This is great news, and I am very Proud of Jimmy for standing up to the machine. Alfreda Slominski endorsed me too, she is a class act just like Jimmy Griffin!

WBEN 930 : WBEN Exclusive: Jimmy Griffin Endorses Collins

Appearing Tuesday on WBEN’s Beach and Company with Sandy Beach, Griffin spoke of Collins’s skills as a business person, as a way to reform the county.

During his four terms as Buffalo Mayor, Griffin was often cross-endorsed by the Republican Party, and has been seen as a political maverick, with his own South Buffalo political network, that could offset some of the organized party forces Keane has at his disposal .

In the Democratic primary, Griffin finished a distant third to Keane with 53 percent of the Democratic vote. West Seneca Supervisor Paul Clark and Griffin split the remainder, with 25 percent for Clark and 22 percent for Griffin.

Clark will remain on the ballot in November on the Independence Party line, but has suspended his campaign and has thrown his support to Keane.

Keane and Griffin both come from South Buffalo and have represented that district on Buffalo’s City Council.

Griffin had a feisty tenure as Buffalo’s longest serving Mayor from 1998 to 1993. In 1991, Griffin ran as the Republican nominee for County Executive, defeated by Dennis Gorski, who later chose Keane as his deputy. He returned to the City Council in 2003 and finished a distant second to Bill Clinton in the New Hampshire Democratic Presidential in 1996.