During his second term as County Executive, he ran for Congress to succeed Democrat Henry Nowak, but he was defeated in the general election by Republican Jack Quinn.

He also helped the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres finance Marine Midland Arena (now known as KeyBank Center).

He spent his first nine years of public life working for HealthNow (Parent company of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York) and was subsequently hired by McCullagh Coffee Co. of Buffalo.

Gorski was raised in Buffalo's far east side in a Polish community where he served as an altar boy and played baseball and basketball.

He was the starting catcher for the Roman Catholic Timon High School and later became a political activist at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York.

[6] Gorski was a Buffalo Bills fan growing up, and he attended the first official game in franchise history at "The Rockpile" when he was 16 years old.

He followed the Bills while in Vietnam and as an Erie County Legislator he attended the 1972 groundbreaking ceremonies for Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, New York.

[6] During the Vietnam War Gorski volunteered to serve in the military "because he thought it was the right thing to do"[8] even though he could have sought a graduate school deferment.

[6][7][9] While deployed, Gorksi took part in the Battle of Huế during the Tet Offensive, at which time his unit was employed largely in an infantry role.

[9] In April 1968, Gorski was the officer responsible for the night watch of battalion headquarters in Gia Le, when a People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) assault breached the perimeter wire fence.

[10] In 1984, Assemblyman Gorski co-sponsored legislation that amended state no-fault insurance laws in order to preserve the right to declare "loss of fetus" as a serious injury in an automobile accident.

Previously, the laws were written such that this type of loss had been dismissed in the Appellate Division of the New York State Court in a suit brought by Jane Raymond for a 1978 accident.

[9] When Gorski ran for the Democratic nomination for Erie County Executive in 1987, Buffalo City Councilman James P. Keane had the support of the Erie County Democratic Party and Joseph Crangle,[14] but Gorski won the nomination in the September 15 primary election in what The New York Times described as an upset.

[3] Upon Gorski's assumption of office, he was met with the December 31, 1987 expiration of the temporary one percent increase in sales tax, and special governmental operations by New York State Governor Mario Cuomo were necessary to keep the county from losing revenues while awaiting reconvening of the New York State Legislature on January 6, 1988.

[21] After he became County Executive, Gorski was succeeded as the 143rd district representative in the New York State Assembly by Paul Tokasz in a March 1988 special election.

Gorski made Chestnut Ridge Park, which is located 25 miles (40 km) south of Buffalo in Erie County, available to the veterans.

At the time, Buffalo was the smallest American city with a subway system and Alfred Savage had just resigned as executive director to assume that position with the Chicago Transit Authority.

[43][44] The stadium name change was part of the deal that was eventually finalized between Gorski, Pataki and Bills' owner Ralph Wilson in late 1998.

Gorski worked for HealthNow (Parent company of BlueCross BlueShield of Western New York)[56] for nine years in a variety of capacities.