Stefanik doesn’t believe Jan. 6 happened
Why newspapers are so important to their communities
By Ken Tingley
After the last of the nine House committee hearings on the Jan. 6 riots, we all should be concerned about Rep. Elise Stefanik.
Over the summer and into the fall, the Jan. 6 committee has pieced together how and why the events of Jan. 6 happened and the role the former president had in inciting the events that day and his failure to act and protect members of Congress and the Capitol Police. There is a lot to be concerned about.
Locally, we should specifically be concerned by the actions of Rep. Elise Stefanik. She is our representative. She represents our views and that should matter to all of us.
After the hearing last Thursday, Rep Stefanik tweeted out “The January 6th Committee is nothing more than a partisan sham aimed at smearing President Trump, Joe Biden's likely 2024 opponent. This is not oversight, it's political revenge. A GOP majority will put a stop
to this.”
This is not about political ideology.
This is not about where one party stands on immigration, gun control or economic policy.
This is about right and wrong.
This is about democracy being at risk.
This is about Rep. Stefanik’s inability to step back and evaluate the facts that came from people inside the Trump administration and their concerns. The first question she needs to answer is if she watched any of the nine hearings?
Did she evaluate any of the facts presented?
Can she explain why Republicans within the Trump administration presented facts that make his behavior questionable?
Many of those who testified are patriots.
What is so appalling about Rep. Stefanik’s latest tweet is her contention this is political revenge, yet in other tweets she has announced her intention to use her power for political revenge once Republicans gain control of the House.
None of this helps us here in the North Country.
None of us helps us to address the problems facing the country.
Rep. Stefanik continually portrays Democrats as evil entities who are out to destroy America.
Is that rhetoric helpful?
If you believe in a different way of doing things, does that make you un-American?
That is going too far.
If Rep. Stefanik is re-elected, then that is who we are.
There is nothing wrong with having conservative viewpoints.
Or liberal viewpoints.
It is okay to argue the issues. But this is about right and wrong. This is about using violence at the U.S. Capitol to get your way because we all saw what happened at the U.S, Capitol on Jan. 6.
We have gotten a chance to hear the sworn testimony of the people who were there and behind the scenes while nothing was done.
That Rep. Elise Stefanik cannot see that means we have a problem.
Can she not see that?
Will she continue to lie about it?
Her blind ambition has led her to a place where she can no longer effectively represent a district of people who still believe in right and wrong over Republican and Democrat.
I have no idea what kind of congressperson Matt Castelli will make, but I know that Rep. Stefanik continues to lie to all of us.
We should not tolerate that.
Untimely passing
Shirin Persavand was a reporter for The Post-Star in the early 1990s. She was a young reporter starting out and eventually had the prestigious city hall beat in Glens Falls.
She eventually went on to work at The Gazette in Schenectady, then moved to Southern California and was a reporter for the Riverside Press-Enterprise. She eventually left the newspaper business and worked as an editor at SAGE Publishing.
I learned this week that Shirin had passed this past September from brain cancer way too soon.
Hard to believe.
Here another reason why newspapers are so important.
The New York News Publishers Association shared an editorial written by Mark Mahoney of the Schenectady Gazette.
Mark, who the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for his stands on open government with The Post-Star, related an incident from a village on Long Island where the mayor told a member of the audience in a public member to stop recording the meeting because it wasn’t allowed. The village attorney also sided with the mayor.
The problem is the state Open Meetings Law allows citizens to tape public meetings as long as it is not disruptive. The mayor was ignorant of this and the village should get a new attorney if they did not know this either.
Without newspaper reporters to point out these violations to officials, who does it?
Imagine all the local meetings that newspaper reporters are not attending and you get an idea of the abuses that are probably occurring.
Saratoga Book event
I hope you have marked your calendars for next Saturday’s event at the Saratoga Book Festival.
The panel discussion about newspapers will be special for me. It is probably the first time that Will Doolittle, Mark Mahoney and myself have been together in 10 years.
WAMC host Joe Donahue will be moderating a panel about what newspapers mean to us at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Saratoga Arts Building, Dee Sarno Theatre at 320 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
I will be signing “The Last American Newspaper” afterward as well.
The book festival will have events all day long all around downtown Saratoga Springs.
There are so many Stefanik signs in Lake George and everywhere it seems. Recently my Castelli sign disappeared... I was able to get another one to do my part to balance and show that there is a choice and an opportunity to be represented by a new candidate that may put the North Country before their political and personal agenda. Are people polarized in watching and listening or reading one view or only voting one party no matter how extreme? Ken, keep on writing. Where is the debate between our candidates?
Stefanik does NOT represent my views and she needs to GO! Vote her out!