Adam Bojak

Adam Bojak is a tenants' rights attorney who has spent years working with Buffalo residents in order to help them fight back against their bad landlords and ensure they know their rights; he has also helped homeowners facing the loss of their houses due to bank foreclosure. Through working with so many similarly-situated people, Adam has seen firsthand how the politics and policies of austerity - pushed by both Republicans and Democrats over the past four decades - affect everyday people. He understands how the system is set up to benefit a select few at the top, while leaving the rest to struggle in apathy and despair. He is ready to go to Albany to fight for the rights of the people at the bottom who have been without a political voice for too long.

Adam grew up in East Aurora. His father worked at the William Street Buffalo Post Office for over 30 years before retirement, and his mother spent almost two decades as an administrative assistant in the Hamburg school district; his blue collar parents worked hard to provide him with the opportunity to go to college, and then to law school. He moved back into the City of Buffalo ten years ago and was a homeowner in South Buffalo before getting married to a public school teacher and settling on the upper West Side. He is active in the community and works closely with local non-profits to promote safe housing and tenant advocacy and provide free legal services for all renters who need help.

• We believe that every single person, regardless of who they are, deserves a safe and stable home.
• We must demand our schools are funded fully and properly, not only what is already owed to them, but increase that funding in the future to ensure every child gets the education they deserve.
• We believe that, in one of the richest states in the richest country in the history of humankind, rampant wealth inequality is simply unacceptable.

I am very passionate about housing. I have worked closely with tenants during disputes with their landlords for years, and I have seen the worst that Western New York has to offer as far as living conditions. NO ONE should be forced to live in an unsafe, unhealthy home only because they cannot afford to move anywhere else.

I am also very invested in overhauling our tax code so that those with billions of dollars stop getting a free ride. There is absolutely no reason that the working class should be forced to tighten our belts over and over and over again, while the people in power continue to turn their backs on us in order to avoid angering their rich donors.

I look up to my parents. My father worked for over 30 years at the Buffalo post office, and when I was a kid, he worked the overnight shift for years. My mother worked part time jobs for a while until my sister and I got older, at which point she worked for our local school district (East Aurora) before eventually moving to Hamburg middle school full time. The two of them made sacrifices and worked incredibly hard so that my sister and I were able to live a stable and happy life.

I want to be known, and I want my campaign to be known, as a force for the people of New York. I want to be remembered for lowering the bar to entry for our political system, for making it easier for more people of lesser means to run for office - and win. I want my political enemies to worry about me, and I want my political allies to be fearless in their convictions because I am at their side.

I vaguely remember the fall of the Berlin Wall - I would have been 8 years old at the time. I remember it being quite momentous and historic, but having absolutely no idea why it was so special, of course.

I worked as part-time as a do-anything/gopher type for a local art gallery and its eccentric owner. I worked there for about 5-6 months, until I realized that I need something more solid and regular - some of the jobs I was doing around the shop, and her home, were quite strange.

Stephen King's "The Stand" is my favorite novel. It's an incredible study of humanity and how it reacts, en masse, to a worldwide pandemic of epic proportions. It tells the story of what happens after the entire world grinds to a screeching halt, and how people gather together and democratically rebuild society. On top of all that, there is the ultimate, unending battle between good and evil that is waged throughout it all.

No, I don't believe experience in government is a prerequisite to be a good legislator. If a person is elected right out of their neighborhood, still fresh from living and struggling daily with the circumstances facing ordinary, everyday people, they will likely have an easier time carrying the needs of the community into state legislation. As for politics: I almost think having experience in that is a hindrance, because for many, politics is nothing but a game to strike self-serving deals. I do not aim to be a politician - I aim to be a REPRESENTATIVE.

Yes, having those relationships with other legislators is very important to passing important legislation. If they write you off and have no dialogue with you, then you have no way to speak to them about what you're trying to do and present your case to win them over to the cause. Being elected as the most progressive member of the legislation does not mean anything if nobody will work with you to get anything accomplished.

Right now, I am an enormous fan of Yuh-Line Niou in the Assembly and Julia Salazar in the Senate. They are both amazing, strong, fierce advocates for not only their constituents, but New Yorkers across the state. They introduce legislation that will have universally positive impacts, and are not afraid to stand up to the statewide party machine.