BUFFALO, N.Y. — Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz on Wednesday said he does not regret traveling to Ohio to view the solar eclipse despite widespread criticism after he posted a video during the lunar phenomenon on social media.
“I know I’m getting critiqued, especially from those who are political adversaries of mine,” Poloncarz said after an unrelated news conference in Buffalo. “I get it. This is a political business. That’s what happens.”
More than 500 people took to Instagram and X on Monday after Poloncarz posted a video saying that he drove with his girlfriend to Ashtabula, Ohio, to view the eclipse. Many of the comments criticized Poloncarz, and Erie County Republican Chairman Michael Kracker called his absence “arrogant.”
“You’d have to stare directly into the sun not to be able to see how big of a hypocrite Mark Poloncarz is for leaving Erie County during the solar eclipse,” Kracker said in a statement.
However, the county executive — who in November was elected to his fourth term — stressed that he didn’t make the decision to leave until he knew large crowds were not materializing in Western New York.
“I felt it was safe for me to do it,” Poloncarz said. “I was in constant contact with our Department of Emergency Services. The calls that were being received by 911 were much less than the calls that we would normally get on a usual Monday. Traffic, there really was no traffic.”
Asked by 2 On Your Side how he would respond to people who say the move seemed out of touch, Poloncarz said Ohio is not that far away.
“It’s actually further to drive to Syracuse than it is where I was,” he said. “It’s a drive I’ve taken hundreds of times.”
A self-described astronomy buff, Poloncarz said he did have one regret.
“I feel bad my parents didn’t see it,” he said. “They tried. And I was thinking to myself, I should have taken my parents.”