The following is the text of a speech as prepared for delivery by Mark Poloncarz on April 16, 2005 announcing his candidacy for Erie County Comptroller.

Good afternoon. My name is Mark Poloncarz. Today I am pleased to announce my candidacy to be the next Comptroller for Erie County. I am here to ask for your help and support so that I can restore fiscal discipline, integrity and responsible government to Erie County.

I am proud to announce here in my hometown of Lackawanna, with so many friends and family at my side. My fiancée, Elizabeth Smith is here, along with my parents, Charles, a retired Bethlehem Steelworker, and Janice, a registered nurse retired from Mercy Hospital.

My parents raised their three sons to have strong values. They fostered in us an appreciation for education, a strong work ethic, and financial discipline, as well as balancing your checkbook. They instilled in me the virtues of honesty, integrity and responsibility, and the belief that the only way to make your community a better place is to play an active role in that community. That’s why I am here today – to step forward to improve the state of the county.

I am not an elected official. And I have never sought or been appointed to any paid political position. I am an attorney in private practice in the City of Buffalo. I advise businesses and non-profit agencies, both large and small, on how to survive and even flourish during tough fiscal times. I am running because I, like so many others out there, am disgusted with the current direction our county is heading, and I am confident I will do a better job than our current comptroller.

This is a watershed year for the future of Erie County and for all of Western New York. This election offers voters a clear choice. Will we move forward with a new vision for Erie County, or will we continue down a road of fiscal ruin and failed leadership? Isn’t it about time we send professionals into county hall to accomplish what we elect politicians to do in the first place – to lead even during trying times.

I enter this race because the people of Erie County deserve a leader who will always hold their best interests at heart. The Erie County Comptroller has one basic responsibility – to ensure that county taxpayers get their money’s worth with a balanced, yet fiscally disciplined budget. Whoever is in the comptroller’s office has the tools and power to prevent a fiscal crisis. But the tools and power won’t do any good if the comptroller refuses to use everything at their disposal.

As your comptroller I will use those tools in a non-partisan way to restore integrity, accountability, and responsibility to that office. Unlike the current comptroller, I will use the power of the audit to ensure your money is being spent wisely.

If I was the comptroller the scandals of the past 4 years would never have happened. It should have not taken the FBI’s involvement to make Nancy Naples investigate the scandals at the Aurora garage – she should have been on top of it from day one.

When the county executive gave his best friend a huge no bid contract the comptroller should have stopped writing the checks, but she didn’t.

Since taking office in 2000 Joel Giambra has used a whole series of gimmicks to balance his budgets. And Nancy Naples gave the comptroller’s approval to all those phony tricks. Then in 2005 they ran out of tricks and were finally caught.

The people of Erie County deserve a leader who will work hard to prevent further fiscal ruin. And one who will at least identify the coming storm before it hits. It does not matter if you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, if you allowed Erie County to become the fiscal laughingstock of our state and the poster-child for everything that is wrong with government you should be held accountable.

I want to lead Erie County in a new direction - a direction where our elected officials are measured on their successes, not on their failures. On my watch you will not see the risky schemes that have nearly bankrupted the county. On my watch you can be assured that we will not have to call in the state comptroller’s office to figure out what’s happened to the taxpayer’s money. Isn’t that what Nancy Naples is being paid to do in the first place?

I will be a true independent fiscal watchdog for the people of Erie County, and I will go one step further. I’ll be a guard dog of the taxpayers’ money. I will guard your money like it’s my own.

The County Comptroller’s office should never be used for partisan advantage. To truly be an independent fiscal watchdog means more than calling yourself one, but by putting your words into action by setting partisan politics and personal ambition aside in the tradition of past comptrollers Henry Nowak and Alfreda Slominski.

Unfortunately the current comptroller did not do so. She should have gone directly to the people to let them know that the county’s finances were careening towards a brick wall. Instead she continued to sign the checks that paid for the county executive’s reckless budgets and failed to see the financial meltdown that Erie County was facing.

The comptroller and county executive along with others have badly mismanaged the county’s finances. They have wasted the taxpayers’ money. They have seriously damaged the County’s credibility in the community and its bond rating on Wall Street. As a result the taxpayers of Erie County will be paying for this budget crisis for many years to come.

They refuse to accept full responsibility for their past actions. And even more telling, the comptroller put her own personal ambition in front of her responsibilities to the people of Erie County by seeking higher office at a time when we needed her most.

I guess that should not be surprising. Unfortunately, no one in government is willing to take responsibility for their actions or decisions. They try to blame their failures on someone or something else.

Some blame Erie County’s fiscal mess solely on Medicaid. But that is not the primary reason why we are in the current condition today. It is more the result of the fiscal mismanagement by our current elected officials than anything else. However, I understand the impact Medicaid has on Erie County’s future and look forward to working constructively with our state legislative delegation to improve the management of the Medicaid program and to reduce the burden on county taxpayers.

I know that the job will not be easy, there are difficult days ahead and decisions that need to be made to right our sinking fiscal ship, but just because a job is difficult does not mean it shouldn’t be undertaken. You will never have to question whether I am working hard on your behalf, and my leadership will re-establish trust in the comptroller’s office.

I still believe that Erie County’s best days are ahead of us. I see A future where our young people – unfortunately our greatest export today, including both of my brothers – will find the good paying jobs that keeps them in the community that raised them. A community that gave them as good as education as you can find anywhere else in this country. The community that you and I so dearly love.

I see a future where leaders make decisions not based on the impact they will have on re-election, but on what is in the best interests of those they represent. A future where integrity, responsibility and fiscal discipline in county government are the norm, not some unobtainable goal.

My candidacy offers all voters, regardless of party affiliation, the opportunity to send a powerful message – let’s unite now and begin to clean up Erie County government. I know that under my leadership we will right Erie County’s sinking ship. That is why I have entered this race, and ask the people of Erie County for their support so that we can work together to restore fiscal discipline, integrity and responsibility to Erie County.

Thank you.