Niagara Falls Reporter
Home | Archive / Search
SEP 01 - SEP 08, 2015

Szwedo Pushing Hard in GOP Primary for Mayor

By Tony Farina

SEP 01, 2015

James 'Jim' Szwedo

 

James “Jim” Szwedo may be a long shot in the GOP primary election next week (Sept. 10) in the race for Niagara Falls mayor but he’s running hard anyway because, as it says in his campaign literature, “Jim just wants to give “OUR CITY back to its people.”

A small businessman who has had his share of ups and downs like most people, Szwedo says he has been raising money at $10 and $20 fundraising events and the people have been enthusiastic in supporting his candidacy to lead the city where he was born and raised.

Szwedo says the city’s sagging fortunes date back to the 1960 master plan and things have only gotten worse under the politicians who have controlled things all those years, including the city’s current chief executive, Paul Dyster who faces a stiff Democratic primary challenge from Councilmember Glenn Choolokian.

 “If I’m elected, I will stand up to the state and demand a better deal for our city, including a bigger share of all that park land controlled by the state and configured to steer business to the state park and leave the city on the outside looking in,” says Szwedo.  “We need leadership that fights for the people, and that’s what I will do.  And that includes renegotiating the casino agreement with the state.”

Szwedo, a community leader and president of the Niagara Street Business and Professional Association, believes the three most important issues in the campaign for mayor are “public safety, inclusion, and quality of life.”

 “In my mind, the number one issue is public safety,” he said.  “People do not feel safe in this city and we have places like the City Market where things close up early because people don’t want to go there.  We need to reallocate our police resources and start by freeing up officers from the overwhelming paperwork involved in the oversight agreement with the attorney general and the state.”

The city is paying big money for the consent agreement oversight that was reached after complaints, many of them unsubstantiated, that minorities were being mistreated by police officers.

Szwedo is also concerned with the high cost of running government and if elected he would end the policy of handing out stipends to the administration’s top staff which currently total 225, according to his advisers.

 “My staff would do the job for the pay they receive,” says Szwedo, “and we would stop handing out taxpayer dollars in the form of stipends to people for doing what they are paid to do.”

Szwedo, who says the government must be returned to the people, would create a city tourism agency, end the $1.5-million donation to the NTCC, revise the garbage contract with Modern Disposal, and establish a city-run parking program.

Asked why he’s making his uphill run, Szwedo says “somebody has to stand up and give the people a chance,” calling his campaign a grass roots effort because “people have been getting screwed for so long in Niagara Falls and Niagara County that I just feel it is time to try and sound the alarm.  That’s what I’m doing.”

Politics is a tough game, as Szwedo found out early on in his effort as it appears a Republican-controlled effort led to his disqualification from the Independence Party primary even though the Niagara County Board of Elections never alerted him there was a challenge to his petitions because of a misplace signature.

 “We challenged their decision in State Supreme Court in Buffalo but were told that even though the disqualification didn’t really hold up, we filed our papers too late,” says Szwedo, “and that was because we were never notified by the board that we had a problem until it was too late.”

Remember, Szwedo is a Republican running in the GOP primary, but the party leadership is supporting John Accardo for mayor and in the tradition of Niagara Falls politics is making it tougher on Szwedo, including apparently playing a behind-the-scene’s role in the late-arriving candidacy of businessman Robert Pascoal on the GOP line in the primary who Szwedo challenged as not being a full time Niagara Falls resident.  Szwedo lost the challenge and Pacscoal will be on the GOP ballot with Accardo and Szwedo, further damaging Szwedo’s chances to upset Accardo.

Despite the long odds and the opposition of his own party, Szwedo is sticking to his guns and pushing his agenda to try and take out the politicians who, in his words, have run the city into the ground and are continuing to do so with no end in sight.

Szwedo has put out a 12-point plan to help Niagara Falls recover and the father of three sons will continue to push his campaign right up until the primary, hoping that his voice is being heard not only by the voting public but by the politicians who are running things and who need to change their methods if Niagara Falls is to recover.

 

 

 

 

 

No Plea Negotiations or Settlement Talks in Kane Case, Source Confirms
Touma Calls for Special Meeting to Fund the Frozen Pipe Fix on 72nd Street
Wasting Taxpayer Cash to Fight Matteo Anello Verdict, is Very ‘Appealing’ to Mayor Dyster
Dyster’s Shameful Performance on 72nd Street He Denied it Before he Admitted it, he Hid it Before he Found it, And Passed the Buck Before he Took up the Cause...
72nd Street Residents’ Suffering Has Been Lost in the Dyster Shuffle
Mendacity and Duplicity as Dyster’s Water Boys Attempt Run to the Rescue
Stewart III Parrots Forster Line On 72nd Street Water Main Freeze
City Dems Expect Leaders To Work Together
Anderson’s Council Run Offers Voters Chance to Reelect a Good Honest Man!
Choolokian Supporters Rally at Local #91
Hastings to Sell Main Street Properties, Reporter has Learned
Staying at the Grand Hamister Hotel
Lewiston: Reiter Throws Support Behind Rose for Highway Super, But Why?
Cuomo's 2015 State Energy Plan More of the Same, Except Even More Local Hydropower Going to NYC
Roundup Part 2 Francine DelMonte Returns; a Host of Town and Country Races Reviewed
Kane Cooperating in Rape Probe, Sources Say
Lewiston’s Riverwalk Problems Continue Like Bad Dream
In Wheatfield, BSing About Manure
Lewiston: The Poor Practice of Only Relying on Past Practice
Accardo: Abolish ‘Dyster Double-Dip’ Insurance Subsidy For Mayoral Appointees, Council Members
Thoughts on the Dyster Campaign Flyer
Only in NT: We Want our City Back!
Szwedo Pushing Hard in GOP Primary for Mayor
Some Dyster Directed Disasters You May Have Forgotten About
Finger Pointing all Around as Welfare Rent Program Becomes Silly Season Fare
The FBI and Hillary “Rotten” Clinton
Big Daddy Dyster takes Mendacity, Duplicity to Entirely New Level Here
Ten More Reasons to Vote “Anybody But Dyster” in 2015
City Hall Jokes

Contact Info

©2014 The Niagara Falls Reporter Inc.
POB 3083, Niagara Falls, N.Y. 14304
E-mail: info@niagarafallsreporter.com
Phone: (716) 284-5595

Publisher and Editor in Chief: Frank Parlato
Managing Editor: Dr. Chitra Selvaraj
Senior Editor: Tony Farina