Schwandt is going over to NYPA, will resign as Alderwoman in North Tonawanda
North Tonawanda Alderwoman-at-Large Catherine Schwandt will be resigning from her elected position with the city of North Tonawanda to pursue a full-time position with the New York Power Authority (NYPA), she announced this week.
NYPA is the behemoth, quasi-governmental authority that the late Robert Moses headed and which, since 1957, has operated in this region, hijacking billions of dollars of local hydropower out of Western New York in favor of New York City and eight other states.
Western New York residents do not get local electricity from NYPA, despite the Power Authority getting most of its hydroelectricity profits for the statewide agency from the Niagara River.
It is not known what job title Schwandt will take with NYPA. She is resigning her position as Alderwoman effective Feb. 1.
It is expected that her new NYPA position will be along the lines of political patronage.
Schwandt is not known to have experience in hydropower generation.
“My heart belongs to North Tonawanda,” said Schwandt in announcing her retirement as an Alderwoman. “As long as I’m able, I will always be willing to work for the betterment of this community.”
Her rise to a NYPA patronage position came just two years after she was appointed in 2015 to fill the Alderman at Large position of Art Pappas, who was appointed to fill the role of Mayor Rob Ortt, who was selected to fill the shoes of State Senator George Maziarz when he retired.
She previously held the role of Alderman at Large and President of the Common Council when in 2006 she announced she would run against longtime Albany fixture Assemblyman Robin Schimminger.
She said then, “People are afraid their children are going to have to leave the area. Everybody knows somebody who needs a job. We have to give people a reason to stay here.”
In 2008, Schwandt was appointed Council President when Brett Sommer vacated the position. She filled the role until the end of 2012. Schwandt at that time was a 12-year veteran of the Common Council. She also served as President of the Council from 2001-2005.
Schwandt and her husband have invested in residential real estate in North Tonawanda.
She was also appointed once before (during the Maziarz era) to the New York Power Authority.
Schwandt started out as a Democrat and changed her affiliation to Republican before the 2003 election. It has helped her immensely in her appointments.
It remains to be seen what efforts Schwandt will make to fight to obtain more local control of the region’s hydropower. Will she be just another patronage hire, a woman who works well to deliver votes and follow the rules and in return is delivered one of many political positions handed out by a largely corrupt Power Authority to both of the local political parties, in large part to buy their silence in the most outrageous stripping of a region’s wealth perhaps in American history – the theft of the hydropower of Niagara by Robert Moses and his creation – the New York Power Authority.
