However, Poloncarz never let any of this deter him from running an aggressive, highly energetic campaign. This with the help of his very aggressive committee in Lackawana headed by Fran Warthling. The result was an overwhelming win that marks him as a rising star in Western New York politics.

Still, having won his landslide victory over Canavan, Comptroller-elect Poloncarz decided to pursue an understandable private priority immediately after election day: He took a much postponed honeymoon with his new wife in the Caribbean. Now that he’s back, Erie County’s first Democratic comptroller since Henry Nowak is pledging to work with everyone involved to solve WNY’s continuing budget crisis.

“County Executive Giambra did reach out to me on election night and told me he wanted to work with me to solve our problems and I told him I also wanted to work with him and the Legislature and I meant that sincerely,” Polonacarz reports. “The only way we are ever going to find answers to our problems is if we all work together and I hope we will be able to do that. I’m going to be reaching out to a lot of people including the county executive, the legislature, the current comptroller and others toward that end.”

Also among the comptroller-elect immediate priorities is to meet with the professional staff of the comptroller’s office.

“I want to meet with them and get to know them as soon as I can,” he notes. “We are going to be working very closely together and the sooner we get to know each other the better.”

Poloncarz is pleased that two more auditor positions have been restored to the office since election day.

“I know that I won’t have as many auditors as there was at one point in the past,” he acknowledges. “But, I am glad that we are going to have at least two more. These auditors make about $35,000 per year and if their work can save us a few hundred thousand in the course of that time, then obviously they are more than worth it.”

As for the ongoing fiscal crisis itself, Comptroller-elect Poloncarz pledges to work toward a more efficient, less expensive county government that will still provide needed services.

“I think Erie County government definitely needs to be more efficient and leaner and I am going to be looking for ways we can save money. There is no doubt about it. But, people also want the county to continue to provide vital services as well. As I was campaigning, I learned, for example, that people want good libraries. The question is: Are they willing to pay for them?”

Looking back at his recent election victory, Poloncarz pays a compliment to his opponent while attributing his win to the soundness of his basic message.

“One of the things that people liked about the comptroller’s campaign this year is that both Mr. Canavan and myself ran positive campaigns,” he adds. “People would come up to me and compliment me on the fact that our campaign was positive compared with some others. I think the reason why I won is because people liked my message of bringing new leadership and independence to the office of Erie County Comptroller. We knew we had a good message going into election day and we were very pleased and excited about the results.”