`Gotcha’ moment has Stefanik on top of the world

Crandall Library to hold kickoff on Tuesday for `The Last American Editor, Vol. 2’

By Ken Tingley

It was the type of cross examination that originally drew the attention of President Donald Trump.

Rep. Elise Stefanik may still have a little of that Harvard Crimson reporter in her from her college days, or maybe she secretly wishes she had gone to law school.

Sitting before her this past week were the presidents of three prestigious Ivy League colleges - including her alma mater Harvard - as she prepared questions about how they were dealing with antisemitism on their campuses.

This was right in her wheelhouse. There was nothing the Republican base likes better than to see some elite Ivy League eggheads squirm a little, although as a 2006 Harvard graduate, she is technically one of them.

This was the type of moment that could get Elise Stefanik even more national attention.

Yet, for most of the five hours of testimony, no one had been able to pin down the college presidents as they danced around the issue, well, like a good politician.

Stefanik told the New York Times she had prepared for the final round of questions during a break.

She studied the universities codes of conduct.

“I thought, `How can I drill down on this and ask this question in such a way that the answer is an easy yes?.’” She told the Times. “And they blew it.”

She sounded like a 60 Minutes correspondent preparing for a “gotcha” moment or a seasoned prosecutor laying a trap for a key witness.

So she began the final line of questioning by lobbing up a softball for the college presidents: “Does calling for the genocide of Jews violate Harvard’s rules on bullying and harassment?”

Stefanik told the New York Times she knew the answer would have to be “Yes.”

But that wasn’t what they said.

“It depends,” came one of the responses.

“If the speech turns into conduct it can be harassment,” Elizabeth Magill, the University of Pennsylvania president said.

“Conduct,” said Stefanik, her voice rising with incredulity. “Meaning, committing the act of genocide.”

Stefanik had her viral moment.

It went around the world.

It was shared in Israel.

She told the New York Times she was “shocked” by the answer.

It came near the end of a five-hour hearing of the House Education and Workforce Committee. Stefanik had tried repeatedly to nail down what the college presidents were actually doing about antisemitism on their campuses.

They had dodged and danced and answered with various forms of legalese.

I had heard it before while interviewing Stefanik. She knows the game.

She told the Times the responses were “pathetic answers.”

And here is something else that Stefanik was probably shocked about. Just about everyone else agreed with her line of questioning.

The left.

The right.

And those in the middle.

Rep. Stefanik had used her considerable power for good.

Social media lit up with responses that essentially said, “I don’t agree with Elise Stefanik on anything, but she got this one right.”

She had used her position to expose a problem in our country.

“That Ms. Stefanik emerged as the voice of reason in the hearing was a sobering thought for many of her detractors,” the New York Times wrote in its article. “More than any other member of Congress, Ms. Stefanik represents to Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans the worst of what happened to the GOP under the sway of Mr. Trump.”

From the beginning, Stefanik has struggled to articulate what she actually stands for, why she is in Washington and what she hopes to do for her constituents back home.

She has always been a student of the talking points. Her communication is almost always calculated by a political equation of what will be be best to raise her standing in Republican politics, rather than what is best for the country or her community.

Perhaps this moment will give Stefanik pause.

Maybe there will be an epiphany.

Maybe she will see there is a road forward by uniting the country in stead of dividing it.

Maybe she will see that there are issues of common ground and she does not always have to attack the other side.

Make no mistake about it, I’m sure Stefanik’s goal was to embarrass a corner of the liberal universe for the betterment of Republican politics, but in the end everyone agreed with her.

Nobody saw that coming.

Maybe, Elise Stefanik will realize she doesn’t need Trump after all.

That she can realize the power she so lusts for by being a positive agent of change.

On Saturday, the Penn president resigned because of how she answered Stefanik’s question.

But then Stefanik ruined it.

She gloated.

On X, she wrote Sunday “One down. Two to go.”

Tune in to Roundtable

I’ll be talking to Joe Donahue on WAMC-Roundtable (90.3 FM) today at 11:30 a.m about my new book and the place commentary and columns have in the media.

Hope you get a chance to tune in.

Big event Tuesday

I will officially kick off the publication of my new book - The Last American Editor, Vol. 2 - at Crandall Public Library Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

I’ve asked some special guests to attend while talking about the value of commentary and opinion in our news content.

I hope to see you there.

Lee Enterprises earnings

Angela Fu, the business reporter for the Poynter Institute, reported Friday that Lee Enterprises - which owns The Post-Star, Auburn Citizen and Buffalo News - ended its fourth quarter with a $1 million loss.

Lee Enterprises is the fourth largest newspaper chain in the country and operates in 75 markets. Lee played up a 14 percent year-over-year growth in digital revenue in its earnings report. And while the company reported operating revenue of $164 million, it also made $100 million in cuts this past year. They included layoffs, furloughs and a reduction in print days at the majority of its daily newspapers, including The Post-Star.

Fu also reported this one disturbing story about Lee.

In October, Lee sold The Southern Illinoisan newspaper to Paxton Media Group, which immediately laid off the entire unionized staff.

“In selling to to Paxton,” Fu wrote. “Lee ignored an offer from a local investor to match or exceed the purchase price and honor the Southern Illinoisan workers’ contract, according to a group of 12 unions at Lee’s papers.”

“If this is the road Lee Enterprises intends to travel, where it guts newspaper holdings and passes on what's left to disingenuous buyers who will disinvest in local news coverage, then all the communities where Lee owns news organizations have reason to fear for the future,” the unions wrote. “This is not a plan for long-term growth. In fact, it's no kind of plan at all."

Lee still owes more than $400 million from its purchase of Pulitzer newspapers in 2005. It paid off less than $10 million of that debt this past year.

SUNY Fredonia cuts

Coming on the heels of cuts at SUNY Potsdam earlier this year, SUNY Fredonia is proposing cuts to 13 programs after years of declining enrollment.

SUNY Fredonia enrollment has declined about 40 percent over the past 10 years.

The college is facing a $10 million structural deficit for the immediate future.

This is justice

The New York Times reported a real case of justice in Parma, Ohio last week.

Municipal Court Judge Timothy Gilligan sentenced a woman to 90 days in jail for throwing a bowl of food at a fast-food worker at a Chipotle restaurant.

The judge offered to suspend 60 days of the sentence if the woman agreed to work 20 hours a week for eight and a half weeks at a fast-food restaurant.

The defendant agreed.

She must complete her work at the restaurant by the time she reports to jail in March.

We need more creative sentencing like this that will make a difference in the way we act.

Girard leads Clemson

Joe Girard III scored another 21 points to lead Clemson over Texas Christian on Saturday.

Clemson remains unbeaten (9-0) and is nationally ranked (No. 24).

Girard’s play this season reminds me more of his free-wheeling play in high school than what we saw at Syracuse. Girard even had one great defensive play where he blocked a shot and led a fast break the other way.

Girard is playing man to man defense for the first time since leaving high school. It is something he needs to prove he can do if he is going to have a chance of playing professionally.