CERETTO, RESTAINO GO HEAD-TO-HEAD FOR 145TH DISTRICT SEAT

Bob Restaino

John Ceretto with Governor Cuomo

John Ceretto

The campaigning is almost over for Lewiston Republican John Ceretto, the incumbent, and his Democratic challenger, Niagara Falls attorney Robert Restaino, in the race for the Assembly seat in the newly-configured 145 District.

The two candidates were recently interviewed by Publisher Frank Parlato, and make no mistake, there are sharp differences between them on a range of issues although they sounded similar in their efforts to stress their independence from long-time Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who presides over the chamber by virtue of the 51-seat plurality enjoyed by Democrats.

“I’m not underneath Sheldon Silver and I think that’s the major difference between me and Restaino,” said Ceretto. “I can be independent, voice my concerns and work directly with the governor. When the $25 million became available for Niagara Falls State Park, I met with the governor along with Sen. Maziarz and other local officials and we pushed to have the money put in the budget for this year, and it is being spent as we speak. I don’t have to deal with Silver and believe me, when [Silver] wants to do something, he forces his side to vote his play.”

For his part, Restaino has claimed that Ceretto, by his own admission in a local television broadcast, “said that he votes easily 90 to 95% with the Speaker, so I don’t understand why he thinks his position in the Assembly doesn’t make him beholden to the Speaker. Out of his own mouth, he appears to be quite locked up with Speaker Silver.”

As for how he would deal with Silver, Restaino says he really doesn’t know the Speaker, but respects the position and, if elected, he would expect Silver would respect his. Restaino says if their positions differ, “I represent the people of the 145th Assembly District and those are the people that I have to be beholden to.”

And Restaino adds that if he runs afoul of Silver and is banished to a tiny office in the basement, it would not bother him in the least, recalling his three years as Medicaid fraud investigator in Niagara County where he worked in a small office with no windows and still found $3 million of waste.

On the fight between the Seneca Nation and the state over gaming rights, Ceretto was reluctant to take a position on the possibility that Niagara Falls would be the only area that wouldn’t be able to have an American casino in the future, saying it goes back to the arbitration currently under way.

“I don’t want to put the blame on anybody,” he said, “but it is unfortunate that, in the past, the money from the Senecas wasn’t directed to Niagara Falls We have legislation that I’m sponsoring to correct that, and the money from the casino pact would be paid [directly] to the city. Again, Silver is holding it up in the Assembly.”

At this point, Ceretto believes the gaming stalemate is tied up in the courts, and, if it is ruled that the state broke the gaming compact’s exclusivity clause, then that puts everything on the table in a new light.

“If I had to do something eight years ago, before this compact, I would have legalized gambling throughout the state and let everybody choose and open up the competition for everybody,” he said. “But that’s not what we have. We have a compact right, and what we are trying to find out is if that compact is legitimate or not, and that’s what the courts are going to decide.”
Restaino believes the gambling dispute has dragged out for far too long and should have been remedied by now with the assist of state leaders.

“It’s more than just simply making a phone call or just sending letters,” Restaino said. “I mean, $100 million is an awful lot of money (money owed host communities).

It may not appear like a lot of money, perhaps in the mind of someone in Albany, but to those of us here in Western New York, $100 million is pretty substantial,pretty significant.”

The challenger said he would have taken the fight to Albany until he got answers, saying “it is not a situation where you can just sit back and say, ‘well, look, you know, I think I’ll make a phone call; I send a letter, I’ll say how upset I am or how frustrated we all are.’ I would be sitting there [in Albany] if I had to sit outside the governor’s office until he decided to come and see me. I would make sure I made my presence felt until he came out and answered the questions about why we can’t get the monies that are owed to us as the host community.”

For now, Restaino says the challenge is getting the money (upwards of $58 million owed to Niagara Falls) but he says in the future, it should be about reforming the process so it doesn’t happen again. “We have held up our end of the bargain, of the original contract. We have done everything we were supposed to do. We have been a good host and yet we are standing here holding the bag.”

He blames much of the current mess on mistakes made when the original agreements were signed between the state and the Senecas.

Restaino agrees with Ceretto about streamlining payments to the host communities but he also wants clearer definitions on how that casino money can be used and counted on as recurring revenue by the host communities. And he said whatever happens in the future regarding legalizing gaming across the state, the current host communities cannot be ignored and must have a better deal if other areas are opened up to gaming and would enjoy things like sales tax that Niagara Falls does not receive from the Sovereign Nation.

Ceretto believes he has been successful on several fronts as a state lawmaker, ticking off his help in getting state money for the airport and helping to return low cost power to the area by working with others, including Maziarz, and establishing a 30-mile, low-cost zone, saying “we are getting what we are supposed to have. They gave us a block of power to offset the Robert Moses Park plan. What they neglected to do is when some of these plants left, the power left, too.”

Ceretto, 60, a Niagara Falls native, also believes his help in clearing the way for Nik Wallenda’s historic walk last summer was an important tourism boost to the area, not only for the State Park but for businesses surrounding the parks, generating a 30% spike in tourism.

Restaino is less optimistic about low-cost power, saying he believes the region is still getting the short end of the stick and favors a partnership with the State Power Authority to develop opportunities to lower utility costs as a way to make the area more attractive for investment.

“What makes a community grow is that people want to come here and stay here,” he said. “To do that, you need to have something that is attractive, whether it is making sure your education system is improved, public safety is working well, and there are lower property taxes and lower utility costs.

Until we do something to lower those costs and make it worth their while to live here and raise a family, we will continue to strap ourselves with just the people who live here.”

When it comes to the Maid of the Mist, the two candidates are far apart in what should come next now that Canada has awarded the boat ride tour to a California company for a hefty $400 million over 30 years in rent.

Restaino favors a bidding process as the best way to proceed after what happened on the other side. “Given what I have seen and due to the Canadian circumstances, it seems to me that the fairest way to do it would be to allow competent business people, including the Glynn’s and the Maid of the Mist Corporation, to compete for the benefit of the use of the State Park, and why not allow the State Park of New York to generate and receive the same kind of revenue we see the Canadian and Ontario governments receiving.

Ceretto was guarded in his comments on the Maid of the Mist, saying it was a legal matter and goes back to the contract between Jimmy Glynn and the state, saying only that it should be run by an American owner, presumably including Glynn.
Restaino, 52, has come a long way back from his removal as a Niagara Falls City Court judge in the now infamous cell phone incident in 2005 when he had 46 people taken into custody for not being accountable in his courtroom for a ringing telephone.

And he blames Republicans, including Ceretto, for sending out mailings recalling the incident as part of a campaign to discredit his candidacy. Neither the State GOP Committee nor Ceretto will comment on the matter.

The former judge is waging his fight against Ceretto on the issues that matter to the residents of the district, he told the Reporter. Restaino says he favors development of an economic stimulus plan for the area to help the region enjoy the recovery that has taken place in other parts of the state.

“We have unemployment here in Niagara County alone that is approaching 10 percent. We have the second highest unemployment rate in Western New York, trailing only Orleans County. We are struggling for jobs and we have a difficult time because of the Seneca Nation, the Seneca Gaming Corporation and the state are fighting and we can’t get the governor to come here and take a look at things and say, ‘I’m believing it.’

“We need to do something to help out Western New York and the 145th District, and one of the things I would do is once again, if it meant becoming a bit of a pest, then I guess I would have to become a bit of a pest to bring Gov. Cuomo to this area to take a walk with me,” saying the invitation for that walk wouldn’t just come by letter or by telephone. “If I have to sit outside his office until he decides to come out, one way or another we would have a face to face about coming to this area.”

Ceretto says he’s proud of his long record of public service, as a Lewiston councilman for 10 years and as a Niagara County legislator for five years. Ceretto says he has a record as a tax-cutter and that’s what he’s doing in Albany in addition to fighting for low –cost power, and working with the governor and others to bring home the bacon to his district which includes the City of Niagara Falls, the towns of Cambria, Niagara, Lewiston and Wheatfield and parts of the City of Tonawanda and Grand Island.

Voters will have the final say on these two candidates on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, and you can expect that both of these veteran public servants will be working up to the 11th hour to get our their message in a district that enjoys a significant Democratic plurality in this presidential year.