Written by Russ Finley in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise
This letter is about leadership, and effective representation versus pathetic complacency, narcissism and authoritarianism. From the very beginning of this crisis we have seen the federal government try to help Americans get through it, while here in New York state we have watched an authoritarian narcissist governor try to control our lives, and partisan downstate representatives allow him to do so.
Our first issue was our corrections officers not being able to wear personal protective equipment, while still having to allow transfers and visitations, an epic fail that resulted in confirmed transmission of the virus. But our governor refused to listen to the front-line professionals and risked lives. Congresswoman Stefanik stepped up and pushed back. Her constant pressure resulted in getting the issue being resolved.
Then while the crisis was upending the economy and the governor was anointing himself king, Elise was in Washington, D.C., working to provide financial relief to all Americans. While here in New York, a state already $6 billion in the hole before the shutdown, the governor rammed through a $177 billion budget, with billions in Green New Deal, unsustainable, ludicrously expensive solar panels and wind turbines, attacks on small local governments and an unprecedented $11 billion in borrowing to further bury this state, all the while demanding the federal government bail out the combined incompetence of him and the downstate Democrats.
Finally, with his newfound totalitarian power, the governor declared upstate didn’t matter, and neither did the Constitution. In his eyes, Posse Comitadus didn’t pertain to him, so he was sending in the military with the proverbial black helicopters to take our life-saving equipment. However, Elise was there pushing back, rallying the local hospital administrators, fighting to make sure the federal government could provide us with life-saving equipment should the emperor steal ours. Within a couple of days Elise made this a national issue and sent Andy retreating back to his daily ego-building pressers while our hospital supplies were saved.
So in conclusion, Andrew Cuomo, you are destroying this state, and nothing you do can make up for the 10 years of economic devastation you have unleashed on us. Further, the only way you will ever see the White House is with a visitor’s pass. Finally, to our Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, on behalf of all of upstate, thank you for your tireless efforts and results in this time of crisis!
Russ Finley
Lisbon
You can read the full letter to the editor at: www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com
