We used to believe `moderate’ was OK
Lyme Disease panel scheduled next month at Adirondack Film Festival
By Ken Tingley
Here’s my theory about local politics. I believe that 20 percent of the people are extremely conservative. I believe there is another 20 percent who are extremely liberal. The 60 percent in the middle have a variety of beliefs. In the past, they were known as “moderates.”
Ironically, Rep. Elise Stefanik originally campaigned on being a moderate, saying she wanted to be bipartisan. I remember drawing a chart at one of the newspaper editorial board meetings. On one end was conservative, on the other liberal and in the middle moderate. Along the line connecting the three words, I asked her to place an X where she stood on the ideology spectrum. She placed the X a little to the right of moderate.
That’s what she needed to do to get elected.
Democrat Bill Owens had just decided not to run and he had been elected by being a “moderate.”
Some years earlier, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand won election as a moderate as well. She was a Democrat who stood up for gun rights. Of course, that changed when she became a U.S. Senator and represented all of New York.
In more recent times, Republicans like Rep. Stefanik have portrayed all Democrats as “radical” and “liberal,” as enemies of regular folks.
That may be true in certain parts of New York City, but I doubt it applies to many people who live upstate.
Matt Castelli, who is running against Stefanik this November, announced this week that he will be running on the “Moderate Party” line. It’s a throwback to when “moderate” was acceptable, when it was OK to be in the middle. What I fear is that even being in the middle is not acceptable to Republicans anymore, including Rep. Stefanik.
Castelli is trying to sell himself as someone who will work for “all” the people. It’s what every member of Congress should be doing. Unfortunately, Rep. Stefanik has stopped doing that in recent years to advance her own national political objectives
She now represents the radical 20 percent.
Lake George vote
The Village of Lake George voted overwhelmingly 259-59 not to dissolve this week.
The vote was short-sighted. A lot of people took the “If it ain’t broke, why fix it.” That is the classic argument for avoiding change and addressing future problems.
Mayor Robert Blais has been leading the village for 52 years and brings an enormous amount of experience to the job. But there will come a day when Blais is not there anymore. I hope Mayor Blais is there for years to come, but at some point he will not be. I suspect that will create an enormous leadership void. The Village may not run as well after that.
Grant Cottage gala
Grant Cottage, the site in Wilton where President Ulysses S. Grant died, is one of our undiscovered local historical treasures. The story of his last days there are worthy of a major motion picture. In author Ron Chernow’s recent acclaimed biography, I thought the one flaw was not paying enough attention to Grant’s final days in upstate New York.
On Sunday, October 16, the Friends of Grant Cottage will be holding a Ulysses S. Grant Bicentennial Birthday Gala at the Gideon Putnam Hotel in Saratoga to raise money for the Grant Cottage Education Pavilion an Strategic Development Plan.
Ret. General David Petraeus and Chernow will speak virtually at the event.
For more information check out the Grant Cottage website. It is a great cause.
The Quiet Epidemic
Reminder that the Adirondack Film Festival will be held the same weekend in Glens Falls - Oct. 13-15. As one of the movie screeners for the event, I can assure you there will be some outstanding films to see.
For me, the most important of those films is a documentary about Lyme Disease called “The Quiet Epidemic.” I will be moderating a panel discussion after the showing of the movie on Friday with directors Lindsey Keys and Winslow Craig Murdoch.
Not only is this a significant issue for so many in the community, the film makers are both local. Lindsey Keys grew up in Salem before moving to New York City, while Winslow is a graduate of Tamarac High School near Albany.
Also on the panel will be SUNY Adirondack professor Holly Ahern, a professor of microbiology and Vice President of the Lyme Action Network.
Mark your calendars. This will be an important local event and a chance to celebrate a great local documentary by some local filmmakers.
Albany Book Festival
I’ll be heading off to the Albany Book Festival Saturday for the second straight year. If you love books and want a chance to meet some of your favorite authors, this is the place to do it.
The festival begins Saturday morning at the University at Albany and will include appearances by author William Kennedy and cartoonist Garry Trudeau.
Having read Matt Castelli's Moderate Platform, I see that his positions attempt to thread the needle in order to attract the votes of folks who in the past may have believed Rep. Stefanik was an actual moderate interested in doing what was needed in a conservative context. Unfortunately, Castelli's platform hits some of the same dog whistle issue that Elise has in the past so skillfully endeavored to hide. That his platform talks of secure elections is a nod to her that there is a problem, and instead of addressing it as a problem of access to the ballot, he reinforces her notion that there is a problem with undocumented people voting, which there is not. And as far a guns, he is vague, with the same provable inadequate solutions of background check and support of the second amendment. We need an assault weapons ban, the Uvalde shooter passed his background check. When will a politician support the "well regulated" phrase that is mentioned before the "make no law" part of the 2nd. amendment. So moderate today comes in at somewhere right of center, Bernie Sander and Dwight Eisenhower are on the same page, and now considered "radical left". We got work to do, I hope Castelli wins, but he is not showing any leadership with the "moderate " platform.
She represents the people who believe in the treasonous lie that our last election was not valid. She promotes negative thinking and helps divide us as a nation.