1/6 hearings about protecting future elections
Long-delayed Charles Evans Hughes documentary premieres in Glens Falls
The Front Page
Morning Update
Monday, June 13, 2022
By Ken Tingley
When I was a kid, our family would gather around the television when the president addressed the nation.
The youngsters did not like it that some of our favorite shows were being pre-emptied to hear Lyndon Johnson drone on about the Vietnam War, but we could see by the demeanor of our parents it was important.
The Jan. 6 committee used prime time last Thursday to get the attention of a divided country unable to discern fact from fiction. Almost all of us watched the events of January 6 with horror. Few of us at the time understood how close the country came to having a legitimate election overturned. And that’s really the point of these hearings and why we all should watch them when they resume Monday morning at 10 a.m.
The attack on the Capitol was the final result brought on by the former president’s attempt to convince his followers that there was election fraud. Many of those followers still believe it to this day.
The presidents own people refuted those claims during the first night of testimony.
What is important now is that the repeated allegations of election fraud have set the stage for the 2024 presidential election to be overturned. It could be end of our democracy with politicians exploiting loopholes in how votes are counted and certified to subvert the will of the people.
All citizens should be concerned. Whether we are conservative, moderate or liberal, I suspect we all agree that we want to live in a democracy, even an ill-functioning one.
Judging by Rep. Elise Stefanik’s robust interview schedule on conservative media outlets last week, she did not watch any of the prime time Jan. 6 committee hearing. But that didn’t stop her from criticizing its findings.
“But importantly, their committee is not focused on finding out why the Capitol was so ill-prepared, why the Capitol Police were not given the training and resources, why they were at half staff on January 6th,” Stefanik said on Fox News last week.
Rep. Stefanik is wrong. The committee ultimately should be focused on how to safeguard future elections. That is the more important issue. What Rep. Stefanik didn’t see in the prime time showing was how the committee used the words of fellow Republicans and Trump administration officials to confirm that none of them believed any election fraud had occurred. Included in that group was Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter, add William Barr, the president’s attorney general. Remember, it was Barr who blew off the Mueller report to help Trump.
The committee revealed that multiple Republican members of congress who had promoted the election fraud allegations had requested pardons from the president. That does not sound like people being truthful.
Over the next few weeks, the committee will review its findings. It is important to know what happened, but perhaps the most important work is understanding how we can keep our democracy and our elections safe.
That’s what we need to worry about.
My Native Air
Maury Thompson, my former colleague from The Post-Star, finally got to show his documentary movie at Crandall Public Library Saturday.
The subject matter is long overdue. Charles Evans Hughes, who was born in Glens Falls and spent a lot of time in the Adirondacks when he was governor of New York, was a political titan who was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, governor of New York, Secretary of State and a presidential candidate.
The documentary concentrates almost exclusively with Hughes and his family’s connection with Glens Falls and the Adirondacks. At least one person in the film wondered why we don’t know more about Hughes. It is a good question and should be a bigger part of the conversation when talking about Glens Falls and its history.
The house that Hughes was born in is still being used on Center Street in Glens Falls. It is marked with a plaque. There is another mention of Hughes with a plaque in City Park. Seems like there should be more.
What’s next in GF
The South Street revitalization project in Glens Falls seemed to come to a standstill after the death of economic development leader Ed Bartholomew.
Glens Falls Mayor Bill Collins wants citizens to know it is back on track.
Two informational meetings will be held on Monday to update residents on the project.
The first meeting will be in the downtown community room at Crandall Public Library from noon to 2 p.m.
The second will be at the Park Theater on Park Street from 6 to 8 p.m.
The meetings will update residents on where the project is now and how it has changed. It is an important update for Glens Falls residents.
Hadley library
Reminder that I will be speaking at the Rockwell Falls Public Library in Hadley on Thursday, June 23 at 6:30 p.m. I will be talking about life, newspapers, the state of journalism and my new book “The Last American Editor.”
I hope to see you there.
You are exactly right Ken. Their job was to complete a root cause analysis for the investigation. Looking at why they were not prepared is much later in that process. It never should have happened in the the first place but was a simple extension of how Trump has manipulated his environment his entire life. Unfortunately he had many little soldiers to assist- Stefanik being one.