I am a veteran, a husband, and a father raising my family in Lake View. I grew up in Angola, graduated from Lake Shore Central, and have spent my life in Boston, Collins, North Collins, Gowanda, Evans, Brant, Eden, Orchard Park, and Lake View, the communities that make up District 11.
I am running for Erie County Legislature because the families here deserve a representative who shows up, listens, and does the work.
District 11 Is Home
My roots in this district are personal before they are political. My family lives in Brant and Eden. I worked at Tops in Derby and Lowe’s in Hamburg. At Claddagh Commission, now SASi, in Derby, I supported adults with developmental disabilities. I served eight years in the United States Army Reserves as an Interior Electrician.
I still keep a flock of sheep and a few ducks on the farm, which is a good daily reminder that a hard winter, a washed-out culvert, and a rate increase are not abstractions out here. They are the week you are having.
So I know what it means to watch a property tax bill climb, to depend on a volunteer fire department, to live somewhere the nearest real services are a thirty-minute drive. I am not learning these challenges for a campaign. I have been living them.
Military Service
I served in the U.S. Army Reserves from 2011 to 2019 as an Interior Electrician (12R), based out of Fairview, Pennsylvania. I managed younger soldiers, worked on office systems and internal communications, helped with transportation coordination and base planning, and helped build the monthly Equal Opportunity training.
That last piece taught me more than anything else I did in uniform. Conflict resolution has a name for what Equal Opportunity training is actually trying to interrupt: in-group and out-group. Every institution sorts people into those who belong and those who are tolerated, and it does it quietly, through defaults nobody wrote down and nobody defends out loud. Once you have helped build that training, you start seeing it everywhere. I see it in which roads get repaved. I see it in which hearings get scheduled in Rochester instead of Buffalo.
I am a disabled veteran. My service and my disability are not credentials I am asking you to be impressed by. They are the reason I read a county budget the way I do, as a document that decides who the county treats as a neighbor and who it treats as an exception.
Disability and Accessibility
I recently received my provisional certification as a Peer Support Specialist, which allows me to support people navigating mental health challenges, substance use, and trauma.
I am also a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) through the International Association of Accessibility Professionals. At Claddagh Commission, now SASi, in Derby, I worked as a Habilitation Specialist, supporting adults with developmental disabilities in daily living, skill-building, medication administration, and advocacy.
Here is what that work actually teaches you. Accessibility is never expensive when you design it in and always expensive when you bolt it on afterward. A ramp costs a fraction of a lawsuit. A paratransit route planned at the start costs less than a person who cannot get to dialysis. The reality is that most of what gets called an accommodation is just a decision somebody could have made correctly the first time. So I do not treat access as a line item to be defended at the end of a budget process. I treat it as a design requirement at the beginning of one.
Education
My academic background spans conflict resolution, public policy, and equity, each focused on making systems work better for everyday people.
- M.S. in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, Columbia University
- Dual B.A. in International Studies & English, SUNY Fredonia
- Certificate in Strategic HR Leadership, Cornell University
- Kathryn Davis Fellow for Peace, Middlebury Language Schools
Professional Experience
I have worked in direct care, constituent services, education, and policy. The through line is that every one of these jobs put me across a table from somebody a system had already failed at least once.
- Habilitation Specialist, Claddagh Commission (SASi), Derby — supporting adults with developmental disabilities
- Legislative Assistant, Montgomery County Council (MD) — constituent services, policy research, human rights task force
- English as a New Language Teacher, Buffalo — serving refugee students K–8
- Restorative Justice Facilitator, Restorative Denver — community conferences and healing agreements
- Redistricting Administrative Specialist, Colorado’s Independent Legislative Redistricting Commission
- Communications and education roles at Columbia University and the University of Colorado
Policy Priorities
I have developed detailed proposals on the issues that hit District 11 families directly:
- Fiscal Responsibility with Moral Clarity: Every dollar should protect the people who need it most. Prevention saves money. Erosion stabilization, workforce retention, and early intervention all cost less than emergencies.
- Rural Infrastructure First: Culverts, flood mitigation, waterfront erosion prevention, broadband expansion, and transit access for healthcare workers and seniors.
- Protecting Workers and Caregivers: A nursing home workforce framework that supports retention, safety, career pathways, and mental health for the people who care for our parents and grandparents.
- Housing Stability: A Countywide Manufactured Home Park Bill of Rights covering habitability standards, fee transparency, anti-retaliation protections, and sale or closure safeguards.
- Veterans, Seniors, and Disabled Residents: Expanding VA services at the Springville clinic, building accessible paratransit, designing every program with disability access from day one.
- Transparent Government: Published votes, in-person events, public follow-up tracking, and a commitment to answering every question directly.
Community Roots
- Grew up in Angola; family in Brant and Eden; live in Lake View with my wife and son
- Lake Shore Central School graduate
- Worked at Tops (Derby), Lowe’s (Hamburg), Claddagh/SASi (Derby)
- Active throughout Boston, Collins, North Collins, Gowanda, Evans, and communities across District 11
- Member, Disabled American Veterans (DAV)
- Board member, Chautauqua Citizens’ Response to Climate Change
- Student government president at Columbia (overhauled governance, co-founded a food bank funding model)
- University representative and Chair of Sustainability, SUNY Student Assembly (64 campuses)
Why This Race, Why Now
District 11 is Erie County’s southernmost and most rural legislative district. It stretches from the Lake Erie waterfront through small towns and rural communities that depend on county services: EMS, road maintenance, public health, social services, and veterans’ programs. These communities deserve a legislator who does more than represent them from a desk in downtown Buffalo. They deserve one who understands the daily reality of living out here.
For a long time I blamed taxes for what was squeezing my neighbors. It was the easy answer, and it let me off the hook. What changed my mind was realizing the size of the tax bill was never really the problem. The problem is what the money does after it is collected. I have watched towns spend carefully and give people something they can use: a rural bus for the folks who cannot drive, a downtown that is a place to gather instead of a row of empty storefronts. I have also watched money disappear into things that help no one. So I stopped asking only whether taxes are too high, and started asking whether every dollar is buying something worth having. Cut what does not work. Protect what does.
I am running because county government should be filling gaps, not creating them, and stability for working families starts with a legislator who has lived the same math they have.
“The needs of working-class people transcend party.”
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