Chris Collins bought OGSI when I was an intern. (I worked there for several years after I graduated.) I guess he wasn’t my boss, but rather my boss’s boss. I reported to the president. The president was ultimately accountable to Chris. Chris’s office was 3 doors down from my lab. OGSI is in the background in most of his commercials.
The guy is smart as hell and has amassed a small fortune IN BUFFALO by making a career of buying struggling businesses, giving them deep pockets to play with, fixing their fux0red business plans, and turning them into successes. He got his start working as an engineer at Westinghouse, then took over the Nutall gear division. He didn’t like how Westinghouse was letting him run it, so he convinced them to let him buy it from them. He did, made it successful, and sold out at a huge profit.
I have seen no evidence that would suggest that he doesn’t have solid integrity, but he’s a hard ass to be sure. I wouldn’t want to be in business against him. Very personable guy though. No problem approaching him to talk.
A guy who knows how to turn financially struggling organizations around seems like just what we need.
I’m not saying the dude’s perfect by any means, but I’m all for non-career politicians and I know first hand what Chris is capable of accomplishing.
Chris definitely gets my vote. BikerFry’s comments are dead on. He could be the most capable person I know with respect to running a business. He would be a great asset. I have known Chris my whole life and he will do a great job if he can get elected.
I don’t see how this wouldn’t be a landslide if people were at all educated. Oh wait, it’s Erie County…
Cliffs of Collin’s resume… Buys companies that are losing money and about to fail completely, and makes them profitable.
HELLO!?!? MCFLY?!? Can you think of a better guy to lead Erie County?
But no, the dip shits in Erie County will vote democrat because Giambra was a Republican so Republican’s are bad. Nevermind that Giambra was a democrat all his life and only switched parties when he lost the nomination as a democrat.
ok, so you explained the guy can make money… that would put him in the same category as 99% of politicians. what other tricks can he do and what’s his platform?
unless he can change the mindset and practices of the rest of them…
he may not perform “as expected”
its not one person to do anything in govt.
fighting “thats the way we have always done it” is a monumental task.
at least with companies, there can be immediate returns/losses…
and they can get “accurate” market feedback… not so easy with
politics. the govt has to try and please everyone ad nauseam.
(did i even use ad nauseam right?)
Look at Amherst and Satish Mohan. Sure, he was just one guy fighting the machine. But he fought, and fought, and fought. Now he’s finally forced the highway department onto one health care provider, saving the town a huge amount of money. And it’s “free” money because nothing was cut, just a simple consolidation to one provider.
He fought the board when they wanted to rush right in and spend what ever was needed to get the October storm mess cleaned up ASAP. Assholes like board member Bill Kindel were all over the news saying what a hazard these piles of limbs were and practically promising that children were going to be killed because of them. Satish held his ground, got bids, and got Amherst a great deal on the cleanup. Now Tonawanda is all over the news because they spent way too much rushing into their cleanup and FEMA is refusing to cover the entire tab. You don’t see Amherst in trouble with FEMA and the only reason is Satish Mohan.
Now people are starting to see how hard he’s working and are taking a serious look at “Satish Approved” people for the upcoming election. Hopefully when it’s done it won’t be just Satish vs all the career Amherst politians, it will be several less career politicians and a new crew like Satish.
The same can happen in Erie County, but the voters have to stop electing these career NY politicians who answer only to special interest groups and unions.
You mean the same Satish Mohan who failed to deliver on pretty much his entire campaign platform? The one that fights pretty much everything that the town tries to do tooth and nail? That’s exactly what we need in the county, another hindrance to progress.
I don’t know what Collins stands for, but a hard ass competitive Republican isn’t getting much done with a nearly all-Democrat county legislature. That’s asking for another Amherst-style power struggle.
In regards to “Klansman” Jim Keane,
Byron Brown Supports Jim Keane
So does Barbara Miller Williams
So does Betty Jean Grant
So does Crystal Peoples
So does Antoine Thompson
So does Brian Davis
So does Demone Smith
So does Bonnie Russell
So does Mary Ruth Kapsiak
So does Vivian Evans
So does Pamela Perry-Cahill
OK, that’s every single black elected official in Western New York. And since when do Republicans give a shit about minorities anyway?
He promised to end the rubber stamp spending of Susan Grelick, and has done it. I doubted he would get the 10% tax reduction when I voted for him, knowing full well the number of union endorsed board members he was going to find.
But he did force a union to move to one health care provider.
He did handle the storm cleanup well.
He has made some progress on on streamlining the assessment system.
He has brought to light just how corrupt some of the town board members are.
He pushed for term limits on the board, and got them.
There was something in the news recently about help for people with sinking homes but I can’t find the details now.
You’re right though, he is butting heads, and a lot. That’s what we voted him in for and will vote him and anyone he approves of in for. If more voters would do this NY wouldn’t be the mess it is today.
As for Klansman Keane, I have no idea how that ad campaign got started and only quoted it because I find it amusing. It won’t matter, all the old people are the ones who vote in Erie County, and they’re voting for Jimmy.
We need change. Change = Conflict. If we elect more of the same we will get more of the same. Cooperating with people who cannot produce will produce nothing.
We need a County Executive who will act as a trim tab, not another barnacle on the rudder.
Even if the conflict doesn’t result in change, it at least brings to light who the big names fighting change are. In Amherst, we learned it’s Bill Kindel and hopefully he will never win another term.
