Maurice Garner

Maurice Garner is often referred to as a political expert for his countless achievements in Western New York’s political landscape. Garner is a prominent political strategist and has long supported and organized urban-focused initiatives. He has also coordinated the campaigns of numerous public officials in Western New York. Namely, he was the architect of the campaign of the first African-American mayor of the City of Buffalo, Byron Brown.

Prior to joining Bolton-St. Johns, Maurice co-founded the civic/political action organization Grassroots in 1986. Grassroots was created to develop a coordinated partnership between elected officials and the electorate. Due to his tireless work, Grassroots is now one of the most prominent progressive institutions in Western New York politics.

Maurice has also worked as the Neighborhood Services Director for Erie County’s Community Action Organization. In that position, Garner initiated various citizen participation and capacity building programs; developed business opportunities to anchor inner-city communities; and, secured record investment and grant dollars for the agency.

From 2000 until 2003, Mr. Garner served as Buffalo’s Deputy City Comptroller, and in that time he was recognized for successfully addressing multifaceted, complex financial issues while maintaining the integrity of the Comptroller’s office.

After 2003, Maurice headed Garner Associates LLC, a firm specializing political strategy and building coalitions among community organizations.