Stefanik sighted in Ti talking of past, ignoring funding cuts

60 Minutes fighting the good fight despite lawsuits and intimidation by Trump

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There was a sighting of one of the rarest of rarest species in the Adirondacks Sunday - Elise Stefanik.

Stefanik, once the future ambassador to the United Nations, but relegated to her old role as representative for the 21st Congressional District, has made herself scarce in the district during the first 100 days of the Trump administration, and while she has attended at least two fundraisers in the Capital District she has not provided any opportunities to interact with her constituents.

It was North Country Public Radio's Cara Chapman who made the identification Sunday in Ticonderoga in conjunction with the historic sites's plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

And while Stefanik was content to point out her past efforts to support the historic fort with opportunities for funding from with the Battlefield Preservation and Protection funds during the Biden administration, Chapman should be applauded for asking about future funding for local museums and historic sites.

"Like other North Country museums, the Fort Ticonderoga Association has also received federal support through the Institute for Museum and Library Services, known as IMLS," Chapman wrote on the NCPR website. "President Donald Trump’s administration gutted the agency at the end of March, and the president’s budget proposal—which would cut non-defense spending by $163 billion—would eliminate it entirely."

So Chapman asked Stefanik if she supported the cuts.

"She deflected," Chapman pointed out as Stefanik cited past funds delivered to local museums and libraries.

Then Stefanik went way out on a limb - sarcasm intended - that Trump was committed to celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.

Bold stand! Sorry, even more sarcasm intended.

"We have a record of delivering funds while also being good stewards of U.S. taxpayer dollars," Stefanik said, but the question was about these future cuts.

Chapman moved on to tariffs and the Canadians living on the border of her district who are threatening to boycott American goods and services that threaten to hurt agriculture and tourism in her district.

Chapman pointed out that, "Two-thirds of businesses surveyed by the North Country Chamber of Commerce said they’ve experienced a slight to significant decrease in Canadian bookings this year.

Stefanik said she supports Trump’s tariff approach, apparently her own constituents be damned - my words.

"The president has delivered the agreement with the US-UK. Obviously, US-Canadian trade is one of our top trading partners as well. I have faith in the ability of this president to deliver those trade deals to benefit hard-working families, small businesses, manufacturers and farms in the district," Stefanik said.

Chapman persisted and pointed out that monies that support rural airports across Stefanik's district are being cut by 50 percent by the Trump administration.

"What I've been able to do is to work with the president to make sure that we need those dollars for rural airports," Stefanik said without saying if the funding was safe or not, then she returned to the past under the Biden administration.

"And just look at the past decade of support that I've given. Legislators will tell you that all across the district. We have been the leader when it comes to delivering for our rural airport airports and Essential Air Services," Stefanik said.

But the question about future funding was again left unanswered.

I suspect Chapman could have gone on all days because there are a lot of questions Stefanik needs to answer.

Does she believe she has to "protect and defend" the Constitution of the United States?

President Trump said he "did not know" when asked that question despite taking an oath to do that on Jan. 20.

Does Stefanik believe that habeas corpus - due process - needs to be suspended as Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller suggested this week?

Does Stefanik approve of a foreign government gifting President Trump a $400 million aircraft that he will eventually get to use as a private citizen even thought it is in violation of government ethics policies?

Another reporter asked Stefanik about her lack of visibility in the district.

Instead of responding to the question, Stefanik said Gov. Kathy Hochul hasn't had a single town hall meeting as governor.

That wasn't the question.

"I've had many town halls," Stefanik did say, although she has not had any recent town halls.

The last town hall in the Glens Falls region was in 2019. Stefanik instead cited her teletown halls where it is generally believed Stefanik's staff cherry picks friendly questions for her to answer.

Stefanik then said she stands by her "thousands of events over the past decade."

So let's do the math.

In 10 years she has been in office 3,650 days.

If we give her the benefit of a doubt and say she had 2,000 events (after all she did say "thousands"), that means if she had a public event every other day, she would have appeared in person roughly 1,800 times.

That's what folks on one of the many farms in her district would call "horse hockey."

Milking a cow at the county fair is not interacting with your constituents.

Or accepting a plaque for doing a job you are paid to do.

Or doing a photo op with a service group.

These are the "events" Stefanik is counting.

What was so amazing about Sunday's sighting of Stefanik was that there were reporters present to ask questions.

Good questions like the ones from Chapman.

My guess is that Stefanik didn't think there were any left in Ticonderoga.

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60 Minutes resolute

The executive producer at 60 Minutes stepped down so the show's reporters and editors stepped up.

Bill Owens, producer of the legendary news magazine since 2019, stepped down last month over concerns that corporate bosses were interfering with content critical of the Trump administration because it would chill a merger deal the company was hoping to get done.

But Owens' resignation did not chill the show's coverage of the Trump administration one bit, despite a very difficuilt time getting anyone to appear on camera.

The story started this way:

It was nearly impossible to get anyone on camera for this story because of the fear now running through our system of justice. In recent weeks, President Trump has signed orders against several law firms — orders with the power to destroy them. That matters because lawsuits have been a check on the president's power.

With a billion-dollar lawsuit from Trump hanging over its head, 60 Minutes aired a critical segment on the Trump administration's attacks on big corporate lawfirms Trump sees as enemies.

One of the lawyers interviewed was Marc Elias, who worked for Hillary Clinton during her run for president in 2016.

"People often forget that in 2016, Trump and his campaign were fixated on undermining free and fair elections. I was equally determined to protect them," Elias wrote on his Democracy Docket website on May 5. "That year, I led litigation efforts in several battleground states aimed at defending voting rights. Our efforts were in vain. While we won some lawsuits, we lost the election."

Elias wrote that Trump "despises me for humiliating him in court after the 2020 election. He is livid I call out his lies, refuse to back down and continue to defeat him and the GOP in court."

Trump sued him for racketeering - Trump lost - while threatening Elias and defaming him regularly by name.

Last month, 60 Minutes called Elias to tell him they were working on a story about Trump targeting lawfirms and asked him to appear on camera.

"On a chilly April day, I sat down with CBS anchor Scott Pelley and answered his questions about Trump, Big Law and the threat that Trump poses to our legal system and democracy," Elias wrote.

That piece aired last week with Elias one of only a few lawyers who agreed to speak on camera.

60 Minutes continues to do important reporting in the face of political pressure pressure on of the biggest lawfirms in the country. Elias and several other lawyers sat for interviews despite a threat from the president of the United States.

It's a reminder that there is still outstanding, fearless journalism taking place in the United States.

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Arbor Day event

Arbor Day may not be the sexiest day on the calendar, but the Town of Queensbury will host an Arbor Day tree planting on Friday, May 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the Town Hall on Bay Road.

A white oak will be planted in memory of of the late councilman Harrison Freer to help celebrate Harrison's life and service to the community. A sugar maple, donated by Warren County Soil and Water Conservation District, will also be planted in Freer's memory.

There will be educational discussion regarding the anatomy of trees, native species and invasive threats afterward.

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Shocking even today

I had never heard of a split-jury verdict before.

Apparently in the Jim Crow South, 10 or 11 votes was all that was sometimes required to convict someone.

Louisiana was one of the last states to ban the practice in 2018.

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court declared split-jury verdicts unconstitutional, but on Sunday I learned from the New Orleans Times-Picayune that hundreds of people convicted by split juries are still behind bars in Louisiana.

That's because in 2020, the Louisiana Supreme Court ruled that split-jury ban did not void old convictions. That would be left up to the Legislature.

The Louisiana Legislature is considering a bill to allow those cases to be retried, but it is facing headwinds, including from the Louisiana District Attorney's Association because it would cause a logjam of new trials.

The Advocate (Baton Rouge) won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for its investigation that found non-unanimous jury decisions harmed black defendants disproportionately. It found that Black defendants were 30 percent more likely than White defendants to be convicted by a split jury in Louisiana.

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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.