Stefanik shows her moral outrage over theft

Queensbury seniors love their newspaper, but want much, much more

By Ken Tingley

Rep. Elise Stefanik showed us this week what she passionately cares about - money.

Nothing wrong with that. Money makes the world go around. We’d all like a little bit more money.

In recent years, Rep. Stefanik has proved to be immensely talented at getting people to give her their money. During her first three congressional campaigns she raised what was considered average for a congressional candidate ($1.9 to $3.1 million). But after boarding the Trump train, her fundraising became prolific. She raised $13.2 million during the 2020 re-election campaign and then close to $10 million this past year.

So when $20,000 came up missing, it was not surprising nobody noticed.

The U.S. Postal Inspection Service informed the Stefanik campaign in November that it had recovered a piece of mail from her campaign that had been targeted for theft at the FedEx International Hub in Memphis. FedEx works with the Postal Service and other private companies to transport first-class mail.

Instead of showing concern and asking what she could do to help, Stefanik went ballistic.

During a week when a former president indicated he was willing to get rid of the Constitution, Rep. Stefanik greatest outrage was toward the United State Postal Service.

Her campaign accused the USPS of stealing nearly $20,000 in campaign contributions. In a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy she wrote that “evidence indicated that Elise for Congress’s packages were plundered by a USPS employee or contractor while the packages were in transit.” The campaign alleges the packages were ripped open on four separate occasions between June and November.

Her campaign then released photos of the opened envelopes to show all of us how vulnerable it is to send $20,000 checks in the mail.

I know I won’t do it any more.

Stefanik’s lawyers wrote in the letter to DeJoy that it was “unacceptable that the USPS has repeatedly allowed these targeted thefts to occur.”

And I thought Stefanik was a supporter for the “blue.”

For a second, I figured she was alleging that President Biden had conspired with the Postmaster General to steal her money. But it turned out that DeJoy was appointed in May 2020 during the Trump administration and is a long-time donor to the Republican Party.

So that dog don’t hunt.

Due to her busy schedule, Rep. Stefanik probably doesn’t make the walk to the mailbox very often. She might be surprised to learn that the United States Post Office handles 425 billion pieces of mail, so along the way there are going to be a few cases of theft.

I feel her pain.When I was a young single man, my copy of “Playboy” magazine repeatedly was pilfered by nefarious forces within the Post Office. When I complained about my missing periodical, the magazine was miraculously recovered, although without the plain brown cover.

“These repeated security failures by USPS have not only resulted in the loss of … campaign contributions, but also — and more alarmingly — have exposed hundreds of Congresswoman Stefanik’s campaign supporters to potential identity theft or financial fraud,” Stefanik’s lawyer Michael E. Toner and two of his colleagues from Wiley Rein wrote in a letter to the Post Office.

Stefanik brought in the big guns. Wiley Rein is one of the largest law firms in Washington, D.C. with 260 attorneys. Considering it took three of those lawyers to write the letter, you have to wonder if the billable hours cost more than the $20,000 theft.

I hope Rep. Stefanik gets her money back. It would be embarrassing if her campaign started bouncing checks.

Second Amendment

After Donald Trumps statements about suspending the Constitution so he could be reinstated as president made headlines, a witty person on social media pointed out if the Constitution was suspended, the Second Amendment would no longer apply either.

Something to think about.

Great Queensbury event

I had a great turnout at the Queensbury Senior Center Monday where I showed off my new slide show and talked about the great work we did at The Post-Star over the past two decades.

This was definitely a newspaper crowd who wanted to see more local community journalism.

They also complained about recent increases in their subscription price.

While there was a lot of interest in the new book - “The Last American Newspaper” - but there was also continued interest in my collection of columns - “The Last American Editor.”

The toughest question of the day: What was my advice for young people who want to go into journalism?

I still believe there is not only a need for community journalism, but a thirst from citizens. People are also starting to understand they have to pay for good journalism. But the opportunities to make a good living are just not there anymore.

Bone-headed move

So after dropping off my wife for treatment at Glens Falls Hospital Monday, I stopped at the supermarket to pick up a couple things.

Somewhere between the car and the supermarket, I lost my key fob. I retraced my steps, asked if anyone had found it in the supermarket, but came up empty. I walked the mile back to the hospital and got my wife’s keys, then I got an idea.

After spending Thanksgiving in New Orleans, we got used to using Uber for a ride. I checked to see if there might be an Uber close in Glens Falls. “Three minutes. away” the app reported. It turned out my Uber driver has been doing it for sometime and had over 7,000 rides.

He got me back to the supermarket and I was $12 lighter for losing my key fob, but Uber is alive and well in Glens Falls.

Got a call from the grocery store later. Someone had found the key fob in the parking lot for a happy ending.

Local tweets

Rep. Stefanik’s Twitter subjects continue to be more national and international then anything from home.

On Monday she wrote, “I am proud to stand with the brave Iranian people.”

On Tuesday, she wrote “House Republicans will demand answers on Big Tech’s collusion with Far Left to silence Americans free speech.”

And last week, “Jack Smith (the special prosecutor looking into Jan. 6) is compromised.”

And then on Tuesday, she voted Georgia voters to vote for Herschel Walker. Are Georgia voters really following her on Twitter?

She didn’t tweet anything about whether she would support suspending the Constitution.

Elise Stefanik @EliseStefanik

Georgia, make sure you get out and VOTE for @HerschelWalker in today’s runoff election! Your vote has never been more important! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸