After Cutting County Costs, Collins Look For Path To Nomination
GOP leaders consider Collins as back-up if Giuliani skips governor’s race
Mon, 27 Jul 2009 08:46:00
Ask Erie County Executive Chris Collins (R) to size up the chatter about his potential run for governor next year, and he is likely to turn the conversation to belts.
How he recently hired a master black belt, for example. Or, perhaps, about the new green belt on the county payroll.
This is all part of the “Lean Six Sigma” business philosophy created two decades ago by the Motorola corporation to help executives eliminate inefficiencies in the production process.
Collins has an almost religious faith in the system, which he carried over to the county executive’s office from his pre-political career, earning millions in his business of taking over and resuscitating flailing companies.
The approach has produced results in county government. Nineteen months ago, when Collins came into office, he inherited a county with books in such disrepair that a state control board was brought in to oversee all spending decisions.
He has since gained concessions from public sector unions, cut discretionary spending by 25 percent and turned the county’s $10 million deficit into a $13 million surplus—all of which helped prompt the state to return local control to Erie County after determining it in sufficient fiscal health.
While he was still very much an unknown when he addressed a Conservative Party conference in February, Collins’ rousing speech helped spread the word about him.
By the party’s annual dinner in late May, he was sitting at the head dais right next to former Rep. Rick Lazio, the other Rudy Giuliani back-up gubernatorial contender. Especially given the recent chaos in the Capitol, Collins’ experience cleaning up one of the state’s largest and most diverse counties could form a natural argument for sending him to the Executive Mansion, said Dr. Kevin Hardwick, the political science chair at Canisius College.
“The state right now mirrors what was happening in Erie County,” Hardwick said.
Collins very well may not run. He has been openly cheerleading for Giuliani to be the party’s nominee—a position that appears to be endearing him to the former New York City mayor, who is planning a fundraiser for Collins.
There is also speculation that Collins would not run if Andrew Cuomo is the Democratic nominee, given what many see as Republicans’ longer odds against the attorney general. Collins has experience with such uphill races: he ran a long-shot bid for Congress in 1998, losing by a wide margin against 24-year Democratic incumbent John LaFalce.
Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz, a Democratic rival in Erie County, said he believes Collins learned from that experience.
“Knowing Chris as I do, I simply think that he’s afraid to lose,” Poloncarz said.
But if Collins does run, and the GOP has a choice between him and Lazio, several factors might work in Collins’ favor.
For one, with most of the levers of New York government controlled by downstate interests, a Republican from Western New York could win votes from upstate Democrats who feel their economic well-being has been ignored.
In addition, Niagara County Republican Chair Henry Wojtaszek, a close Collins ally, is a frontrunner to be elected the new state GOP chair this September. Backing another fresh face for the Republican nomination would be a logical first move if he is elected.
Collins declined to address the idea of a potential match-up against Lazio directly, while pressing the case that he feels the party needs a new start.
“Certainly, Albany needs a person who has brought change,” Collins said. “They don’t need to go back to the future or to protect the status quo.”
Lazio has been openly courting support for his candidacy and has started a campaign committee. In contrast, although Collins has met with several county chairs and wealthy donors in New York City, for the most part he has been staying focused on Erie County, where he has been assisting in races against several Democrats in the Erie County Legislature and is facing down a difficult budget situation. Collins’ inability to campaign more explicitly could prove to be a problem, considering that he still has virtually no name recognition outside Erie County.
Some speculate that if Giuliani runs, Collins could run in 2010 for state comptroller or even lieutenant governor. But Collins said he is only interested in serving as an executive, and would rather stay in charge of his county than play second fiddle in Albany.
He certainly has not been willing to sit back in running Erie County, stacking the boards of some of the county’s top cultural institutions with his allies to exert greater control over their finances and declaring null-and-void a budget the county legislature had passed by overriding his veto.
Among his detractors, such actions have earned him the nickname “King Collins.”
“I do think he is a great, quick thinker. But I do not think he is a collaborator or a coalition builder,” said Maria Whyte, the county legislature’s Democratic majority leader. “I do not think he understands a basic principle of government: that nothing ever happens because one person thinks something is a good idea.”
Collins’ critics argue that years of being the majority stakeholder in a privately held company has left him unable to deal with dissent—an attitude they believe Collins would carry with him were he to win the governor’s office.
Collins, however, said that these were merely the complaints of those representing entrenched interests that are unwilling to reform themselves.
“I’m not imperious,” Collins said. “I’m just trying to use some common sense.”
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ABOVE: Elected as Erie County executive only 19 months ago, Chris Collins is now being much discussed as a back-up candidate for governor.
How he recently hired a master black belt, for example. Or, perhaps, about the new green belt on the county payroll.
This is all part of the “Lean Six Sigma” business philosophy created two decades ago by the Motorola corporation to help executives eliminate inefficiencies in the production process.
Collins has an almost religious faith in the system, which he carried over to the county executive’s office from his pre-political career, earning millions in his business of taking over and resuscitating flailing companies.
The approach has produced results in county government. Nineteen months ago, when Collins came into office, he inherited a county with books in such disrepair that a state control board was brought in to oversee all spending decisions.
He has since gained concessions from public sector unions, cut discretionary spending by 25 percent and turned the county’s $10 million deficit into a $13 million surplus—all of which helped prompt the state to return local control to Erie County after determining it in sufficient fiscal health.
While he was still very much an unknown when he addressed a Conservative Party conference in February, Collins’ rousing speech helped spread the word about him.
By the party’s annual dinner in late May, he was sitting at the head dais right next to former Rep. Rick Lazio, the other Rudy Giuliani back-up gubernatorial contender. Especially given the recent chaos in the Capitol, Collins’ experience cleaning up one of the state’s largest and most diverse counties could form a natural argument for sending him to the Executive Mansion, said Dr. Kevin Hardwick, the political science chair at Canisius College.
“The state right now mirrors what was happening in Erie County,” Hardwick said.
Collins very well may not run. He has been openly cheerleading for Giuliani to be the party’s nominee—a position that appears to be endearing him to the former New York City mayor, who is planning a fundraiser for Collins.
There is also speculation that Collins would not run if Andrew Cuomo is the Democratic nominee, given what many see as Republicans’ longer odds against the attorney general. Collins has experience with such uphill races: he ran a long-shot bid for Congress in 1998, losing by a wide margin against 24-year Democratic incumbent John LaFalce.
Erie County Comptroller Mark Poloncarz, a Democratic rival in Erie County, said he believes Collins learned from that experience.
“Knowing Chris as I do, I simply think that he’s afraid to lose,” Poloncarz said.
But if Collins does run, and the GOP has a choice between him and Lazio, several factors might work in Collins’ favor.
For one, with most of the levers of New York government controlled by downstate interests, a Republican from Western New York could win votes from upstate Democrats who feel their economic well-being has been ignored.
In addition, Niagara County Republican Chair Henry Wojtaszek, a close Collins ally, is a frontrunner to be elected the new state GOP chair this September. Backing another fresh face for the Republican nomination would be a logical first move if he is elected.
Collins declined to address the idea of a potential match-up against Lazio directly, while pressing the case that he feels the party needs a new start.
“Certainly, Albany needs a person who has brought change,” Collins said. “They don’t need to go back to the future or to protect the status quo.”
Lazio has been openly courting support for his candidacy and has started a campaign committee. In contrast, although Collins has met with several county chairs and wealthy donors in New York City, for the most part he has been staying focused on Erie County, where he has been assisting in races against several Democrats in the Erie County Legislature and is facing down a difficult budget situation. Collins’ inability to campaign more explicitly could prove to be a problem, considering that he still has virtually no name recognition outside Erie County.
Some speculate that if Giuliani runs, Collins could run in 2010 for state comptroller or even lieutenant governor. But Collins said he is only interested in serving as an executive, and would rather stay in charge of his county than play second fiddle in Albany.
He certainly has not been willing to sit back in running Erie County, stacking the boards of some of the county’s top cultural institutions with his allies to exert greater control over their finances and declaring null-and-void a budget the county legislature had passed by overriding his veto.
Among his detractors, such actions have earned him the nickname “King Collins.”
“I do think he is a great, quick thinker. But I do not think he is a collaborator or a coalition builder,” said Maria Whyte, the county legislature’s Democratic majority leader. “I do not think he understands a basic principle of government: that nothing ever happens because one person thinks something is a good idea.”
Collins’ critics argue that years of being the majority stakeholder in a privately held company has left him unable to deal with dissent—an attitude they believe Collins would carry with him were he to win the governor’s office.
Collins, however, said that these were merely the complaints of those representing entrenched interests that are unwilling to reform themselves.
“I’m not imperious,” Collins said. “I’m just trying to use some common sense.”
--
ABOVE: Elected as Erie County executive only 19 months ago, Chris Collins is now being much discussed as a back-up candidate for governor.
