Political parties should not be in our DNA
Joe Seeman makes case for how to conduct political debate in Assembly race
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Growing up in a small working-class town in Connecticut, the only true allegiance I inherited from my father was the New York Giants.
My dad liked football more than politics.
My passions trended toward sports as a young man, especially baseball and the New York Yankees. It was only later - much later actually - that I found out those same rabid allegiances I enjoyed with sports also applied to politics for many people.
Over the years I've heard people repeatedly boast of voting for the same political party their entire lives as if it was part of their DNA.
More recently, many admit their dislike for Donald Trump the human being - perhaps I am giving him too much credit - because their identity is wrapped up in the party he represents.
Because of that, they see voting for a Democrat as sacrilege, like if I suddenly switched allegiances to the Red Sox.
So they vote for Trump anyway.
There was little talk about politics in my home despite the turbulent times we lived.
But as I came of age, there was some discussion about the war in Vietnam and the college kids burning their draft cards in protest. My father made it clear, that when the time came, I'd be heading off to war.
My Dad backed Richard Nixon and his "peace with honor" platform and I followed suit, even though there were nights as a young teen when I laid awake worrying my fate might also lie in Southeast Asia.
When the peace treaty was finally signed, I was relieved my future was in college instead of the jungle. When I finally turned 18, my best friend and I - at the insistence of our fathers - made our way to the town hall to register for the draft as required by law.
The clerk looked at us quizzically and reminded us the war was over so there was no need to register.
We gladly retreated.
I voted for the first time in 1976 and took it seriously.
I did my research on Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, I reviewed the U.S. Senate race in Connecticut between Republican incumbent Lowell Weicker and Democrat Gloria Schaffer remember my mother and I going to Town Hall where we both voted for Jimmy Carter and Schaffer. I don't particularly remember the reasons now, but I supposed it had something to do with the pardon Ford gave Nixon.
If there was a party allegiance in my family - I found out years later that my grandparents were staunch Republicans - I did not know about it at the time. It seemed to me, my job as a voter was to discern the better of the two candidates and cast my vote.
I find that that kind of wisdom from an 18-year-old kind of shocking now, but for the most part that's my guiding principle every time I head to the polls.
To vote for the better candidate and not necessarily the one that would be better for my life.
When my wife and I first came to Glens Falls, my wife was hired in the Warren County's district attorney's office to an appointed secretarial position. She was told things would look better if she was a member of the Republican Part. That's how we became registered Republicans for the next two decades.
But that did not change our approach to voting.
It was candidate by candidate.
Election by election.
We voted for Republicans, Democrats, Green Party and cast a few write-in votes along the way.
Vote for the best person for the job.
The smartest person.
The person with the most experience.
That was my credo at 18 and it remains that way to this day. I am shocked to learn there are so many others who see their personal identity tied up with a political party as if it is part of their family heritage, part of who they are.
Two weeks from now, I will vote for the candidates best qualified to do the job.
To do otherwise makes no sense.
Defending Weinstein
The outrageous things that Donald Trump says know no bounds.
This past weekend, Trump incredibly tried to defend Harvey Weinstein and his serial sexual assaults.
While being interviewed on the Dan Bongino Radio Show Friday morning he expressed surprise at Harvey Weinstein's legal troubles and seemed to endorse some sort of liberal conspiracy to get the Hollywood movie producer and Democratic supporter into trouble.
"I was so amazed that Harvey Weinstein got schlonged. He got hit as hard as you can get hit. Because he was sort of the king of the woke, right? And yet he got it. And I figured that maybe he wouldn’t get hit so hard,” Trump told Bongino.
Weinstein has been accused on both coasts of multiple sexual assaults by more than 80 women after an investigation by the New York Times that led to the movie She Said and remains in prison in New York.
Assembly debates
After my piece on "debate dodgers" Monday, I heard from Assembly candidate Joe Seeman, a Democrat, who pointed out that his Republican opponent, Mary Beth Walsh agreed to debate, but pushed the date as late as possible (Today) which is three days before early voting starts.
Seeman went on to write:
"I had asked for much earlier date, but she refused. And also, I think it's important to note, that at the beginning of my campaign, I announced that I would be holding public town hall meetings across the district, and I invited Mary Beth Walsh to join me as an equal partner in planning and hold these and to engage in dialogue, I offered to have them at dates and location at her convenience. I directly emailed and snail mailed her as well as announcing it publicly. She, who has never held a public town hall meeting in her eight years in office, did not even bother to respond."
That's the way a political debate should be conducted.
YMCA merger
The Glens Family YMCA announced last week that it was, essentially, becoming part of the Saratoga regional YMCA network.
As a long-time member of the Glens Falls YMCA (since the late 1980s), it was obvious it was struggling since the pandemic. In the gymnasium, where I play basketball two or three times a week, a drinking fountain has gone unrepaired for years.
Yes, years.
There has been problems with the showers and the toilets that took months and months to be fixed.
There were some upgrades in the locker rooms lately, but the announcement that a $6 million funding drive was going to start was welcome news
Giuliani finally must pay
Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and previously Donald Trump's personal lawyer, is just the latest scoundrel to get away with his misdeeds.
After being convicted of defaming two innocent George election workers and ordered to pay $148 million, Giuliani declared bankruptcy and a year after the ruling, the election workers had still not received a penny.
But on Tuesday, Giuliani was order to turn over a luxury New York City apartment, a 1980 vintage Mercedes once owned by Lauren Bacall and three New York Yankees World Series rings to help satisfy the judgement.
He has seven days to comply at which point the election workers can sell the merchandise.
It's not complete justice, but it is a start.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Ken wrote: "Two weeks from now, I will vote for the candidates best qualified to do the job."
Over the years, I've hired many new employees after conducting interviews with the final few candidates. I've also hired a few interns with no interviews after seeing them on the job. I've found there's no substitute for actual job performance as the determining factor in whom to hire.
I think it's precisely the same when we hire a candidate for elective office. We make the best choices when we view the candidates' actual job performance. Sure, debates can serve as a kind of job interview. But debates, especially in today's debate formats, are not always a determinative factor.
This year, we have two candidates for president who have served in high-level elective office of national significance, one as president, the other as senator and vice-president. We had the opportunity to view their job performance over a number of years.
Based on job performance alone, the choice is a stark one. Ethical performance over corrupt performance. Competence over incompetence. Service over selfishness, Dignity over dishonor.
This is the easiest hire we've ever had to make in our lives. And the most important by far.
Warren County and much of the North Country are perfect examples of the party loyalty or die platform. Many good people endorse and tolerate Stefanik out of party loyalty because they are afraid of the consequences.