Erie County Legislature: 9th District
Bove, Wirth battle for 9th District seat
Bove, Wirth battle for seat
The two people who each hope to become the next county legislator representing West Seneca and South Cheektowaga both say it’s time to cut government spending and market Erie County to attract more businesses to the area.
But Christina Wleklinski Bove and Brian D. Wirth bring different backgrounds and experience to the race.
Bove, 61, has been on the West Seneca Town Board since 2005; residents voted in June to eliminate two seats on the board, including hers.
She has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Buffalo State College. After several years as an elementary school teacher, she entered the corporate arena in various positions. Most recently, she was a strategic account manager at Corporate Express.
She said she quit her job two years ago so that she could focus more of her efforts on the Town Board, where she says she has been able to apply what she learned in the private sector.
“I have found ways to cut the cost of government,” she said. “I have found ways to save the taxpayers money.”
Bove said she spent several months laying the groundwork for the town to join a health insurance consortium, which saved $600,000 in premiums this year. She also helped secure a state grant worth $700,000 to install solar panels on three town buildings.
She said she was instrumental in making sure the town completed renovations to the senior center and later put a fitness center in it.
If she’s elected to the Legislature, Bove said, she will continue the sort of hands-on work she has done at the town level.
“You have to find ways to deliver the services as efficiently as possible,” she said. “Right now, property taxes must not be increased.”
Wirth, 31, ran unsuccessfully two years ago for a seat on the West Seneca Town Board. He has taken classes at Erie Community College and has earned a real estate license.
The chairman of the West Seneca Republican Committee, he works for the Erie County Highway Department as a welder. He is also involved with two family businesses, his father’s roofing and siding company, and Metro Sandra Lee Wirth Realtor, which was founded by his late grandmother, who served in the Assembly.
His experiences in both the private sector and the public sector would give him valuable insights as a legislator, he said.
Wirth supports downsizing the County Legislature from 15 to nine members, while Bove supports a reduction to 11. Both candidates support term limits.
Wirth says he would like to see the salary of legislators cut in half, to $24,500.
Bove said she would be willing to look at reducing legislators’ pay.
Timothy M. Wroblewski, the incumbent in the 9th District, lost the Democratic primary to Bove and lost the Independence primary to Wirth. Wroblewski remains on the ballot on the Conservative line but has not been actively campaigning.
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