This diary is a further update of a previous diary that I wrote highlighting Elise Stefanik’s extensive record of dishonesty and her continued failure to fulfill most of the commitments that she made in her previous two campaigns.
1.) Equal Pay for Women
During her first campaign in 2014, Elise Stefanik sounded like a big champion for women’s causes, stating multiple times throughout commercials and debates that she would actually buck the national Republican Party platform which she helped to draft in 2012, and be a voice in support of equal pay for women. Since being elected to Congress, though, Stefanik has actually voted twice in favor of two pieces of legislation that had clauses blocking any consideration of the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would mandate pay equity for women (HR 189, 4/14/15, HR 200, 4/15/15).
Not exactly the champion of women that she claimed to be.
2.) Creating Jobs and Spurring Economic Development In The North Country
Elise Stefanik also promised during her first campaign to spur job growth and “create economic opportunity” across the North Country. But if you go for a drive around the struggling small farms of Washington County and the Champlain Valley outside of Ticonderoga, or take a stroll through the many former industrialized towns that dot the North Country, such as Fort Edward, Hudson Falls and Gloversville, it’s quite obvious that almost nothing has changed for the better since November 4, 2014, the day Elise Stefanik was elected and the Republicans took total control of Congress. In fact, in many places things only appear to be going downhill and getting worse since Stefanik and the GOP have been in power. Jefferson County (Watertown), the most heavily populated county that is entirely encompassed within the 21st Congressional District, experienced the second-highest population decline in the United States from 2015 to 2016. In addition, according to Census Bureau statistics, 11 out of the 12 counties within the 21st District have seen population loss from 2010 through 2016, and the trend only continued and accelerated throughout 2014 through 2016 after Stefanik took office. From 2015 through 2016, during Stefanik’s first term, Warren and Saratoga Counties were the only two North Country counties that didn’t lose population, and the bulk of the portion of Saratoga County that saw population gains were the northern Albany suburbs that lie in Democrat Paul Tonko’s neighboring district.
But perhaps, most importantly, the bulk of the North Country region has continued to see a steady erosion of jobs and a continued loss of major industries for the last couple of years since Stefanik was elected to office. Since 2015, Alcoa’s remaining aluminum operations in Massena (St. Lawrence County) have had multiple rounds of layoffs and General Electric has closed its Fort Edward capacitor plant, which had operated in that community for more than 70 years. In April of 2016, Volvo Group’s Nova Bus/Prevost plant in Plattsburgh had a major round of layoffs, and the Climax packaging facility in Lowville (Lewis County) closed its doors forever. According to data from the New York State Department of Labor and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the combined counties within the 21st Congressional District had the highest unemployment rate in the entire state in March 2018. To make matters even worse, since Elise Stefanik was elected in November 2014, as the economy has continued to improve nationally, the unemployment rates have actually increased in eight of the twelve counties of the 21st Congressional District, stayed the same in two counties and have decreased in only two counties. (source, source)
How many more years (or decades) can we really afford to give Elise Stefanik and the congressional Republicans their magical chance to create new “economic opportunities” in the North Country, when it’s quite clear that so far what they’ve done so far hasn’t exactly worked? To me, it seems pretty obvious that Stefanik and the GOP have had their time in power, there have been almost no results, and now we need to try something new. Most of us just don’t have the time to sit around and wait for the rest of our lives hoping that Elise Stefanik can dream up another new magical economic experiment as we continue to see things deteriorate around us.
3.) Protecting and Preserving Medicare and Social Security
Since Elise Stefanik’s first campaign in 2014, she has continually insisted that Medicare and Social Security should be protected and that she would not support any changes to these programs that could affect current recipients, as well as individuals who are approaching retirement age. However, the American Health Care Act of 2017 (HR 1628, 5/4/17), often referred to as “Trumpcare,” which she supported, would have raided the Medicare trust fund of $117 billion, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), had it passed and become law.
From The Washington Post, March 23, 2017:
“The Republican plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, would draw on Medicare's financially distressed trust fund to put money back in the pockets of some of the country's richest people.
Republicans would repeal the Medicare tax, a 0.9 percent surcharge on annual salaries of at least $200,000 for individual taxpayers or $250,000 for married couples. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that over a decade, repealing the tax would forego $117 billion that those wealthy households are currently expected to pay into the trust fund, which is used to cover the costs of health care for elderly Americans.
Repealing the tax would put the fund into “crisis mode,” said Andrew Slavitt, a former acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Barack Obama. Slavitt said the fund could be exhausted as soon as 2024 because of the changes, when President Trump might still be in office.”
But perhaps Stefanik should have never been trusted to begin with. As I noted in several previous diaries during her first campaign, Stefanik actually served as the Policy Director of the 2012 Republican Party Platform Documents, where she helped to write the provisions calling for privatizing Social Security and turning Medicare into a voucher program. While drafting the platform documents, Stefanik actually coordinated sessions with high-profile Washington D.C. lobbyists.
4.) Members of Congress Should Have To Live By The Laws Themselves
For the last couple of years, Elise Stefanik has continued to insist that members of Congress should have to live by the rules themselves and are not above the law. But has she exactly been practicing what she’s preaching? Since her first campaign in 2014, Stefanik faced extensive criticism from her one-time rivals (Democrats Mike Derrick and Aaron Woolf, as well as Republican Matt Doheny) for residing full-time at a Washington D.C. townhouse and not actually living, renting or owning property in the 21st District or anywhere else in the State of New York. For those of you who don’t know, Stefanik continues to claim her “residency” at her parents’ vacation home at Willsboro Point on Lake Champlain in Essex County, which lies directly across the lake from Burlington, Vermont.
According to New York State Ballot Access Laws, in order to be eligible to run for Congress in the State of New York, although you don’t have to actually physically reside in the district that you’re running for, you do have to be a full-time resident of New York State at the time you are elected to be eligible to serve in office.
And perhaps this begs another question; why should we continue to hand over so much power and control over our lives to an individual that has absolutely no tangible commitment or vested interest in this region’s economy or wellbeing? (If Elise Stefanik and her husband, Matt Manda, want to live and raise a family in Washington D.C., then she should find an office to run for in Washington D.C.)
Furthermore, Daily Kos diarist jmcaldaro has stated on numerous occasions that back in 2014 during the Republican primary, Elise Stefanik ignored election laws and campaigned actively on-site at a polling place in Milton, outside of Saratoga Springs, even after she was repeatedly asked to leave by local election officials:
Elise Stefanik is a self centered person who is out for herself and no one else. Here is a little incident from her first campaign that I witnessed. In Milton, NY there is a voting place where 8-10 districts are voting in the same facility. She shows up with TV cameras and at first talks to voters. Then she starts electioneering. My wife, who is an election official who was working at the facility, let her know this was not allowed and she had to exit the premises. Although perturbed she does but only outside the door. She continues the electioneering with TV cameras rolling. My wife again lets her know that this is not allowed and shows her the 100ft position that is marked indicating there is no electioneering any closer to the voting facility.
She does not do open town halls. She makes sure that she will not be confronted by people who do not agree with her voting record. She is someone who has not spent a lot of time in the district prior to her becoming the representative. I hope there is a major challenge to her in 2018!
5.) Conducting Frequent, Traveling Mobile Office Sessions
Elise Stefanik also continually insisted back in 2014 that she would be a “transparent” representative, promising to conduct regular traveling mobile office sessions throughout the enormous district in order to provide area residents with the ability to easily address their concerns with her. Did she actually follow through? Only temporarily during her first term.
For the most part, it now seems like Stefanik’s whole concept of providing mobile office sessions was basically nothing more than just a ceremonial gesture to get elected. To make matters even worse, as was repeatedly pointed out by Democratic congressional candidate Don Boyajian, Elise Stefanik didn’t hold a single in-person town hall meeting during the entire year of 2017. Not one. By comparison, every other congressperson from this region held at least one town hall meeting last year, including Paul Tonko (D-Albany area), Claudia Tenney (R-Utica area), John Faso (R-Hudson Valley), and Peter Welch (D-Burlington, VT).
On multiple occassions, Stefanik even threatened peaceful activists that were demonstrating outside of her offices with law enforcement. The activists were largely protesting her continued refusal to hold town hall meetings and her lack of any visible presence in the district.
Finally responding to growing and intensive criticism, in April 2018, Stefanik broke down and conducted two in-person town hall meetings in small venues at inconvenient times.
6.) Promoting Transparency By Providing A Regularly Maintained Online Schedule of All Major Events and Activities
It’s also been revealed that Elise Stefanik has also somewhat wavered on her initial commitment to maintaining an online schedule of the events and activities that she holds that are related to her office. According to a recent tweet from NY21Watchdog, Stefanik often waits until as many as two weeks after the events have already occurred to post them to her online schedule. Wouldn’t true transparency be to let us know ahead of time about the events that she’s planning to hold?
In addition, there’s also plenty of reason to speculate that because Elise Stefanik is not legally required to maintain an online schedule that she may actually be omitting certain events from the schedule that she has no interest in letting the public ever become aware of. I’ll give you a perfect example; Elise Stefanik held a fundraiser at the Saratoga National Golf Course in Saratoga Springs on Friday, March 3, 2017 with disgraced former Congressman John Sweeney (R). Nowhere was that event listed on her schedule for that week. Perhaps it would have been nice if we could have known who else was in attendance at that fundraiser besides Sweeney. It almost makes you wonder how many other events, fundraisers and potential meetings with lobbyists or operatives that she hasn’t been posting to her schedule over the past few years. Furthermore, as noted in a Twitter post by NY21Watchdog, a couple of days later on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, Elise Stefanik met with Donald Trump at the White House as a member of the Republican House Deputy Whip Team. As a member of the whip team, it is Stefanik’s responsibility and duty to persuade her fellow Republican colleagues to vote in favor of major Republican pieces of legislation and not to buck the party line.
It’s also worth noting that Stefanik often uses very vague terminology to describe some of the events on her schedule. For instance, when Elise Stefanik held an event at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Lake Placid on Thursday, February 9, 2017, which gathered protesters, she only described the event as a “Staff Planning Session in Lake Placid, NY.” One could only guess as to what Stefanik was doing at a “Staff Planning Session.”
7.) Being Supportive of the Ongoing Investigation into Russian Interference during the 2016 Elections
A statement from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, October 30, 2017:
“In light of today’s news on the Mueller probe, I wanted to express my continued support for this investigation. The investigation into possible Russian interference in our election cycle is a serious matter and it’s important for our political process to allow it to continue so that we may get the facts. As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, I will continue working on our bipartisan investigation and will follow the facts wherever they may lead.”
As I noted in detail in a diary back in February, Elise Stefanik, even despite her continued and repeated claims of being supportive of the ongoing investigation into Russian interference within the 2016 elections, was actually one of the 13 Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee chaired by Devin Nunes (R-CA) that worked to undermine the investigation currently being conducted by Special Council Robert Mueller.
A brief summary of Stefanik’s activities on the House Intelligence Committee:
1.) On March 12, 2018, Stefanik and the rest of the committee voted to approve a partisan GOP report claiming that there was no collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives; the report also attacked the widely held notion amongst the U.S. intelligence community that Russia helped Donald Trump to win the presidency. A final version of the report was released on April 27, 2018 by the House Intelligence Committee, which Stefanik also voted to approve.
2.) Stefanik has received $19,000 in campaign contributions from interests that are in conflict
with the investigation currently being conducted by Special Council Robert Mueller, including
$8,000 which came from lobbying interests that are connected to former Trump campaign
manager Paul Manafort.
3.) During former FBI Director James Comey’s March 2017 testimony to the House Committee,
Stefanik insinuated that Russia did not specifically or exclusively target Hillary Clinton, the DNC
or Democratic Party candidates.
4.) During former CIA Director John Brennan’s May 2017 testimony, Stefanik didn’t ask a single
question about potential collusion between Trump campaign officials and Russian operatives.
Instead, Stefanik diverted the dialogue, grilling Brennan about incompetence amongst former
Obama Administration security officials.
5.) During the testimony of Erik Prince (the billionaire founder of military contractor Blackwater),
who was attempting to set up a backchannel between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, Stefanik
didn’t ask a single question. Prince is the brother of Education Secretary Betsy Devos; members
of the Devos family have contributed $14,000 to Stefanik’s campaign.
8.) Committing to Supporting a Free and Open Internet Through Net Neutrality
A statement from Elise Stefanik’s Congressional Website, December 14, 2017:
“An open internet is critical to promoting prosperity and innovation with the power to enhance our lives, communities, and markets. The internet is an essential resource and Americans should have access to the information they want, not the information specific entities choose to make available.”
“Today’s vote means that it is now Congress’ responsibility to pass legislation that codifies in law the principles of net neutrality to preserve an open internet and ensure that companies can invest in a robust broadband infrastructure. Families in our district have very few choices in internet service providers, which is why it is critical for Congress to now pass legislation to protect the North Country’s access to online information.
But does Elise Stefanik really believe in preserving the internet as we know it?
Over the past year, Stefanik has issued numerous statements and press releases in support of protecting and preserving a free internet through net neutrality. However, upon learning new information from research conducted by NY21Watchdog, I have since become increasingly skeptical of the congresswoman’s previous claims. Apparently, both confusingly and bizarrely enough, Stefanik has actually used carefully crafted language developed by the telecommunications industry attacking the core principals of net neutrality to justify her support of net neutrality.
In a June 2017 letter that Stefanik wrote to a constituent addressing her supposed support of net neutrality (that was posted by NY21Watchdog on Twitter), Stefanik is actually critical of a February 26, 2015 ruling by Obama-era FCC officials which imposed additional regulations on internet service providers, requiring them to provide equal speeds and unlimited access to all content on the internet, the fundamental core of net neutrality.
A portion of the letter from Congresswoman Elise Stefanik from June 2017 in regards to net neutrality:
“Thank you for contacting me regarding Net Neutrality. It is an honor to serve the people of New York’s 21st Congressional District and appreciate your thoughts on this matter.
The internet has transformed the way people share and receive information, as well as communicate with each other. “Net Neutrality” generally refers to Internet Service Providers allowing indiscriminate operations without providing preferential treatment to content or applications.
In 2010, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) promulgated the “Open Internet Rule,” aimed at requiring transparency and prohibiting blocking to protect internet openness. The rule was subsequently struck down by a federal appeals court in January 2014. However, the court ruling left the door open for the FCC to use its existing authority under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934 to regulate internet service providers.
On February 26, 2015, the FCC exercised this authority and promulgated rules going beyond the concept of net neutrality. The FCC aimed to instead regulate the entire internet by reclassifying broadband internet access service as a telecommunications service subject to decades-old utility regulation under Title II.”
The content of the letter is very misleading. Realistically, the only way the FCC could ever enact or enforce net neutrality was to impose additional regulation on internet service providers, preventing them from discriminating against certain content. As a matter of fact, Stefanik’s letter replicates content from “Broadband For America,” a broadband advocacy front group that is being funded by anti-net neutrality forces in the telecommunications industry.