Buffalo in the 70’s: ‘There’s no flowery rhetoric’ in Jimmy Griffin’s campaign

By Steve Cichon
steve@buffalostories.com
@stevebuffalo

“Blunt-talking Griffin,” says the headline, “meets issues head-on along campaign circuit.”

Forty years ago today, September 4, 1975, State Sen. James D. Griffin was seeking the Democratic nomination for Erie County executive against Amherst supervisor, sporting goods store owner and 1946 Buffalo Bisons quarterback Al Dekdebrun.

Dekdebrun won the primary, but he lost to Republican incumbent Ned Regan in the general election.

Two years later, in 1977, Griffin again lost a Democratic primary for mayor but was elected to his first of four terms in City Hall from third-party lines.

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Steve Cichon

Steve Cichon writes about Buffalo’s pop culture history. His stories of Buffalo's past have appeared more than 1600 times in The Buffalo News. He's a proud Buffalonian helping the world experience the city he loves. Since the earliest days of the internet, Cichon's been creating content celebrating the people, places, and ideas that make Buffalo unique and special. The 25-year veteran of Buffalo radio and television has written five books and curates The Buffalo Stories Archives-- hundreds of thousands of books, images, and audio/visual media which tell the stories of who we are in Western New York.