In 1990 he ran unsuccessfully against former Congressman Bill Paxon for the 31st Congressional District. After serving for a few years as a legislative aide in the Erie County Legislature he opened a law office in the Buffalo suburb of Hamburg. He ran again in the 1994 contest and lost in the primary. In 2001 he sought the Republican endorsement to run for the mayoralty of Buffalo and withdrew from the race once it was given to Anthony Masiello. He again tried to run for the office of mayor for the City of Buffalo in 2005 losing the Democratic primary to State Senator and eventual mayor Byron Brown. As a result of this failed bid for mayor Gaughan was sued by the Hyatt Hotel over a $10,000 debt. In early 2006 he launched an abortive campaign for the senate seat vacated by Brown, but dropped out at the urging of local Democratic Party leaders, who backed another candidate. In 2007 he lobbied Erie County Democratic Chairman Len Lenihan for appointment as that was going to be vacant due to the departure of David Swarts to become Commissioner of the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles. Gaughan announced his entry into a primary election against New York State AssemblymanSean Ryan in June 2012; Gaughan lost. He also ran for the office of Erie County Comptroller in 2013 but lost to Stefan Mychajliw.
Writings and activism
Gaughan wrote At First Light: Strengthening Buffalo Niagara in the New Century which was published by the Canisius College Press in 2003. The book is a collection of speeches and short essays by Gaughan on such subjects as regionalism, government reform, race relations, US and local history, and patriotism. In late 2006, he released the results of a study entitled The Cost which detailed the amount paid to elected and appointed officials at various levels of government in the Buffalo-Niagara region. He compared this to other regions and found that Buffalo-Niagara had significantly more paid elected officials than other regions in both absolute and per capita measures. Additionally, a high number of small towns replicating services- such as police, highway maintenance and parks departments lead to a higher number of civil-service government employees. Gaughan used these numbers to support his thesis that entire layers of government should be done away with in Buffalo-Niagara.
Downsizing movement
Gaughan has been a proponent of "downsizing" town and village boards, generally from five members to three. He sees this as a cost-saving measure. On June 3, 2009, the towns of West Seneca and Evans both passed the measures by large margins. On September 23, 2009, the town of Orchard Park passed a measure cutting its Town Board by two members by nearly a two-to-one margin. On September 29, 2009, the town of Alden voted 1,052 to 1,020 in favor of reducing the size of its town council. While Gaughan is the most visible proponent of downsizing in Western New York, there have been various groups in each of the towns which have aligned themselves with or distanced themselves from Gaughan to various degrees. In 2010, Gaughan campaigned to dissolve the villages of Sloan and Williamsville. The villages held dissolution referenda on August 17, 2010, and both failed overwhelmingly with "no" votes exceeding 80%. On September 23, 2010, Grand Island, New York became the first town to successfully resist the Gaughan downsizing and consolidation plan by voting down the referendum 2,155 NO votes to 1,805 YES votes. The decision was made by a 350-vote margin; and the turnout, for what was a special election, superseded the primary election some 2 weeks earlier by roughly 500 votes. Grand Island Republican Party Committeeman Mark William Webb, took a visible stand against what they felt was an intrusion into their government from external forces. Webb argued, "It's much harder to corrupt four men in a room than two", adding, "e're a very strong community. We're a proud community. We love this town." The village of Farnham, New York had a dissolution vote September 28, 2010. Farnham Mayor Terry L. Caber Sr. said he believes that village government is most efficient. "The bottom line is, I just want to make sure the residents really understand the full picture, the full impact, and let them make the decision". Voters rejected the Farnham dissolution referendum. The towns of West Seneca and Alden revisited the downsizing and voted to keep their downsized boards in 2012. In 2015 the town of Hamburg voted to return to a 5 member Town Board. The voters of the town of West Seneca will determine whether or not to return to a 5 member town board in the 2018 general election after a petition was filed calling for the vote by the Committee to Restore Representation in West Seneca.
The Gaughan Plan
Gaughan presented his "Gaughan Plan" on regionalism to the Erie County Legislature Government Affairs Committee on April 27, 2005. The plan is as follows:
