I’m afraid Rep Stefanik knows more about us than you might think. She has done a lot of polling. She and her handlers know a lot about what her base is thinking and she messages to both appeal to them and to move their opinions. You may think we are different, and that would be true for a bit under half of us but about 54% or so feel very differently.
I am wrong all the time, often it involves being hopeful that people will understand that they are being misled. But consider for a moment some of your own recent columns and other events. Bill Van Ness is R election commissioner. He holds that position because the GOP committee elected him. Both Dan Stec and Matt Simpson sit on that committee. Dan and Matt ran races very closely mirroring Stefanik’s. The 3 of them marched in a July 4 parade that featured a Confederate flag. When it became news none of them, to my knowledge, issued a statement to indicate they were unaware of the flag or to decry that hateful symbol of oppression and treason being exalted on our national holiday. Not one peep! Please do not be so naive to think that none of them had contact with the others to determine what their response should be. And what has been the result? Just as with Van Ness the silence is deafening. They know their supporters and they win the majority of votes.
The good news is that on the Dem side we have been working quietly for decade or more to clean up politics in Warren County. It got little attention when we changed the county chair and elected a skilled professional to the position of election commissioner. And in spite of some criticism for being “secretive” we have taken measures to hold our own elected officials to a higher level of account than has happened previously. In contrast to the GOP many members of our party were quick to call for resignation of Gov Cuomo as soon as results of a trustworthy investigation became public. In spite of our good work many locals have unkind things to say about us. When you work with abused pets it takes time to establish trust…
What Stefanik and pols like DiSantis appear not to understand is that state truancy laws "mandate" parents to send their children to school under penalties of fines and imprisonment. So, what Stefanik and DiSantis are mandating is that parents expose their children to the known risk of serious illness and even death from infection by the Corona Virus because of compelled attendance at schools with children who may transmit the virus because they are unvaccinated and unmasked. Stefanik thinks that we are stupid.
Mr. Parwanas comment was very informative. But I disagree with Mr. Tingley on Gov. Cuomo. The allegations against him come nowhere near as bad as Mr. Trumps. And Trump has gotten away with SO Much! But I also fear that if a Republican replaces him, our democracy is in peril. He was wrong to sexually harass women if he did all those things, but I hope and pray that they do not make him resign. He certainly helped us through Covid.
Thank you for the link to the Fontana article and the clip of the elusive kitty.
Your column makes me appreciate how nice it is to live in an area of the country that doesn’t go all performance artist when faced with the minor inconveniences of having to wear a mask or get a vaccination. Warren County has returned to mask wearing and yet no tricorn hats in sight.
It’s weird that in light of that, Stefanik has embraced the Ron DeSantis approach to “fighting” the virus. Maybe she can replace some of the anti-Cuomo merch with “Don’t Fauci My North Country.”
Also want to say I appreciate the comments and the work done by Mike Parwana. I feel guilty my own self for being more focused on the national than the local. It’s tough being in a party that’s willing to hold its pols to account.
There’s a recent article by Kevin Williamson in National Review which I haven’t read but only caught the jist of. He basically says that Republicans have become what the radicals of the left were in the 60s in having no respect for institutions and wanting to tear it all down. Dems have become the adult party and defender of tradition.
If you’re Stefanik or DeSantis what is the advantage to advocating positions that are harmful to the health of your own voters? It seems like that affects DeSantis more as a governor because he has more direct culpability. Still weird though to see a NY pol taking an anti-vaxxer stance.
I agree 100% She is a fraud. Harvard where she went to college even agrees. I wonder how much her wealthy parents had to contribute to Harvard to get her in. And then the Willsboro resident issue! I doubt she ever spent more than a few days a year there. Unfortunately $ govern this country
Apparently a Harvard education does not mean Stefanik has any common sense. Wonder if her child was in school with an unvaccinated, unmasked teacher her views might change.Stefanik is nothing but a lying, hypocrite! I for one, have never stopped wearing a mask and we continue to do so.
I’m afraid Rep Stefanik knows more about us than you might think. She has done a lot of polling. She and her handlers know a lot about what her base is thinking and she messages to both appeal to them and to move their opinions. You may think we are different, and that would be true for a bit under half of us but about 54% or so feel very differently.
I hope you are wrong, but it does give me pause.
I am wrong all the time, often it involves being hopeful that people will understand that they are being misled. But consider for a moment some of your own recent columns and other events. Bill Van Ness is R election commissioner. He holds that position because the GOP committee elected him. Both Dan Stec and Matt Simpson sit on that committee. Dan and Matt ran races very closely mirroring Stefanik’s. The 3 of them marched in a July 4 parade that featured a Confederate flag. When it became news none of them, to my knowledge, issued a statement to indicate they were unaware of the flag or to decry that hateful symbol of oppression and treason being exalted on our national holiday. Not one peep! Please do not be so naive to think that none of them had contact with the others to determine what their response should be. And what has been the result? Just as with Van Ness the silence is deafening. They know their supporters and they win the majority of votes.
Now, I am depressed.
The good news is that on the Dem side we have been working quietly for decade or more to clean up politics in Warren County. It got little attention when we changed the county chair and elected a skilled professional to the position of election commissioner. And in spite of some criticism for being “secretive” we have taken measures to hold our own elected officials to a higher level of account than has happened previously. In contrast to the GOP many members of our party were quick to call for resignation of Gov Cuomo as soon as results of a trustworthy investigation became public. In spite of our good work many locals have unkind things to say about us. When you work with abused pets it takes time to establish trust…
What Stefanik and pols like DiSantis appear not to understand is that state truancy laws "mandate" parents to send their children to school under penalties of fines and imprisonment. So, what Stefanik and DiSantis are mandating is that parents expose their children to the known risk of serious illness and even death from infection by the Corona Virus because of compelled attendance at schools with children who may transmit the virus because they are unvaccinated and unmasked. Stefanik thinks that we are stupid.
Mr. Parwanas comment was very informative. But I disagree with Mr. Tingley on Gov. Cuomo. The allegations against him come nowhere near as bad as Mr. Trumps. And Trump has gotten away with SO Much! But I also fear that if a Republican replaces him, our democracy is in peril. He was wrong to sexually harass women if he did all those things, but I hope and pray that they do not make him resign. He certainly helped us through Covid.
It is sad that we have to weigh degrees of sexual abuse with politicians. Both should be banished from public office forever.
Thank you for the link to the Fontana article and the clip of the elusive kitty.
Your column makes me appreciate how nice it is to live in an area of the country that doesn’t go all performance artist when faced with the minor inconveniences of having to wear a mask or get a vaccination. Warren County has returned to mask wearing and yet no tricorn hats in sight.
It’s weird that in light of that, Stefanik has embraced the Ron DeSantis approach to “fighting” the virus. Maybe she can replace some of the anti-Cuomo merch with “Don’t Fauci My North Country.”
Also want to say I appreciate the comments and the work done by Mike Parwana. I feel guilty my own self for being more focused on the national than the local. It’s tough being in a party that’s willing to hold its pols to account.
There’s a recent article by Kevin Williamson in National Review which I haven’t read but only caught the jist of. He basically says that Republicans have become what the radicals of the left were in the 60s in having no respect for institutions and wanting to tear it all down. Dems have become the adult party and defender of tradition.
If you’re Stefanik or DeSantis what is the advantage to advocating positions that are harmful to the health of your own voters? It seems like that affects DeSantis more as a governor because he has more direct culpability. Still weird though to see a NY pol taking an anti-vaxxer stance.
I agree 100% She is a fraud. Harvard where she went to college even agrees. I wonder how much her wealthy parents had to contribute to Harvard to get her in. And then the Willsboro resident issue! I doubt she ever spent more than a few days a year there. Unfortunately $ govern this country
Apparently a Harvard education does not mean Stefanik has any common sense. Wonder if her child was in school with an unvaccinated, unmasked teacher her views might change.Stefanik is nothing but a lying, hypocrite! I for one, have never stopped wearing a mask and we continue to do so.