Stop spending our money.

That's one of the main themes of Leonard Roberto's platform as he prepares to head into this summer actively campaigning for the Republican nomination in the 142nd district of the State Assembly.

While he knows he has no chance of gaining the GOP’s endorsement, Roberto believes he can win in September when voters head to the polls to vote in the Republican Primary for the Assembly seat currently held by Mike Cole.

“We need that one voice of reason and I think I can provide that,” Roberto said during a recent telephone interview while he took a break working at the manufacturing facility he owns and operates in Batavia. “We need someone who can make it a priority that there is a reduction in state spending.”

The numbers don’t lie and Roberto, the founder of the grassroots Primary Challenge political organization, is well aware of that. He rapidly shoots out figures that highlight Albany’s obsession with spending like most of us will spit out seeds when chomping into that first piece of fresh watermelon this Memorial Day weekend.

“We have what is an on-the-books debt of somewhere from $6 billion to $8 billion,” said Roberto, an Alden resident. “That doesn’t even include all of the borrowing that is done off the books through our public authorities. Some have said our authority debt is in the neighborhood of $80 billion. It’s unbelievable.”

Roberto has more statistics that boggle the mind and help to provide further evidence that Albany’s status quo has to be challenged.

“The most recent budget, which don’t forget they passed late, includes a 13 percent increase in spending. This comes at a time when we are already deep in debt. What happened to the main goal of the state Legislature being to pass a budget that is balanced and on time?”

Roberto’s other main themes for his quest to be elected include the mindset of having representatives in the state capital who have principle and won’t change their beliefs or their stance on issues because they are told by grizzled veterans in Albany that they have to.

“We need to start sending men and women of principle to Albany,” Roberto said. “We need legislators who won’t compromise. The only thing getting compromised right now is principle. That needs to change. That has to change. We need vision and hope and it all starts with doing something about this excessive spending.”

Roberto says the ongoing loss of business coupled with a decreasing population should be factors that trigger some sort of change in Albany, but unfortunately he believes there are not enough members of the Assembly or state senators providing enough oversight or demanding more accountability.

“We saw a budget just get approved that has an increase of two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation and typically it is five times the rate of inflation,” Roberto said. “We have all sorts of new fees, 51 this year alone, that are sprinkled in and the end result is a state government that is spending money at an epidemic level and we the people just can’t keep up.”

Roberto is not afraid to hide his feelings about how he views the elected officials he could end up calling colleagues if he is successful in September’s primary and then again in the general election in November.

“It’s criminal what they are doing to the people of New York. They are taxing them out of their homes.” Roberto’s focus starting this holiday weekend and running through early September is getting the word out that he is in the primary election, most likely a one-on-one race for the GOP nomination against party favorite Jane Corwin. While Cole and one-time candidate Jeff Bono are still putting out feelers, it appears that Roberto and Corwin will likely do battle, a challenge that Roberto openly welcomes.

“I know I’m not going to be endorsed by the party and I was aware of that going into this,” he said. “I’m someone who recognizes that if this state is ever going to experience economic growth again it’s going to need people who have principles and don’t compromise them. We need change. I may try and fail, but I have to at least try.”

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As founder and chairman of Primary Challenge, I would like to comment on the July 8 News article concerning the GOP adopting a plan for reform. I sincerely appreciate the Republican Party adopting the platform of Primary Challenge. However, it is common courtesy to ascribe credit for ideas to those who generated them.

The major parties have not had an original constructive thought in years. The two major parties have put not just Erie County but all of New York on the brink of bankruptcy. They alone have passed legislation and instituted programs that have caused our children to flee the state in ever increasing numbers.

The adoption, in word only, of the Primary Challenge platform is an indication of the threat Primary Challenge represents to the status quo. It is a sure indication that our efforts have already begun to impact the operations of government. As it has been said, “Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.”

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Primary Challenge announced that it had successfully persuaded the Erie County Board of Elections to stop selling voter registration lists at prices unaffordable to some potential candidates.

Depew resident Leonard Roberto, Primary Challenge founder and chairman, visited the Erie County Board of Elections in Buffalo Tuesday afternoon to pick up the Erie County voter registration list.

In an effort to settle a suit brought by Primary Challenge and Roberto, the Board of Election via the county attorney, has agreed to discontinue the practice of selling such lists, and cooperate with Primary Challenge in establishing an equitable price for the reproduction of such materials.

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Primary Challenge, a non-partisan, grass-roots political action committee, is intent on changing Erie County's political climate from the ground up.

With the force of hundreds of volunteers that continues to double with each meeting, the group plans on replacing most of Erie County's legislators by defeating the incumbents in each of the parties' primary elections.

Founder Leonard Roberto, a Republican and pastor of Veterans' Park Baptist Church in Depew, said that the group formed out of the frustration that comes with seeing the same leaders re-elected time and time again. The purpose of Primary Challenge is to defeat the incumbents, both Republican and Democratic, before they get on the general ballot.

“You have to win that primary,” Roberto said at his Depew home on Monday. “That's the important race.”

He said that because some districts are so lopsided toward one party or the other, unseating the candidate of the more populous party in favor of the opposition is next to impossible, so change must come at the primary level. He used Buffalo's First Ward as an example:

“Whoever wins the Democratic Primary in that district is the legislator,” he said. “That's all that has to happen.” He said low participation in the critical primary elections is the reason voters end up with the same choices.

“This is where you can have the most effect on the political process,” he said. “They want to know why we can't get any changes, they want to know why we keep sending these people to office. This is why: because we don't vote in the primaries.”

Roberto said the inspiration to form the group came partly from the election of Legislator Denise Marshall, R-Lancaster. “She's there because she did exactly what we're doing, by challenging people in the primary, so she is effectively our prototype in the legislature,” he said. “She was not the endorsed candidate when she ran, and she took that seat away from the party.” Marshall said that legislative candidate Dale Larson had decided not to run when she produced her petitioned signatures and entered the race. “There was never a primary,” she said.

Using this model, Roberto said Primary Challenge hopes to bring sweeping change to the Legislature by offering its own candidates on Primary Day. He said they already have enough challengers to replace three-fifths of the incumbent county legislators. “There are nine people, Republican and Democrat, who will run against their Republican of Democrat counterparts in the Legislature,” he said. “They're not well known, but they're very well qualified, which is better,” he said. “It doesn't matter if you are a well-known, incompetent person—we have a lot of those.”

Roberto said the group will be announcing the names of the candidates at its next meeting, scheduled purposely for April 15, tax day, at the Buffalo Convention Center. “I can tell you this, they're very good candidates,” he said. “They will give everyone on that board a run for their money.”

“I would say that Mr. (Edward) Kuwik could pack his bags,” he began. “Jeanne Chase should think about sharpening up her resume. Mr.(Timothy) Wroblewski, he might as well type a new resume.”

He said legislators Charles Swanick, Albert DeBenedetti, Timothy Kennedy and George Holt were also in the group's sights. “Kennedy was placed there,” he said. “It doesn't give you the right to represent the people if you don't have real-world experience.”

Roberto said the challengers each have 25-30 years of private sector experience backing them up. “In the first five people that we are going to present to the community, we have more college-level degrees than the entire Legislature combined, not withstanding Barry Weinstein,” he said.

Since Primary Challenge's foundational meeting January 20, the group has grown in numbers. Roberto said about 100 volunteers attended at first, with about 300 people attending its second meeting, March 8, in Williamsville, and as many as 400 people this past Saturday at the joint meeting of Free Buffalo and Primary Challenge at McKinley's Banquet and Conference Center in Blasdell.

Roberto said there were more that 500 volunteers working for Primary Challenge before Saturday's meeting. “We're closing in on 600 now,” he said. “There's at least another 50 names that need to be added to the list.”

He said the people come from all over the area to contribute ideas to the organization. “The more people you have, you have a brain pool there. One guy's ideas aren't always the best,” he said. “We're not looking for consensus, we're looking for vision.”

Lancaster Village resident Gary Howell is one of those people adding his vision to the mix. “He puts his two cents in,” Roberto said. “Gary has brought some insight into the group that we didn't have before, and each person brings a little extra something that we didn't have before.”

In addition to the county legislative race, Roberto said the group will turn its attention to other areas. “We have at least nine (challengers) for the Legislature,” he said. “We're looking at other races outside the Legislature, supervisor races, town council races, thing of that nature.”

As for the coalition of Primary Challenge and Free Buffalo, he said there may have been some misconceptions about the highly publicized joint meeting held Saturday at McKinley's Banquet Hall in Blasdell.

“Free Buffalo is a think tank, not a taxpayer revolution,” he said. He explained that Free Buffalo's goal is to bring information to the taxpaying voters so they can make better-informed choices.

“It's the product that the taxpayers want to use; it's that research material that we need to get us past the sound bites that politicians generally want us to hear...we need substantive analytical data so that we can make reasonable decisions for ourselves, that's what Free Buffalo wants to provide,” he said. “But all that data is worthless if the only people we have to bring it to are the people who are currently in office.”

“So what Primary Challenge is doing is working with them to help them to collect their data, and they're helping us to get different people in office,” Roberto said, “because neither one of us is going to succeed in the long term with the system the way it is. We both have to work together in order to make a solid team to succeed.”

"The crux of the 'taxpayer revolt' is Primary Challenge," he said. "And we're going to change things."

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More than 40 politically minded people from all over Western New York showed up Thursday evening for a meeting of a new organization intent on unseating incumbents in the next election.

Primary Challenge zeroed in on Erie County legislators who support a penny increase in sales tax.

“We have been in existence for four weeks, and already we have mobilized a small army,” said Leonard A Roberto of Batavia, head of the group. This first public meeting was held in Veterans Park Baptist church in Depew, where Roberto is the pastor.

First-time candidates will receive help from Primary Challenge, regardless of political affiliation, he said, as long as they have never held public office or a committee position with the Democratic or Republican parties.

Roberto, also a businessman, ran against County Executive Dennis T. Gorski under the flag of Ross Perot's Independence Party in 1995, then challenged State Senator Mary Lou Rath, R-Williamsville, in 1998. Once a member of the Independence Party's executive committee, Roberto said he got fed up with party politics and decided to work from the outside.

“I'm not going to get involved in issues,” Roberto told his listeners. “The issue is whether or not we are free people with free and unencumbered rights to public office. The group's goal is to help people get on the ballot. If you're for casino gambling, who am I to say you can't run? Let the voters decide.”

The group also promises to work against “the oppressive use of the Board of Elections as a first line of defense” for incumbents seeking re-election.

Roberto said the group has a goal of “toppling a political class that has gutted this region for its own interest.” He said it “wishes to supply comprehensive, purposed reform — not tokens like regionalism or waterfront development.”

The meeting broke up into small discussion groups based on goals for political office. Grand Island businessman Rus Thompson, one of the group's organizers, said he is considering a run against County Legislator Charles M. Swanick, R-Kenmore, or for Grand Island Town Board. “We should target every legislator who voted for the sales tax increase,” Thompson said. “We're taxed to the hilt already.”

A Hamburg man who withheld his name said he is a member of the Independence Party and is gearing up for a possible run against County Legislator Edward J. Kuwik, D-Lackawanna.

A Niagara County woman, who also withheld her name, said she is considering challenging Niagara County Legislator Renae Kimble.

“Who are Silver and Bruno, sitting in a room in Albany and deciding everything from upstate?” asked Mike Yerina of Marilla, referring to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, and Senate Majority Leader Joseph R. Bruno, R-Brunswick.

“Our people in the Assembly and Senate have to kiss up to them,” he said, “and if our people don't do the right thing, then we don't get the aid that we want. I came tonight because it's very frustrating to sit there and see that 97 percent of the people are against the sales tax increase, and then all of a sudden they're passing the (larger) sales tax.”

The group's board will meet next Thursday and a public meeting will be held at 7p.m. Feb.17 at a place to be announced.

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They will meet Thursday in a hotel to begin a revolution. They want to give government back to the people. They aim to end the sham of rigged elections. They hope to terminate tenure for career politicians. They want to open the political door to new people.

The revolutionaries are meeting not in Havana or Haiti, but in Cheektowaga. The banana republics they're targeting are based in Albany and Buffalo. About 120 of the frustrated and fed-up have signed up, most of them business owners, to be nourished by a free lunch and the nectar of change.

It has come to this. The system is so rigged, the roadblocks to political outsiders so high, that civic guerrilla warfare has begun. Leonard Roberto is no Che Guevara or Viktor Yushchenko. He's a small business owner whose frustration with broken, closed-door government led him to lead.

He started Primary Challenge. The group will find and back candidates to run against politicians in primary elections (in which only party members vote), where incumbents are often most vulnerable. Case in point: Joe Golombek last September nearly took out 12 year Assemblyman Sam Hoyt in a Democratic primary.

Battling the petrified political status quo is like taking an ice pick to a glacier. But Roberto has pick and hammer in hand.

It's not a hopeless assault. Public disgust is snowballing. It is fed by everything from an extra penny sales tax, to a comatose local economy, to runaway Medicaid costs, to Albany's three-man rule. Anti-incumbent fever is high. Familiarity breeds contempt.

Roberto hopes to raise $40,000 from Thursday's gathering. He's meeting with other business types in the coming weeks. With money and a core of volunteers, he can make a dent in a few races—starting with this year's county legislator battles.

“The system is rigged to make sure incumbents stay in power,” said Roberto, dark-haired and intense. “They need to be challenged, or they will never respond to the people.”

We've got the most dysfunctional state government in the land. People say they're mad and not going to take it anymore. Yet 98 percent of state lawmakers get re-elected.

There is a reason for it, and it's not public stupidity. Politicians rig the system so well that unless a lawmaker sticks up a 7-Eleven or gets caught playing footsie with a floozie, he's in office for life.

Legislators draw themselves districts stuffed with friendly voters, use handouts from personal stashes of tax dollars to buy support and discourage challengers with a maze of rules and regulations. A newcomer without big-party backing has as much chance of prying voter lists from the patronage hires at the Board of Elections as Osama bin Laden does getting through airport security.

Roberto, 49, is no political Bambi. He was an Independence Party official back in the Perot-Golisano era. He ran headlong into the system in races for county executive and assembly. He knows where the black ice and potholes are.

He wants to make elections work the way they're supposed to. He wants to open the political door to talented outsiders of all stripes. It doesn't matter where challengers stand on casinos and guns or abortion. Roberto's agenda is populist, not philosophical.

“I'm just trying,” he said “to reassert the right to run.”

He has the know-how to help challengers navigate and volunteers to knock on doors and the start of a pot of money to feed campaigns. If it works here, he will take it statewide.

One way or another, Roberto wants to give us back out government. It's good news for people, bad news for career politicians.