What has Stefanik done for us?
Congresswoman has sights set on big prize
The Front Page
Afternoon Update
Thursday, June 10, 2021
By Ken Tingley
So why do so many people like Rep. Elise Stefanik?
The answer has eluded me since I first met her seven years ago when she took on Matt Doheny for the Republican nomination in 21st Congressional District race.
Stefanik graduated Harvard in 2006, worked in the Bush White House and helped vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan with debate prep during the 2012 presidential election. She worked on new media when Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty considered running for president in 2012, then popped up working her parents plywood business right before Rep. Bill Owens decided not to run for Congress again.
It’s pretty clear there was roadmap to her success that didn’t have a whole lot to do with helping us.
In those early years, you had a young candidate with a Harvard education and White House policy experience. I remember questioning her in editorial board meetings where her she recited Republican talking points with scripted responses.
What was clear was there was plenty of money behind her from her Bush White House years and she was not afraid to be negative when campaigning.
She defeated Doheny handily in the primary and celebrated at the Queensbury Hotel in Glens Falls.
“You believed from the very beginning, that we deserve a representative in Washington with new ideas, fresh energy, and an independent approach in order to shake up a failed Washington,” Stefanik said that night.
Has she succeeded?
Has she delivered on those promises?
What I want to know from her supporters is what she has done for us?
What are Elise Stefanik’s ideas seven years later?
What does she stand for?
What will she do about population decline in the Adirondacks?
What is her detailed plan for addressing climate change?
Those ideas won’t play on a national stage so I doubt we will ever know.
I remember her running on “repeal and replace” Obamacare, even though there was no plan for the replacement, but that was the Republican strategy of the moment.
I remember her paying a high school student nearly $1,000 to spy on Tedra Cobb in 2018 and later making it into a television commercial.
I remember her embracing a man who threatened The Post-Star while I was editor and inviting him to her town hall meeting the next week. Her campaign style wasn’t about criticizing an opponent, but burying them.
Her campaign regularly brags of the prestigious amounts of money she has raised. But I’m not sure how that helps us.
A photograph that Rep. Elise Stefanik tweeted out Wednesday of her with Donald Trump at his Bedminster golf club was shown nationally on cable television.
The pair were standing side-by-side with those forced smiles that celebrities and politicians learn to deliver on command at red-carpet walks and at high-priced fundraisers. They were there to raise money for Stefanik - she got $250,000 - but it conjured up the possibility that this partnership might have a more significant future.
Bill Kristol, the conservative commentator, told MSNBC host Brian Williams that this could be the ticket for the Republicans in the 2024 presidential race. And it might be a winning ticket.
All Elise Stefanik’s dreams seem to be coming true. All she had to do was sell her soul to Donald Trump. Kristol, with all his Republican connections, should know.
He predicted in a tweet that if the Republicans win back the House in 2022 Stefanik might stab Rep. Kevin McCarthy in the back and become Speaker of the House with Trump’s blessing.
Rep. Stefanik is in the Republican leadership now and no one will be able to stop her in the 21st Congressional District. So how does it help us? Voters were the good-looking prom date that got her Prom Queen. Now, she doesn’t need us anymore.
Rep. Stefanik’s energies will now be entirely devoted to national party objectives to regain power. She’s too big for the voters here. We are on our own.
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Tweet of the Day
Sedition Stefanik’s self interest is her primary concern. She will do and say what ever it takes accomplish this goal. Representing NY 21 was a stepping stone and we were the victims of her nefarious plan. This Harvard graduate is not oblivious to the truth? Unfortunately, the truth is secondary. If lying is what it takes her to get where she want to go, that is exactly what she will do.
I can pinpoint the precise time when we lost her. It was the day that trump was at the podium and said of Stefanick 'now, there's a rising star right there'. At that point I turned to my wife and said, 'well, we lost her now'. As soon as trump pet her a tiny bit, that was it. Being a woman, she loves it when people notice her. For trump the president to notice her, well, that carries a lot of weight with Elise. NY didn't matter anymore. It's all about what she can do for trump now.