Politics and government of Buffalo, New York

Buffalo, New York's government is run by a democratically elected mayor and council of nine members.

Buffalo City Hall, with McKinley Monument in the foreground.

Local government

In addition to the mayor, the Buffalo Common Council, and the city departments (expanded below) at the municipal level, Buffalo also serves as the seat of Erie County with some of the 11 members of county legislature representing at least a portion of Buffalo.

Buffalo politics

Buffalo politics is primarily dominated by the Democratic Party. There has not been a Republican mayor since Chester A. Kowal left office in 1965, representing 50 consecutive years of Democratic leadership. Of the previous 13 mayors, dating back to 1934, there have been only three Republican mayors. Currently, the mayor, all members of the Common Council, the city comptroller, and the Chief Judge of the City Court are all Democrats.[1]

Elected officials

Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse

Buffalo is the largest of the three cities (Buffalo, Lackawanna, and Tonawanda) within, and is the seat of, Erie County. The municipal government of the City of Buffalo consists of:

Department	Office Holder	Party
Mayor of Buffalo[1]	Byron Brown	D
Buffalo Common Council[2]	Rev. Darius G. Pridgen (President) Richard A. Fontana David Franczyk Joseph Golombek, Jr. Christopher P. Scanlon Joel Feroleto David A. Rivera (President Pro-Tempore) Rasheed Wyatt Ulysses O. Wingo, Sr.	D D D D D D D D D
Buffalo Comptroller[3]	Mark J. F. Schroeder	D
City Court Judges[4]	Hon. Thomas P. Amodeo (Chief Judge) Hon. Betty Calvo-Torres Hon. Patrick M. Carney Hon. Susan Eagan Hon. Joseph A. Fiorella Hon. Debra Givens Hon. Craig D. Hannah Hon. Barbara Johnson-Lee Hon. Kevin J. Keane Hon. Amy C. Martoche Hon. James A. W. McLeod Hon. JaHarr Pridgen Hon. Robert T. Russell, Jr. Hon. Diane Wray

State elected officials

At the state level, Buffalo is represented in the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly by:

• 2 state senators (60th District and 58th District) in Albany
• 3 assemblymen (141st District, 144th District and 145th District)

The city is divided between two United States House of Representatives Congressional districts:

• The 27th (which also contains southern Erie County and Chautauqua County)
• The 28th (which also contains part of City of Tonawanda, Town of Tonawanda, Grand Island, Niagara Falls, northern Niagara and Orleans counties and most of the city of Rochester)

Buffalo and Rochester are the largest non-contiguous cities in the United States connected by a single congressional district.

City departments

As of October 2015 the Buffalo city government was led by:[5]

Department	Commissioner	Title	Notes
Administration, Finance, Policy and Urban Affairs	Donna Estrich	Commissioner of Administration, Finance, Policy and Urban Affairs
Assessment and Taxation Department	Martin F. Kennedy	Commissioner, Department of Assessment and Taxation
Audit & Control	Mark J. F. Schroeder	Buffalo City Comptroller
Board of Education	James Sampson Theresa Harris-Tigg Jason M. McCarthy Sharon Belton-Cottman Patti Bowers Pierce Mary Ruth Kapsiak Carl Paladino (REMOVED 8/17/17) Larry Quinn Barbara Seals Nevergold Ameer Dunston	President Vice President of Student Achievement Vice President of Executive Affairs Student Board Member	West District Representative East District Representative North District Representative Ferry District Representative Member-at-Large Central District Representative Park District Representative Member-at-Large Member-at-Large
Buffalo Arts Commission	Catherine Gillespie David Granville Donald J. Siuta James Cooper Thomas Chestnut Kathleen Rooney Susana Tejada Joanna Angie Gerald Mead James Pappas Catherine Linder Spencer Ted Pietrzak Elisabeth Clarkson	Chair	Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Mayoral Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Common Council Appointee Honorary Commissioner
Buffalo Police Department	Daniel Derenda	Commissioner
Buffalo Sewer Authority			For the 28th year in a row GFOA issues Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting to Buffalo Sewer Authority.[6]
Buffalo Urban Renewal Agency (BURA)	Byron W. Brown Darius Pridgen Christopher P. Scanlon Brendan Mehaffy Timothy Ball Donna Estrich Joseph Golombek, Jr. Dominick Bonifacio	Chairman Council President Councilmember E.D. of the City's Strategic Planning Corporation Counsel Commissioner of Administration & Finance North District Councilmember
Buffalo Water Authority	Oluwole McFoy William Sunderlin Gerald E. Kelly Michael Finn	Chairperson Vice Chairperson Board Member Board Member
Citizen Services	Oswaldo Mestre	Director of Citizen Services
Office of City Clerk	Gerald Chwalinski	Department Head
Civil Service
Commission on Citizens' Rights and Community Relations	Crystal J. Rodriguez Kenneth Simmons Sherrill W. Colston John Calvin Davis Dana Floriano David Granville Sheila Wallace Gary Wilson Zaw Win	Department Head Interim Chairperson Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member Board Member
Community Services and Recreational Programming	Otis Barker	Deputy Commissioner
Emergency Management Services	Garnell W. Whitfield, Jr.	Commissioner
Buffalo Fire Department	Garnell W. Whitfield, Jr.	Commissioner
Human Resources	Gladys Herndon-Hill	Commissioner
Law Department	Timothy A. Ball	Corporation Counsel
Management Information Systems	Kenneth M. Barnes	Chief Information Officer
Office of Senior Services
Office of Strategic Planning	Brendan R. Mehaffy	Executive Director
Parking Department	Kevin Helfer	Commissioner
Permit and Inspection Services	James Comerford, Jr.	Commissioner
Public Works, Parks & Streets	Steven Stepniak	Commissioner
Real Estate	Christie Nelson	Director of Real Estate
Telecommunications, Utilities and Franchises	T. Tarapacki

History

Buffalo has a rich and infamous history with presidential politics. Two presidents hail from Buffalo: Millard Fillmore (13th President) and Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th President).

In 1910, the city had a Common Council and a Board of Alderman. The alderman were elected from 25 wards to form the Board of Alderman. The board had 23 committees. The Common Council consisted of 8 elected councilors. In addition to the mayor, the voters elected the following executive branch officials, corporate counsel, superintendent of education, overseer of poor, commissioner of public works, the comptroller, treasurer and the three assessor of the Board of Assessors. The comptroller and treasurer were both members of the Board of Finance. The mayor appointed the members of the boards of fire commissioners (of which the mayor is a member), police, school examiners, jubilee water commissioner, pluming and water commissioners and the board of trustees for the Grosvernor Library and the commissioners on the civil service and playground commissions. The mayor also appointed the health commissioner, superintendent of markets, examiner of street engines, inspector of steam boilers, harbor master and oil inspector. The board of health consisted of the mayor, health commissioner and commissioner of public works. Along with his two mayoral appointed directors, the mayor, superintendent of education and another official serves as directors of public library. The city had seven all ex officio boards on which the mayor served on all but the back tax commission, which consisted of the comptroller, counsel and an assessor. [7]

See also

• Buffalo Fire Department
• Buffalo Common Council
• List of mayors of Buffalo, New York

References

1. "Mayor's Office". city-buffalo.com. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
2. "Legislative Branch - The Common Council". city-buffalo.com. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
3. "City Comptroller - City of Buffalo". city-buffalo.com. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
4. "Buffalo City Court, Erie County". nycourts.gov. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
5. "City Departments". ci.buffalo.ny.us. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
6. "Buffalo Sewer Authority". city-buffalo.com. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
7. Woodruff, Clinton Rogers, ed. (1911). City Government by Commission. New York: D. Appleton. Retrieved October 31, 2016.

Scholarly studies

• Nevins, Allan. Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage (1932) Pulitzer Prize-winning biography. ASIN B000PUX6KQ.
• Graff, Henry F. Grover Cleveland (2002). ISBN 0-8050-6923-2, short biography by scholar

Primary sources

• Nevins, Allan ed. Letters of Grover Cleveland, 1850–1908 (1933)