By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Tom Suozzi went on a shopping trip for votes at the Broadway Market Thursday.
The Nassau County Executive worked the crowd at the Broadway Market Thursday. The Italian-American candidate came to the historic market wearing a Polish eagle pin. He even tossed out Easter greetings in Polish.
"Happy Easter, Wesolego Allelaja, they say for the Polish people," said Suozzi. "I'm Italian though, I don't know if you know that - Buona Pasqua, we say."
Suozzi was all smiles and handshakes, despite his uphill battle to garner votes for the primary.
State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is the endorsed Democratic candidate and the front runner. And Spitzer recently curried some more local favor by saying he would tear down the I-190 toll barriers if elected.
Suozzi said he will too. But he said there's more to it than that.
"Yeah, I'll take down those tolls too, now who's going to pay for it," said Suozzi. "I'm taking down the tolls, but I'll identify where to come up with the eleven million dollars that we're going to lose in revenue.
Suozzi said Western New York also needs to pull in more investments from around the state. Shaking hands along with Suozzi was one local political supporter -former Mayor Jimmie Griffin.
Griffin said Suozzi came to the right place to pick up votes.
"This is where all the guys should go if they want to get elected," said Griffin. "This is where you meet the people. This is where you hear their thoughts and their ideas and what they want to have happen with the state."
Allies say Suozzi is taking his message directly to Democratic voters around the state. But party leaders have called his bid a distraction in their effort to take back the state's top office.