By Sean Gallagher
CHEEKTOWAGA — A police surveillance scandal in Cheektowaga has handed both candidates in the 143rd Assembly District a live issue in the final week of the campaign, and both are using it to argue they are the better guardian of public safety and privacy.
Assemblyman Patrick Chludzinski, a Republican running on the Republican and Conservative lines, is seeking a second term. His challenger, Ryan Taughrin, is running on the Democratic and Working Families lines, according to Ballotpedia. Both parties are spending heavily on television to win it.
Mr. Chludzinski, 50, is a former Cheektowaga police lieutenant and an Army veteran. He won the seat in 2024 by unseating Democratic Assemblywoman Monica P. Wallace, 51.8% to 48.1%, or 30,409 votes to 28,208, according to Ballotpedia. Ms. Wallace had won the seat in each of the three prior elections, by about 5 points in 2020 and 2022 and by about 16 points in 2018.
Mr. Taughrin, 39, lives in Lancaster and works in the dean’s office of the University at Buffalo’s Graduate School of Education, The Buffalo News reported. He is a trustee of the Lancaster library board, according to the Lancaster Bee.
The district leans Democratic on paper. The News reported 84,948 registered voters: 36,827 Democrats, 20,654 Republicans and 22,181 unaffiliated voters. Mr. Chludzinski won in 2024 despite that gap.
The license plate reader fight
The issue that has drawn the sharpest exchange is automated license plate readers, the cameras sold by Flock Safety and other companies that log passing vehicles. WKBW reported that three Cheektowaga Police Department employees, one officer and two dispatchers, were suspended for misusing Flock data to track a co-worker.
After the report, Mr. Chludzinski wrote to the chairs of four Assembly committees asking for joint public hearings on license plate readers, according to WKBW.
“This is not a political issue,” Mr. Chludzinski told the station. “This should be a bipartisan issue. We all agree, whether you’re Democrat or Republican, that these safeguards need to be in place.”
Mr. Taughrin called the request late. “It’s too little, too late,” he told WKBW. “I don’t think we would have heard this public comment without the news out of Cheektowaga coming up.” He added: “I don’t think it goes far enough and it feels convenient for the timing to only ask for public comment.”
Mr. Taughrin has endorsed Assembly bill A.10808, which would limit the use of license plate reader data, the Bee reported.
“Our community takes public safety very seriously, but members of the district have also spoken clearly about their discomfort with a private company tracking their movements,” Mr. Taughrin said, according to the Bee. “This legislation is the first step in limiting the unrestricted access ALPR’s currently have.”
In an interview with WGRZ, Mr. Taughrin said he wants safeguards that include warrant requirements, limits on how long data is kept and limits on sharing it out of state.
Crime, bail and Raise the Age
Beyond the cameras, the two men differ on criminal justice. Mr. Chludzinski, drawing on his police career, has criticized the state’s bail reform law and the Raise the Age law, which moved most cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult criminal court. He told WGRZ he is sponsoring a bill that would send 16- and 17-year-olds who repeatedly steal cars to adult court.
“We have to have accountability and deterrence as a consequence to these actions to stop this crime that’s happening in our community,” Mr. Chludzinski said.
Mr. Taughrin told WGRZ that both laws deserve review, and that any changes should balance accountability with rehabilitation. He also supports the New York for All Act, which would limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities, the Bee reported.
“Every hour spent servicing a federal detainer, or supporting an unjust expansion of power by ICE, is an hour not spent on the car stolen off Losson Road,” Mr. Taughrin said, according to the Bee. “Our departments are already stretched thin.”
Cost of living, energy and data centers
Both candidates say affordability is the central issue. “It simply just costs too much to live in New York,” Mr. Chludzinski told The News, “and we have to be more aggressive in providing relief in state government.”
Mr. Chludzinski points to his record as a member of the minority party. The News reported that he has sponsored 20 bills, 10 of which were signed into law. In his WGRZ interview, he cited hotel occupancy taxes for Cheektowaga and Lancaster, a bridge named for Pfc. Travis Krieg, a Maryvale native, and a crossbow hunting bill. He also broke with his party on the 2025 state budget.
“For two years in a row, I’ve refused to vote strictly party lines on the state budget,” he told The News, “and instead I weighed in on each budget bill on its merits and voted yes or no based on the district.”
Mr. Taughrin has built his campaign around his own family’s costs. He told WGRZ he was raised by a single mother who struggled with addiction. “Spending as much as we did on childcare and feeling like we could barely make ends meet, even though me and my wife had full-time jobs, right?” he told The News.
On energy, Mr. Chludzinski told WGRZ he favors an “all of the above” approach and wants to protect consumers’ ability to choose natural gas. Mr. Taughrin described a measured approach to clean energy. “It’s trying to make a real clear through-line of never overpromising on energy,” he told The News, “but saying I will fight to try to lower these things.”
On data centers, Mr. Chludzinski said he opposed a package that included a one-year moratorium and wants local communities to decide, according to WGRZ. Mr. Taughrin told the station he favors statewide guidelines, and the Bee reported that he supports a separate utility rate class for data centers so other customers do not carry their costs.
Health care
The clearest policy divide is health care. Mr. Taughrin supports the New York Health Act, a single-payer plan, according to his campaign platform and the Bee. Mr. Chludzinski criticized that position in his WGRZ interview and said he prefers a free-market approach.
Mr. Taughrin is a former treasurer of a local Democratic committee. His platform says he is “not backed by corporate PACs,” and it lists an endorsement from the New York State AFL-CIO.
Mr. Chludzinski has made his pitch as a bipartisan one. “Politics is very divisive as we see at so many levels, and I go in there with an approach (in which) I can work with anyone as long as we’re looking to common goals,” he told The News.
Who is paying for the ads
Both campaigns are in the state’s public campaign finance program, and both are relying on their parties. Figures below are from filings with the New York State Board of Elections, using each committee’s most recent version of each report.
The Committee to Elect Ryan Taughrin reported $119,030 in public matching funds and $350,500 in transfers from the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee: $179,000 on Oct. 6 and $171,500 on Oct. 19. It reported $362,500 in television ad buys through Mark Guma Communications and $26,500 for polling by Beacon Research. Its two pre-general reports show about $8,800 from individual donors. Union political committees that gave include NYSUT’s VOTE-COPE and the UUP Higher Education Action Fund, at $3,000 each.
Friends of Pat Chludzinski reported $175,000 in public funds in three payments between July and September. In October it reported $65,878 in transfers from the New York Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, $10,000 from the Erie County Republican Committee and $2,500 from Friends of Michael Kracker. The committee reported about $240,000 in television time bought directly from Buffalo stations, about $14,800 in radio and $25,000 for production by Driftwood Productions. Its two pre-general reports show about $23,600 from individuals. Political committees giving $1,000 each include the New York State Troopers PAC.
These totals cover reports filed through the 11-day pre-general deadline. Large contributions received after that deadline are reported in 24-hour notices.
The Buffalo Chronicle has asked both campaigns for comment on the records and spending described here. This story will be updated with their responses.
How to vote
Early voting continues at 38 sites across Erie County. Hours are noon to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, according to the Erie County Board of Elections. Erie County voters may use any early voting site. On Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. at each voter’s assigned polling place. Site lists and polling place lookups are at elections.erie.gov.
Featured photo: Broadway at the Harlem Road overpass in Cheektowaga, in the 143rd Assembly District. Andre Carrotflower (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons; cropped.
Leave a Reply