Kadet for comptroller
Focus must be on the numbers, not on political challenges
The strength of any public comptroller's office flows not only from the hard facts of its numbers, but from the amorphous quality of credibility. For a comptroller to be effective, taxpayers need to believe that nothing but sound accounting principals are coloring his assessment of public finances. Specifically, that means that personal political considerations can have no role.
Unfortunately, Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz is thoroughly political. He might make a good county legislator and, someday, maybe even a strong county executive. But his work as comptroller has been weakened by the general sense that he is at war with Erie County Executive Chris Collins. Poloncarz defends that as an essential part of the checks and balances that make up American democracy, but the office of comptroller is a different beast. Legislators are the traditional check against executives; a comptroller must walk a finer line, one that Poloncarz does not fully follow.
For those reasons, we endorse his Republican opponent, Philip C. Kadet.
To be sure, Poloncarz has been a decent comptroller, and if he lacked a credible opponent voters could comfortably grant him a second term. No one has challenged his numbers. He knows the Byzantine ways of public finance. He created a whistle-blower hotline. The county's credit ratings have improved, as he says, though we suspect that had more to do with the control board than the comptroller.
But Kadet is a credible candidate. He spent 30 years as a certified public account and a private sector auditor. He spent his career at Lumsden & McCormick in Buffalo, serving as a managing partner for 12 years. He sees "framing the debate" — rather than engaging in it — as an important part of the comptroller's job. It's a crucial distinction.
The only real knock on Kadet is that he was recruited by Collins to run, a circumstance that could potentially set up the reverse problem from Poloncarz: being politically too close to the county executive. We acknowledge the possibility, but are somewhat assuaged by Kadet's insistence that he will be nobody's yes-man and by his declaration that he has no further political ambitions.
We don't know what Collins might expect of Kadet. The county executive has shown himself to be both inexperienced and nontraditional in office. A successful businessman, he once thought the Legislature would be akin to a corporation's board of directors. He's learned that's not so, but what does he think a comptroller is? We're not sure, but if Kadet wins, he will have to be on his guard against pressure to go along.
We think he can do that. He sees himself as the honest broker of financial disclosure rather than an advocate for any given position. That's a more appropriate approach to this important job.
[Endorsements by The News editorial board are intended to aid voters in their own evaluations of those seeking office. Whether you agree or disagree with our recommendations, we urge you to vote and take part in our democratic process. Comments on our endorsements can be posted on the Matters of Opinion blog at www.buffalonews.com]
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