Story of the year was the awful behavior of Elise Stefanik
Last chance to see Stoddard exhibit at Chapman Museum
By Ken Tingley
Rep. Elise Stefanik was the local story of the year.
No question about it.
Many of you will find that hard to believe because she didn’t really accomplish anything. There was no significant legislation. There were no acts of constituency service above and beyond what any other congressperson has done in the past. But she was in the news - a lot.
This was the year of the bully and Elise Stefanik did her best to not only embrace the role, but to refine it and take to levels of abuse previously unseen locally.
It’s why I wrote 23 different columns about her over the past 12 months. But I will remind you that many of you egged me on so that makes you accomplices.
There were other columns where she was a subtopic. I mean it’s almost impossible for someone to be so egregiously awful all the time, but Rep. Stefanik tried her best. She continually demanded my attention - and yours - so looking back, I believe the frequency is actually restrained.
She endorsed George Santos, then failed to condemn him and finally voted to keep him in Congress.
She “weaponized” a committee formed to root out “weaponizing” government.
She endorsed Donald Trump for president and attacked the Manhattan district attorney for holding him accountable for his illegal business practices and defended his felony indictments.
She endorsed a new policy that left veterans more vulnerable.
She ignored climate change.
Her fundraising for Donald Trump allowed her to keep most of the proceeds in a tricky bait and switch to cheat political donors.
Her GOP study group recommended raising the age seniors receive Social Security.
She took credit for reopening the Amtrak line to Montreal as an enormous benefit to the North Country even though no one actually uses it.
Her criticisms of the economy under the current president shows that economics 101 is not mandatory at Harvard.
She invoked scripture in nominating two different candidates for speaker of the house, including one that looked the other way when there was a sexual abuse scandal while he was a collegiate wrestling coach.
But her true claim to fame was her skill for being mean and nasty on social media while repeatedly lying in interviews and statements released by her staff about just about anything.
Her tweeting frequency leaves her with no time to actually do her job and even less to respond to the people she represents.
So I stand by the frequency of my criticism and wonder where the the rest of you are. Where are the editorials and columns calling her out for her actions? Where are the letters to the editor demanding she show an ounce of humanity?
Some have told me this is MY problem; that I must hate Elise Stefanik to criticize her so often. Elise Stefanik has become such a partisan political hack she makes former congressman John Sweeney look like the poster boy for the United Way.
I wish Stefanik was not in my life. I wish I never had to write about her again, but I have this blind spot for right and wrong. If it wasn’t for Stefanik, I might actually be retired.
For the past four months I have been speaking and writing about the importance of commentary, editorials and opinion have in shaping debate in our local communities. I continue to embrace that role here on The Front Page where this is my 159th commentary of the year. That means just 7 percent of my columns have been about “Evil Elise.”
The topics are as varied as my interests.
From the closing of the library in Lake Luzerne to the lies that propaganda network (Fox) regularly spews, to the continued erosion of our news outlets and the great work that ProPublica has done in exposing the unethical dealings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
I’d prefer to ignore Stefanik, but someone has to stand up to her.
There is not one week this year where I set out to write about her. But her repeated falsehoods and false assertions about what is happening in our country make it mandatory.
My columns criticizing Stefanik often have more page views and comments than any other. If I was in business, that would mean writing about her was a business decision, except the column is free.
Every year at the end of December we lament the passing of another year and hope for a better one the next.
We say it every year.
While Stefanik was the top story of the year, what I will remember about 2023 was the regular people I met along the way.
There was Republican congressional candidate Jill Lochner, Finders Keepers owner Kyleen Wade, basketball referee Kellen Henderson and world traveler Rosemary Armao and her visit to see penguins in Antarctica.
I enjoyed catching up with Red Wing hockey legend Glenn Merkosky, hearing from an hold-fashioned Republican like Moriah Republican Supervisor Tom Scozzafava and lamenting the retirements of my former colleagues Bob Condon and Greg Brownell at The Post-Star.
There was the death of my old football coach Dan Heffernan, the inside story behind the Christmas decorations of Paul Smith and Rich Elmer and my reflections on a friendship o that goes back more than 50 years.
Those are the stories that readers enjoy. Those are the stories I prefer telling.
They are also the stories not being told anymore.
It’s what make The Front Page so valuable.
It’s what gets me up the morning to start writing again.
It’s not Elise Stefanik.
It’s the regular people who are the salt of the earth, the best and the brightest who are on a mission to make their little corner of the world better.
They are the ones that inspire me to keep going.
Elise Stefanik could learn something from each and every one of them.
But then again, I’ve wasted too much time talking about her already.
Stoddard exhibit
If you haven’t seen the Seneca Ray Stoddard exhibit at the Chapman Museum, you are running out of time.
Stoddard was a trailblazing photographer and environmentalist who made Glens Falls his base of operations in the second half of the 1800s.
He was nationally recognized for his photography of Adirondacks while it was still wild.
The exhibit is open through January 14.
New speaking events
I have two speaking events coming up in the new year.
I will be speaking at the Queensbury Senior Center on Bay Road on noon on Wednesday, Jan. 3, then again at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9 at the Senior Center of Kingsbury and Fort Edward on 78 Oak Street in Hudson Falls.
I will be speaking both times about the role that commentary plays in the debate of community issues.
Thanks for this and the entire year Ken. I too would rather not have to pay attention, as that great New Yorker cartoon put it, "My desire to remain informed is at odds with my desire to remain sane". It's my mantra, but I go to the Dem meetings, lick stamps and put up road signs. And Elise kills the opposition anyway. One of the most disheartening aspects of all of this is, they vote for her. The most recent candidate, Matt Castelli was a flawed candidate insofar as he tried to run on her policies lite, succumbed to often stated notion that the Dems were as equally responsible for the current political deadlock. He was a 2nd amendment guy, but only the second half. But truth be told, one would have to be blind to think her support in this district due to her political skill, it's blood sport, and she more than most has a desire to "own the Libs" , and that's all that matters to our increasingly click baited short attention span culture. I get Elise's newsletter, and she brags about getting funding she voted against, telling us how accessible she is and bashing every single thing the Dems do. And she calls them names. So Elise has made one thing clear, if they're for it, we're against it. It's not how it works. The Republican party has devolved into "my way or highway" party and that is not how our system works. And I didn't even mention her support of Trump and her accusation of criminal activity of President Biden, where there is none to be found.
But truth be told, she responds to her constituents, who seem to enjoy her antics, who seem to be of the opinion that screwing things ups a good idea. She doesn't seem to know that politics is a gentle art, and that compromise is needed to advance our society. She now ignores climate change (that she used to at least acknowledge, and supports the guy who says he'll undo what President Biden has so skillfully accomplished, a small start on addressing climate disaster. So no, you didn't cover her too much, I'd say a good balance. Keep up the good work, and Happy New Year Ken, I never stop expecting miricles!
“If we are to have another contest in the near future of our national existence, I predict that the dividing line will not be Mason and Dixon, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side, and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.” - Ulysses S. Grant
And here we are.