Stefanik’s fundraising for Trump allows her to get most of money
Post-Star names Steve Thurston new managing editor
By Ken Tingley
At 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday, while former President Donald Trump was being arrested and charged in Miami by federal prosecutors, Rep. Elise Stefanik posted the tweet below.
Earlier in the day at 2:39 p.m., she posted three other tweets in quick succession making accusations that President Biden was responsible for the indictments against Trump and that it was Biden who had weaponized the federal government without providing a shred of evidence.
It is a new low for our congresswoman whose thirst for power and prestige seems to have no boundaries all at the expense of serving local residents.
But here is the most reprehensible part. She seems to be perpetrating a fraud on her own supporters.
The Huffington Post reported earlier this week that in the hours after Trump was notified of his indictment, Stefanik used the news to fundraise, not for Trump, but for herself.
The subject line in an email to her supporters announced: “President Trump has been indicted on federal charges.” It was from Team Elise, Stefanik’s joint fundraising committee.
The Huffington Post reported the content as follows:
“Biden’s weaponized federal government has handed President Trump BOGUS CHARGES over the ‘Boxes Hoax.’ They are just trying to keep him out of the White House in 2024. President Trump needs ALL of his loyal supporters to stand with him at this crucial time.”
It then added in all-caps: “RUSH A DONATION TO OUR OFFICIAL TRUMP DEFENSE FUND TO STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP.”
The page states that the donations are for the official defense of Trump, but when you read the fine print, almost all the money goes to Stefanik.
The Huffington Post explained it this way:
Underneath brightly colored graphics of suggested donation amounts that you can directly click on ― $100, $500 or even $3,300, the maximum donation allowed ― is a tiny sentence that says to click on it for details about how your donation will be allocated. It’s here that you can see where your money is automatically set up to go.
A $250 donation to the “OFFICIAL TRUMP DEFENSE FUND,” for example, breaks down to $247.50 for Stefanik and $2.50 for the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.
A $500 donation translates to $495 for Stefanik and $5 for Trump.
A $3,300 donation - the maximum allowed - breaks down to $3,267 for Stefanik and $33 for Trump.
You can edit these allocations, of course. But you have to be paying attention to that little sentence in the first place, and to the fact that you can edit the preset allocations.
But here is another little trick that any donor needs to be careful about.
The email is set up so that if you donate money to Trump/Stefanik, the form automatically checks a box making the donation a recurring monthly donation.
You have to uncheck the box (below) to make it a one-time donation.
So not only is the bulk of the money not going to Trump, but donors are tricked into donating multiple times. By the time they notice the monthly draw in their checking account, they may have already donated two or three times what they wanted.
This is who represents us in Congress.
I’m sure other politicians do this as well - on both side of the aisle - but that doesn’t make it right.
New editor
The Post-Star announced that Steve Thurston was its new managing editor on Wednesday.
Thurston announced Monday he was shutting down his online publication the Foothills Business Daily and was taking another job.
When I asked Thurston if he was shutting down because he was going to be the new editor of the Glens Falls newspaper, he thanked me for thinking so highly of him without answering my question.
On Wednesday, he confirmed he was going to be the new editor on the Foothills Business Daily page and The Post-Star announced it on its website as well.
He is a 1984 graduate of Queensbury High and spent two decades teaching at Montgomery College in Maryland before retiring in 2021 and starting up the Foothills Business Daily locally.
I wrote a profile of Thurston back in December on The Front Page that you can read here:
Media cuts
The American Press Institute reported this week that 17,436 media jobs were lost in the first five months of this year. That tops the 16,750 lost last year over the first five months.
According to the report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas, media outlets are seeing a “slowdown in the advertising market, debt from consolidation and subscription fatigue.”
Stefanik is just one more grifter who's hopped on the Trump Train. It bogles my mind that people are so ready to empty their pockets for these con artists. I am reminded of the LBJ quote: “If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you.”
There is a special kind of hell for people who take advantage of others and exploit situations for their own benefit. I wonder if Stefanik holds her own child responsible for his behavior? If not, she will have one fun teenager! The Republicans are like a perfect example of poor parenting. Trump can do no wrong. If he does, it is still ok because he is allowed. Especially if we all gain power and money in the end. The multitude of damage these people have done to our society over the years is stunning. There are layers and layers of destruction to our laws, morals, ethics and it will take generations to repair if it ever can be repaired.