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REGIONALISM TAKES ON NEW MEANING

For years now, the mantra of those who led Buffalo and Erie County into the control-board situations those governments find themselves in have repeated it like a Buddhist mantra.

Regionalism.

Led by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership, business interests to our south have succeeded in dismantling the Niagara Chamber of Commerce, proposed taking over Niagara County Community College, fought tooth-and-nail to keep control of the Niagara Falls International Airport and insinuated themselves into the county Industrial Development Agency here.

They have sought to advise our city and county leaders on matters as diverse as union-busting and economic development with a paternalistic approach that almost makes you forget how bad they screwed up things in their own back yard.

The Reporter has generally opposed the concept of regionalism in the past -- at least insofar as it means having creepy rich white guys running things up here as well -- but we may have found an instance that would actually benefit the Falls and Niagara County.

So it is in the spirit of cooperation that today we ask our readers in Buffalo to vote for Byron Brown for mayor.

Brown has been the state senator here for the last five years. He's a serious guy and, let's face it, he couldn't screw up any worse than Tony Masiello. Given Buffalo's problems with the control board, there's very little a mayor can do there anyway.

It also works for us, in much the same way that trading for a player to be named later is a popular move for Major League ball teams.

Perhaps because Brown is a Democrat in a state Senate controlled by Republicans, he has accomplished little since taking office in 2000. In fact, most people in Niagara Falls think George Maziarz is our state senator.

Certainly, Maziarz has been more visible, especially since Brown fired his senior aide, Gary Parenti, prior to beginning his mayoral run.

It's a win-win situation. Buffalo will get a political up-and-comer who should be an asset in Albany after next year when Eliot Spitzer is elected governor. And Niagara Falls will have the chance to elect a candidate who may be better able to deliver on promises to the district.

And besides that, the warm feeling generated by regional cooperation could open up whole new avenues of trust and respect.

Niagara Falls Reporter www.niagarafallsreporter.com Oct. 25 2005