In 1971, Masiello began his career politics when he was elected as a district representative to the Buffalo Common Council. He was subsequently elected to an at-large seat on the Council and served as Democratic Majority leader in 1976. He also served as Chairman of the Council Finance Committee. Masiello was a member of the New York State Senate from 1981 to 1993, sitting in the 184th, 185th, 186th, 187th, 188th, 189th and 190th New York State Legislatures. Masiello's Senate district originally comprised mainly Buffalo and other parts of Erie County, New York. During the final year of his Senate service, his district encompassed part of Buffalo, as well as Grand Island, Niagara Falls and Tonawanda. In the State Senate, Masiello ascended to Minority Whip and served as Chair of the Democratic Conference. As a senator, Masiello served as the Ranking Minority Member of various committees, including the Child Care Committee and the Energy Committee.
Masiello was sworn in as the 61st Mayor Buffalo on January 1, 1994. Masiello received 65% of the Democratic Primary vote and 67% of the General Election vote in 1993. He was re-elected to second term in 1997 and again to a third termin 2001 with the joint endorsement of the Democratic and Republican parties. As mayor, he focused on economic development, governmental restructuring, and education. He cut over 1,000 jobs from the city payroll by restructuring management and the police department. He successfully sought approval from the state to create a joint construction fund for the city schools, which has been used to renovate and build city schools. He unsuccessfully sought to take control of the Buffalo Board of Education and install his own appointees. This is unlike Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City who won this authority. In 1997, Masiello's office, and under the direction of Buffalo State College's Center for Applied Research in Interactive Technologies, launched CityNet, an advanced telecommunications network that links 14 educational and community sites in Buffalo. In 2005, he announced that he would not run for re-election. He was succeeded by Byron Brown on December 31, 2005. Following his service as mayor, Masiello joined a political consulting and lobbying firm located in Buffalo.
On April 19, 2014 he was accused by Kevin P. Connor of lobbying Peace Bridge reconstruction. During the same time he also lobbied Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority but said that he doesn't have anything against stationary engineers being Fair Apportionment of Infrastructure Resources members and that he will not participate at the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority votes.
Personal life
He is married to the former Kathleen Masiello of Washingtonville, New York. The couple have three children.
