients. I'm spending their money appropriately for whatever is best for their situation. So to answer that question I know that right now we face the situation where the county government has had (a) surplus - every year from our tax dollars. I also know that Erie County government has spent more than a billion dollars more than before. I also know that inflation is hurting the taxpayers, prices at grocery stores are hurting taxpayers," Casilio said.
We also asked her if she thought there are any areas within the county budget and departments that should be scrutinized more.
"I will say, that in general I plan on holding the commissioners more accountable in performance but also in managing the budgets. We have to get overtime under control and more importantly we have to make sure that all of the employees are working efficiently for the department."
We also learned that candidate Casilio feels proper recovery from COVID-19 is a big part of the job at the Rath Building.
While we'll never forget those lost in the COVID pandemic, we also saw the staggering impacts on business and education with sometimes controversial shutdowns and conditions imposed by government leaders including Erie County.
Casilio feels on-going recovery with COVID funding should also be a prime role for County Executive.
"We have, right now, a school busing crisis in the City of Buffalo where we can't even get kids to school. We had a hundred-ish plus restaurants close down since COVID. We still have businesses that are struggling to catch up. I would have thought that a responsible thing to do with the COVID relief funds is to address the problems that were a result of COVID. And that hasn't happened. We've got sewer projects, we've got park projects, we've got overtime up the wazoo. And his justification for that was of it's from the COVID relief - that's not acceptable," she said.
"What kind of money, what kind of support has gone into helping them?"
She didn't say specifically how to help businesses, and of course there were previous major federal government loan programs and assistance.
But again, how else would Casilio do it? She suggests maybe bully pulpit leverage.
"There's $180 Million dollars from the sales tax that goes to the schools. You can't tell me that a leadership position like County Executive can't have at least some influence, some conversation with the various districts on how to best use the money," she said.
We asked if that was a job that was up to school board and superintendents to make decisions on.
Casilio replied, "My position as County Executive is to help support the schools and make sure that they are going through the proper recovery post-COVID. Early intervention, getting kids all back up to speed. Making sure that kids are getting to school. COVID in a way, you can say, caused the school bus driving shortage."
But overall, is she really ready as a complete newcomer with no government experience and can really prove that she will know what she is doing?
"I know that I care enough about Erie County. That change is needed. We need new leadership. We need new energy. We need a new perspective. We need a mom. We need a business owner. We need somebody that knows what these, the county taxpayers, have been going through and can address those issues head on," she replied.
On Tuesday, we will hear from the Democratic candidate for Erie County Executive - incumbent Mark Poloncarz.