Szwedo Pushing Hard in GOP Primary for Mayor

James 'Jim' Szwedo

 

James “Jim” Szwedo may be a long shot in the GOP primary election next week (Sept. 10) in the race for Niagara Falls mayor but he’s running hard anyway because, as it says in his campaign literature, “Jim just wants to give “OUR CITY back to its people.”

A small businessman who has had his share of ups and downs like most people, Szwedo says he has been raising money at $10 and $20 fundraising events and the people have been enthusiastic in supporting his candidacy to lead the city where he was born and raised.

Szwedo says the city’s sagging fortunes date back to the 1960 master plan and things have only gotten worse under the politicians who have controlled things all those years, including the city’s current chief executive, Paul Dyster who faces a stiff Democratic primary challenge from Councilmember Glenn Choolokian.

 “If I’m elected, I will stand up to the state and demand a better deal for our city, including a bigger share of all that park land controlled by the state and configured to steer business to the state park and leave the city on the outside looking in,” says Szwedo.  “We need leadership that fights for the people, and that’s what I will do.  And that includes renegotiating the casino agreement with the state.”

Szwedo, a community leader and president of the Niagara Street Business and Professional Association, believes the three most important issues in the campaign for mayor are “public safety, inclusion, and quality of life.”

 “In my mind, the number one issue is public safety,” he said.  “People do not feel safe in this city and we have places like the City Market where things close up early because people don’t want to go there.  We need to reallocate our police resources and start by freeing up officers from the overwhelming paperwork involved in the oversight agreement with the attorney general and the state.”

The city is paying big money for the consent agreement oversight that was reached after complaints, many of them unsubstantiated, that minorities were being mistreated by police officers.

Szwedo is also concerned with the high cost of running government and if elected he would end the policy of handing out stipends to the administration’s top staff which currently total 225, according to his advisers.

 “My staff would do the job for the pay they receive,” says Szwedo, “and we would stop handing out taxpayer dollars in the form of stipends to people for doing what they are paid to do.”

Szwedo, who says the government must be returned to the people, would create a city tourism agency, end the $1.5-million donation to the NTCC, revise the garbage contract with Modern Disposal, and establish a city-run parking program.

Asked why he’s making his uphill run, Szwedo says “somebody has to stand up and give the people a chance,” calling his campaign a grass roots effort because “people have been getting screwed for so long in Niagara Falls and Niagara County that I just feel it is time to try and sound the alarm.  That’s what I’m doing.”

Politics is a tough game, as Szwedo found out early on in his effort as it appears a Republican-controlled effort led to his disqualification from the Independence Party primary even though the Niagara County Board of Elections never alerted him there was a challenge to his petitions because of a misplace signature.

 “We challenged their decision in State Supreme Court in Buffalo but were told that even though the disqualification didn’t really hold up, we filed our papers too late,” says Szwedo, “and that was because we were never notified by the board that we had a problem until it was too late.”

Remember, Szwedo is a Republican running in the GOP primary, but the party leadership is supporting John Accardo for mayor and in the tradition of Niagara Falls politics is making it tougher on Szwedo, including apparently playing a behind-the-scene’s role in the late-arriving candidacy of businessman Robert Pascoal on the GOP line in the primary who Szwedo challenged as not being a full time Niagara Falls resident.  Szwedo lost the challenge and Pacscoal will be on the GOP ballot with Accardo and Szwedo, further damaging Szwedo’s chances to upset Accardo.

Despite the long odds and the opposition of his own party, Szwedo is sticking to his guns and pushing his agenda to try and take out the politicians who, in his words, have run the city into the ground and are continuing to do so with no end in sight.

Szwedo has put out a 12-point plan to help Niagara Falls recover and the father of three sons will continue to push his campaign right up until the primary, hoping that his voice is being heard not only by the voting public but by the politicians who are running things and who need to change their methods if Niagara Falls is to recover.