What makes the recent list of endorsements of New York State Assembly candidate John Ceretto, a Republican, so interesting is that they come from a diverse group of supporters.
 Mr. Ceretto is running for a second term this year in a newly re-drawn 145th Assembly District that encompasses much of his present 138th district. His principal opponent is likely to be Democrat, Robert Restaino, a lawyer and former judge.
 Mr. Ceretto, a Niagara Falls native, first won election to the State Assembly in November, 2010, when he defeated ten-year incumbent Francine Del Monte and businessman John Accardo in a three way race to represent the heavily Democratic 138th district in an upset win.
 During his first term, he served as a member of the Committee on Cities, the Committee on Election Law, the Committee on Environmental Conservation, the Committee on Housing, and the Committee on Tourism, Parks, Arts and Sports Development.
 Mr. Ceretto also had a large hand in getting New York State Parks approval for daredevil Nik Wallenda to perform a wire walk above Niagara Falls on June 15 and in challenging the low-rent New York State Parks’ lease with Maid of the Mist operator James Glynn.
 Recent endorsers for Mr. Ceretto’s reelection include local developer and lawyer, Carl Paladino, who cited the assemblyman’s role in challenging the New York Power Authority’s recent increase in utility rates for local residents and businesses. Mr. Paladino was the Republican candidate for New York governor in 2010 – and ran a campaign that was focused on fiscal reform and improvement in the State’s educational system.
 Mr. Paladino’s candidacy was supported by the Tea Party movement, as well as by tens of thousands of people who said they were nauseated by corrupt governance in Albany. His outspoken challenges to the State’s spend and tax formula won him a plurality of voters in Western New York – an area often known for voting the Democrat line of spend and tax liberals who in turn oblige them by taxing here and spending in New York City.
 Mr. Ceretto also received the endorsement of New York State Senator George Maziarz, another Republican, who represents the 62nd District, which presently encompasses all of Niagara County outside the City of Niagara Falls, all of Orleans County, and the western portion of Monroe County. Senator Maziarz’s newly redrawn district will now include the city of Niagara Falls – which is perhaps fitting since most people in Niagara Falls assume he is their senator anyway.
 Through a long run of inattentive state senators who “represented” Niagara Falls, the well- known and virtually omnipresent Senator Maziarz became in effect Niagara Falls ’ state senate representative, even though city residents could not vote for him - until this year that is.
 Mr. Maziarz told the Reporter that “we track every call and 27 percent of calls to my senate office are from Niagara Falls residents. We answer all their calls and try to serve them anyway.”
 In announcing his support, Senator Maziarz said, “John Ceretto is an honest, hardworking man who has played a big role in helping to turn around this part of the State.”
 Mr. Ceretto also received the endorsement of the New York State Professional Firefighters Association which represents firefighters in Niagara Falls and North Tonawanda. Union President Michael T. McManus cited Mr. Ceretto’s more than 30 years of union membership and said he is “a friend of labor.”  
 Mr. Ceretto was also endorsed by Laborer’s Local 91. Business manager, Richard Palladino spoke of Mr. Ceretto much like a throwback of a bygone era. Almost like a doctor who still makes house calls. He said, “John Ceretto returns every phone call. John Ceretto makes an effort to comply with the requests of the people who elected him. He cares about this community. John has fought out-of-state workers coming into this community…. He’s doing things today because of out-of-state workers that were brought in here by the Power Authority that have taken jobs away from local people… No one has fought harder for local jobs than John Ceretto.
 “His support for local hiring for publicly-financed projects, his organizing of local entities to redevelop the Lehigh Valley Rail Yard and his support for developing the Niagara Falls International Airport puts him in a unique position. He is bipartisan, hard working and the best person to represent this area in the Assembly.”
 When asked about the broad-based support his campaign has picked up, Mr. Ceretto said he has focused attention on non-partisan issues that affect all his constituents.
 “I consider myself a working man,” said Mr. Ceretto. “My formula is to work hard, serve the people and listen.”
 The newly formed 145th Assembly District includes the Towns of Cambria, Grand Island, Lewiston, Niagara, Wheatfield, the City of Niagara Falls and portions of the City of North Tonawanda and was gerrymandered to favor Democrats.
 Mr. Ceretto’s ideal seems to be that government should get out of the way and let people prosper. His job, he said, is not about serving the interests of lobbyists and those who hire them in Albany. As to this, he said, as a minority party representative in an Assembly where the Speaker can reward and punish partisan followers based on obedience, his position is an advantage to the people.
 “There is nothing the Speaker can take away from me for not supporting his agenda. There is no fancy office or lavish stipends or lucrative – for the money lobbyists will contribute – committees. I am free to vote my conscience,” he told the Reporter. “And in that I have not and cannot forget I am a working man who came from a hard-working family, who believe in strong family values, in honesty, faith, human kindness, caring for the community in which you live in and above all a lot of hard work.”
 Both Mr. Ceretto and Mr. Restaino have told the Reporter that, as opposed to negative campaigning, they intend to campaign on issues so that better informed voters can vote for the candidate who best represents their interests and political beliefs.