First openly gay candidate for NF city

Democrat Swartz with Republican leader Candra Thomason

Though Niagara Falls is still in the middle of this year’s election season, there are people gearing up for the next.
Meet Joe Swartz.

Swartz, a 23 year old native of Niagara Falls, currently works as a telephone operator for the Seneca Niagara Casino, but he has been interested in politics since his teen years. If things go his way, he will be a candidate for City Council in 2012.

And he also happens to be gay.

"Yes, I am a proud gay male. If people have a problem with that and think it is a disqualification, that is their issue, but it does not define who I am or what I stand for," declared Swartz. Openness he said is important to him, and while being gay should not be a disqualification for public office, he finds it wrong to hide it.

"I think people should be honest with themselves and others,” Swartz said. “If you are not being honest with yourself, you’re not being honest with others. It’s a big issue. It leads to character."

But Swartz wants to get beyond the gay label. "Issues in this election transcend party lines, gender, sexual orientation. The issues we are facing do not affect one section of the population, they affect everyone. We need to have someone in City Hall who understands our issues and who realizes it’s not just one part of our community that needs help. We need to help everybody. That’s the problem. We have government picking winners and losers and that’s not government’s job.”

"The government’s job is to serve and protect the people and right now the government is not doing that…We are to provide services like paved roads. If you drive down any road in this city, it is like you’re on an old wooden roller coaster being jumbled around like crazy," said Swartz.

The young man is running as a Democrat, but speaks to the issues with a conservative tone. He is against governmental funding things like the Hard Rock Concert Series, Mark Rivers’ Holiday Market and the Hamister proposed hotel on Parcel 5. In Swartz’ opinion, "Government should operate in a limited function to protect and serve its constituents, period.

He also wants to address the amount of waste in government. Swartz believes that revenue from the Seneca Niagara Casino was not used effectively. "We have had 69 million dollars come in and we have squandered it; we have not seen the benefits. We go in and fix a street and two months later, the Water Board comes in and fixes the water lines. We need to coordinate with our Water Board regarding street repairs and water repairs. If you are going to spend money to repair a street, you should repair the underlying problems as well in a coordinated effort."

Swartz takes the position that he is the people’s advocate. "I am willing to stand up for the taxpayer. All these people say the government has all this money…No, they don’t. The money comes from the people [the government is] taxing. The money is not the government’s money to spend. We are accountable to the taxpayers, not to anybody else....I am a taxpayer too.

People forget that sometimes and we need someone who is going to stand up for us and not try to pick the winners and losers. We were built on the basis of freedom. We have a political culture right now that if you don’t agree with somebody, you are shut down and shut out. "

Swartz’ criticism goes beyond local politics. He also would like to reform the flow of funds associated with the state parks. "They are being greedy. They don’t incentivize going out and exploring the City. The revenues from the parking lots and the restaurants and gift shops stay there," he said. "Then you have State Senator George Maziarz saying, ‘Look, we’re putting millions into our state parks.’ It’s their responsibility, it’s their state park! That is nonsense. The state park should be benefitting the city. We should get a portion of [parking revenue]. We are allowing the State to ...rape the resources we have here. They are raping the taxpayers for the resources we have here and sending it to New York City."

Though he currently works for the Seneca Niagara Casino, if he were elected to the Council, Swartz says he would work for the taxpayers. If there were a conflict, he said, "I would welcome [the Senecas] to fire me."

Swartz is not happy with the City’s arrangement with the State and the Senecas. "The State negotiated this deal. George Maziarz, Francine Delmonte and George Pataki told us to sit down and shut up, that they would take care of us. They told (former Mayor) Irene Elia not to worry about us; they had our backs. Nobody seemed to question them or say wait a minute – you’re giving away 52 acres of our land without us having any input?

"Had I been on the City Council at that point, I would have fought against it until we had a seat at the table and were equally represented. Instead, we had a State Senator who didn’t even represent the City of Niagara Falls, and Francine Delmonte who only used Niagara Falls because it’s 75% Democrat and she wanted the votes to once again rape the citizens of their resources."

Swartz expects to be his own person and not follow Mayor Dyster in lockstep. "I do my own research and I will do that on the City Council. I am not afraid to stand up and say so when something doesn’t work. I am a registered Democrat... I believe it is time that we stop being beholden to the special interests that are raising our taxes. That is what George Maziarz is doing to us. We need to start changing from the top down.

"I am willing to put my voice out there to be the foot in the door at City Hall to start bringing that change to the taxpayers there."

Well you heard it here: Joe Swartz is running for City Council.