By EAST AURORA EDITOR  (1/26/2009 5:29:44 PM)

Dwight Krieger's former political ally Thomas Cotton has decided to run again for Krieger's current post as Town Supervisor.

"There are several reasons why I have chosen to get back into local government.  One is because of the lack of commitment by the past two Supervisors Krieger and [Terry] Yarnall.  They seem to consider this as a part time job," said Cotton.

He noted that current Supervisor Krieger spends under 10 hours a week at the Town Hall.  "I know that many times a town employee has to go to his liquor store [Krieger owns a local liquor store] just to talk to him because he's never there."  He also noted that former supervisor Yarnall was also frequently absent from Town Hall spending only around 10 hours per week there.

"My time was recorded and I spent near or above 2,000 hours each year in the office or out in the community on official business.  I think when you are elected to lead the Town people expect you to put in a full day's work."

Cotton also spoke about the lack of transparency from the Town Supervisor and the current board as another reason why he is running again.  "In order to be an effective leader I believe you need to solicit input from the community.  By constantly doing things behind closed doors you are basically tuning the people out."

A third reason Cotton gave for running was the lack of cooperation between the village and town.

"Me and John [Pagliaccio] always worked together to get things done.  I don't see that happening at all, and haven't seen it since I left office.  Because of this town and village residents are both paying the price."

Asked by EastAurora.org tongue-in-cheek why he would want to subject himself to possible attacks that he received while campaigning last time he said, "I know this might sound corny to you, but we have people in the military dying right now fighting for the freedoms that we enjoy.  Then I see the certain things happening with our town leadership which to me seem to take for granted the sacrifices that others make for us."

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