Less and less of what Stefanik says is true
Potsdam colleges facing some significant cutbacks
By Ken Tingley
What does Elise Stefanik stand for?
Specifically?
I’ve been asking that question since I first met her a decade ago. It was clear she was adept at memorizing the talking points provided her. And over the years she got better and better at sidestepping questions and filibustering a topic she did not want to address.
While Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand - who once represented this region in the House - has taken on such issues as sexual assault in the military and on college campuses and Chris Gibson showed he was open to bipartisan legislation with the opposition, Stefanik has morphed into a full-fledged politician whose sole mission is to advance herself in Republican politics instead of helping her constituents.
She nominated Rep. Jim Jordan’s on his failed attempt at speaker last week and even mentioned his wrestling career at Ohio State. She seemed oblivious as an assistant coach Jordan is accused of looking the other way while wrestlers were sexually assaulted by a team doctor.
But there was more in Stefanik’s nominating speech about the state of America. I didn’t recognize the country she was talking about.
She blamed inflation on the spending of “far left government.”
She blamed the immigration crisis on “open borders,” lumping the northern border in her district with the southern border.
She described violent crime “skyrocketing across America” and that it was destroying cities, suburbs and towns and people no longer felt safe in their homes.
She said energy production had been “crushed by President Biden’s policies.
And she said that the federal government had “targeted conservatives, Catholics and parents at school board meetings.
If that’s the world that Rep. Stefanik lives in, I’m glad I don’t live in Schuylerville.
I apologize in advance because I know Schuylerville is not like that. The reality is that Rep. Stefanik’s description of America is not like anything we are seeing locally. It is an attempt at frightening us. None of what she said was true.
Few Democrats are “far left” and President Biden has always been a moderate.
Inflation has continued to improve over the past year.
The immigration crisis is not the result of “open borders” but of Congress failing to address the problem in any possible way. Both parties are to blame for that.
The federal government continues to target those who commit crimes - whether it is Republicans involved with trying to steal the 2020 presidential election or a Democratic senator from New Jersey being bribed by foreign governments. It is Jim Jordan’s committee on the Judiciary Committee that opened an impeachment inquiry of President Biden without any evidence.
As far as energy production, the U.S. oil production has actually increased since Biden took office. Rising fuel costs have little to do with production and more to do with the world market - supply and demand. This is also true of electricity costs.
On factcheck.org, the executive director of the National Energy Assistance Directors Association said, “President Biden has no more control over retail electric, natural gas, heating oil or gasoline prices than did Trump,” Mark Wolfe said. “Feeder fuels such as natural gas and coal to produce electricity and petroleum to produce gasoline are set in the marketplace.”
Do any of us feel unsafe in our homes?
Are any of afraid to walk the streets of downtown Glens Falls, Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake or Potsdam?
I don’t know of any school board controversies locally now that most local schools have changed their mascots.
When Rep. Stefanik speaks, it is not to address problems in her district, or make the world a better place, it is only to improve her standing within the Republican Party and that’s not doing her job.
Best sign ever
We were driving back from Potsdam Friday morning. We reached the crossroads in Long lake where Route 30 intersects with Newcomb Road when I spied a roadside ice cream stand.
The sign read “Custard’s Last Stand.”
I don’t visit Long Lake very often, so I had never saw the sign before.
It has to be one of the best historical plays on words for a business I have ever seen.
The stand has a Facebook page and last posted in September that it was still open weekends.
Apparently, there is another store named “Custard’s Last Stand” with two locations in Missouri, but I doubt they are related.
If you’ve got a better name with a historical reference, please share it.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=750037690464396&set=a.480983297369838&type=3
University struggles
The St. Lawrence County Democrats asked me to speak at their annual Fall Harvest Dinner this past week. Naturally, I had to inform them I was a registered Republican for most of my adult life. We did have one thing in common. We both don’t like Elise Stefanik’s lies.
There were 130 in attendance and I talked about some local politicians’ profiles in courage moments.
Also speaking was a representative from SUNY Potsdam.
The school earlier announced plans to cut up to 14 degree programs because of a $9 million deficit. It’s enrollment has declined from 4,500 to 2,500 in recent years.
The representative from the college assured everyone the college was “not going anywhere.”
Across town, North Country Public Radio reported this week that Clarkson University was planing to restructure its curriculum with a focus almost entirely on STEM.
Clarkson, has also been struggling with declining enrollment. It now plans to do something about it. After discussions with faculty, it will evaluate what courses can be incorporated into the STEM model and what cannot.
It appears that liberal arts programs might be a tough sell for the future and a significant downsizing is ahead for the college. The two schools currently employ about 1,500 local residents.
Chapman event
The Wine & Chocolate event at the Queensbury Hotel has been a staple among Chapman Museum fundraisers for a number of years.
The event is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 10 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. featuring more than 20 vendors of wines, artisanal spirits, cheeses, baked goods and chocolates. Tickets are currently $45, but go up to $50 after Nov. 1. The Adirondack Culinary School at 14 Hudson Ave. in Glens Falls will be hosting a dinner to support the Chapman the night before.
The “Finer Experience will feature “masterfully prepared courses paired by Chef Matthew Bolton with select wines provided by the Lake George Wine Outlet.”
The tickets are $125 but also include admission to the wine and chocolate event on Friday..
Tickets are available at the Chapman Museum or by calling 518 793-2826.
Elise thinks she's going to be President. V.P. for Trump, and then, when he goes to jail ..... the Resolute Desk. Why do the North Country people imagine she cares about us any more than he does? Her ambition is pathological. I'm embarrassed that she's my Representative. She's NOT!
Thank you for your research of St-k's spiels. Like her pathological megalomaniac leader, she probably has said, or will say that only she can solve the problems she consistently lies about.