For the first 40 minutes of his State of the County address, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz last night talked about his administration’s accomplishments during the past year.
Highlights included more than $400 million in private sector-backed new expansions, addressing homelessness and bringing new EMS services to outlying suburban communities. But, it was the last 10 minutes that overshadowed the annual address when Poloncarz launched a verbal attack on President Donald Trump.
Poloncarz said he used his ‘State of the County’ speech as a pulpit to voice his concerns about how President Trump, Elon Musk and federal spending cuts are not working, with the impacts being felt locally and across the United States.
The county executive was critical of the Trump government’s trade wars with other countries, especially Canada, and how federal agencies entrusted with education and history – are altering or erasing many accounts related to civil rights and minority groups.
Pololoncarz said he felt the State of the County address was the right platform to voice his feelings.
"We're at a precipice unlike any other in my lifetime. I've often thought that every generation faces a test, as I mentioned here today, and I always wondered what our test would be," said Poloncarz. "I thought our test was going to be responding to September 11, but as it pertains to our country and our Constitution, the test is internal."
The county executive said "standing silent on the sidelines" won’t work.
He was critical of Republican members of Congress from the area, pointing out Nick Langworthy and Claudia Tenney. He believes they’re not doing enough in Washington, and similar to other Democrats, accused them of not being accessible to the public.
"We need to stand up. We have to continue to stand up. Our congressional representatives have to fight for our region," he said. "They will not show up in public. They will not show up at town hall meetings, and they need to show up at town hall meetings."
Those criticisms did not sit well with Erie County Republican Caucus Leader John Mills of Orchard Park.
Mills thought the State of the County address was the wrong venue and place for Poloncarz to attack Trump administration policies.
"I thought that was outrageous," Mills said of the speech. "What we're trying to do, at least at this level of government, is work together. And that was not the speech I wanted him to say today. He wasn't working together. He didn't reach out to the administration at the federal level, and you can't take shots at people in politics."
The Poloncarz administration had recently sued a federal agency over an executive order which required grant winners to certify the money wasn’t being used for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The county dropped the suit after the federal agency reversed the requirement.
