Sen. George Maziarz Is Calling The Shots In Niagara County Politics

How things change but still remain the same and get worse. Maziarz starts his career in the FBI probe of Niagara County political corruption then steps aside just to come back like gangbusters as the control freak of Niagara County politics. Just look below at the list of quotes and you tell me if things have gotten better or worse.

Since 1995, Maziarz has been increasing his clout, locally and statewide. Former allies say he has done it over their backs.

“He got rid of me because I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do,” said Britt, the former election commissioner. “I’ve never understood his need to control each party, because he always had our endorsement,” Hollands said. “He controls all of them except the Democrats, and sometimes he makes deals that even frustrate their hierarchy.”

Maziarz agreed. “I convinced the governor that the one place where I think casino gaming was probably best suited in the whole state was the City of Niagara Falls.”

“If he can’t (control your office), he’s going to beat you half to death,”
“He wants to run everything,”

he also is the man behind the curtain in both the county Conservative and Independence parties, a charge he doesn’t exactly deny

“There’s no doubt that his political appetite’s insatiable,”

“George has always promised people things, and people believe him. That’s how he got power,”

“I’m involved in the political process and I work very hard. I spend a lot of time at it.” Maziarz statement.
he is a “control freak.”

All this begs the question, how much “Politics” does he concentrate on while he is being paid by taxpayers to be a senator? I would say the majority of his time is building his power and control base. What else is there to do when Albany is not in session? He like the rest get paid very well to constantly run for reelection. We pay him to go to all these events, is there any wonder why our taxes are so high? We have to pay for his lifestyle, friends and family and power base. It’s time to bring this all to a screeching halt.

A POSITION OF POWER ; ALLIES, ADVERSARIES AGREE STATE SEN. GEORGE MAZIARZ IS CALLING THE SHOTS IN NIAGARA COUNTY POLITICS

In Niagara County politics, when someone refers to “the senator,” there’s no need to identify whom they’re talking about. George D. Maziarz, the North Tonawanda Republican who has represented most of the county in the State Senate since 1995, has become the colossus of Niagara County politics.
Maziarz has been the boss of the county GOP since Floyd D. Snyder died in December 1995, the same year Maziarz’s Senate predecessor, the late John B. Daly of Lewiston, became state transportation commissioner and yielded his direct role in day-to-day local politics. Maziarz is arguably the county’s most powerful politician, but you won’t get much of an argument from anyone who has worked with him or competed against him.

He is the man at the top of the county Republican Party, which has implicit control of county government. He is a member of the majority in the State Senate. His critics say he also is the man behind the curtain in both the county Conservative and Independence parties, a charge he doesn’t exactly deny. And, most notably, he has the ear of Gov. George E. Pataki and was instrumental in bringing a casino to downtown Niagara Falls, which, by the way, isn’t in his senate district.

Maziarz “devotes more time and energy to politics than anyone else in Niagara County,” said Lee Simonson, Lewiston’s 16-term Republican county legislator. “When you give something 110 percent, you’re going to put yourself in a position where you’re able to acquire quite a bit of power.”
Too much power, say some of his foes.

“He wants to run everything,” said Al C. Hollands, the former Conservative Party chairman, who says Maziarz engineered his defeat by Dean Walker last year.

“If he can’t (control your office), he’s going to beat you half to death,” said Wilson Supervisor Jerry L. Dean, who survived a strong challenge last year from a candidate he believed Maziarz helped fund.

“There’s no doubt that his political appetite’s insatiable,” said County Democratic Chairman Frank A. Soda. “He’s set a new standard for political competitiveness.”

“That sounds like a compliment,” Maziarz said. “I think campaigns and elections are a competitive business.”

Besides firm control of the Republican Party, Maziarz is regarded as having a lot to say about the decisions made by the Conservative and Independence parties. In addition to his reported behind-the- scenes work in last year’s Conservative race, the county Independence Party is headed by Eloise Kloch, wife of Maziarz’s boyhood friend, State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr.

“Most of the Democrats don’t feel they get honest consideration when they go in for (minor party) interviews because of the established influence of Sen. Maziarz,” Soda said. Kloch publicly thanked Maziarz in 2001, when Pataki nominated him to the state judgeship.

“George has always promised people things, and people believe him. That’s how he got power,” said Lucille L. Britt, former county GOP election commissioner.
Maziarz said he’s no more influential than past Niagara County state senators such as Daly and Earl W. Brydges.

“Niagara’s had a long history of influential legislators,” he said. “I’m flattered that people would include me in the same category with those individuals.”
Simonson said what sets Maziarz apart is his hands-on style. He said, “John Daly was very influential, but John really didn’t get involved in the nitty-gritty politics of the day. He had that done for him.”

Maziarz is silent for several seconds when this comment is relayed to him. “I would say that’s accurate,” he finally says. “I’m involved in the political process and I work very hard. I spend a lot of time at it.”

However, he denies Hollands’ charge that he is a “control freak.”
Democrats accuse Maziarz of trying to take control of the Niagara County Legislature by lining up Democrats to run with Republican backing. Three such candidates won last November, leading to creation of what Republicans prefer to call the majority caucus. Daniel L. Mocniak, one of the organization Democrats who lost to a GOP-backed Democrat, called it “the Maziarz money caucus.”

Maziarz said, “Really, it’s people like Henry (Wojtaszek, the Republican county chairman) that are out there doing good work, organizing, raising money.”
Father was in politics

If George Maziarz had been anything other than a politician, it would have been an upset. His father, Edmund, served four years as a North Tonawanda alderman in the late 1950s and early 1960s, andMaziarz attended Council meetings by himself as a child.

“I became a committeeman the day I turned 18 years old,” Maziarz said.
“When you turned 18 the first thing you did in my household was you registered to vote and you joined the fire company. All my brothers were volunteer firemen, and we lived right across the street from Live Hose, so we used to jump the truck,” Maziarz remembered.
He remains at home in fire halls, Legion posts and similar spots. It’s the natural habitat of the political animal.

“George has devoted his life to developing friendships, relationships, in every sector of the community,” Simonson said. “There’s not a fireman’s installation dinner that he misses. . . . This is his passion. That power base is nothing more than average people he’s met along the way.”

Maziarz said, “That was probably advice that I got from my father, having been in this business and hearing people complain, ‘Politicians, you only see them at election time, you only hear them at election time.’ ”

Maziarz said he sometimes visits “three to four dinners on a Saturday night, stop by and say hello to people.”

In 1978, at age 25, Maziarz was chosen city clerk by the North Tonawanda Common Council and elected chairman of the city Republican committee. He remained city clerk until winning his first election, a 1989 bid for county clerk.
He remained city GOP chairman until 1993, when he became entangled peripherally in the FBI probe of Niagara County political corruption. He was charged with falsifying a financial disclosure form, listing a $3,733 contribution from a civil engineer as a loan to the committee from himself.

Resigned after probe
District Attorney Matthew J. Murphy III and U.S. Attorney Patrick NeMoyer brought charges against the Maziarz campaign committee, not Maziarz personally. In exchange for a guilty plea to a misdemeanor, which the prosecutors said was the heaviest charge they could muster, Maziarz agreed to resign as city GOP chairman and county GOP vice chairman.
The incident didn’t stop Maziarz from being re-elected county clerk that year. Nothing has stopped him since.

“It comes down to a lot of hard work. I’m in sort of a unique situation in that I’ve never been married, I don’t have any kids,”Maziarz said. “I don’t have a lot of hobbies. I don’t travel, I don’t golf, go to the movies, I don’t do a lot in the area of recreation. . . . I really like to work. I do it seven days a week. I get more done here (in his Lockport district office) on a Sunday morning between 7 and 10:30 than I do all week.”

However, come Nov. 20, that’s changing; Maziarz is engaged to be married to Beverly Denny of Newfane.

Rough election in 1995
In December 1994, he got a call from Daly, who said he was becoming DOT commissioner “and that I would be running for the State Senate.”
The special election for the Senate seat in March 1995 may have been the roughest in Niagara County history — and that’s saying something. Elizabeth Hoffman, the former North Tonawanda mayor and one of Maziarz’s closest political friends, decided she was entitled to the Senate seat. She resigned from the Assembly, obtained the Conservative Party endorsement and ran for the post.

The Democrats nominated John W. Cole III of Lockport, a future county legislator. He was an innocent bystander as Maziarz and Hoffman tried to destroy each others careers.

Maziarz spent $292,000 in the two-month race. Hoffman spent $176,000, most of it her own money. The “highlight” of the race was a Hoffman TV commercial that showed Maziarz smiling alongside former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo. It was supposed to prove Maziarz was a “Cuomo liberal.”

Maziarz eventually was able to prove that the photo had been cropped to edit out Hoffman, standing on the other side of Cuomo. It was taken in 1986 at the Canal Fest parade. The Buffalo News editorially called Hoffman “a cheater” and endorsed Maziarz.

Received 40% of vote
Maziarz received 40 percent of the vote in the three-way race. He beat Cole by about 1,800 votes, while Hoffman ran a weak third. It was the end of her political career. Hoffman did not return a call seeking an interview for this story.
Maziarz hasn’t had a close election since, when he has been opposed at all. Although Wilson’s Dean toyed with the idea of challenging him this year, he has dropped the notion. Maziarz’s $451,711 war chest, according to his January financial disclosure form, may discourage potential challengers.

Since 1995, Maziarz has been increasing his clout, locally and statewide. Former allies say he has done it over their backs.
“He got rid of me because I wouldn’t do what he wanted me to do,” said Britt, the former election commissioner. “I’ve never understood his need to control each party, because he always had our endorsement,” Hollands said. “He controls all of them except the Democrats, and sometimes he makes deals that even frustrate their hierarchy.”

But Maziarz’s clout is good for Niagara County, in Simonson’s view. “In order to succeed in the future, Niagara County needs a strong political leader who can deliver,” he said. “If George Maziarz didn’t want that casino to be in Niagara Falls, it wouldn’t be there.”

Maziarz agreed. “I convinced the governor that the one place where I think casino gaming was probably best suited in the whole state was the City of Niagara Falls.”

Told Pataki of park woes
Before that, Maziarz and Pataki had worked together on improvements to Niagara Reservation State Park. Maziarz said he told Pataki as far back as 1995 that the park had been ignored and had inadequate facilities.

“The governor came here. He and I walked around there, drove around there. He saw what I was talking about. We put $47 million in that park,” said Maziarz.
All this Niagara Falls activity came despite the fact Maziarz’s district in the 1990s contained only a tiny fragment of the city. It contains none at all now, but Maziarz is still the point man on Niagara Falls issues, in part because he’s a Republican with a Republican-led Senate and a Republican governor.
“It’s so hard to separate Niagara Falls from Niagara County, particularly when it comes to the tourism stuff,” Maziarz said. “You never know where the lines are going to end up.”
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