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If you watch any television at all these days you can probably repeat this political advertisement by heart.
“I’ll stand up to Kathy Hochul or work with Donald Trump, anything to do what’s right for upstate,” Democrat Blake Gendebien says in the TV ad that seems to run during every commercial break.
We know what he is trying to do.
The 21st Congressional District - the district Gendebien would represent - is made up of a lot more Republicans than Democrats and many of those Republicans will proudly tell you they have never voted for a Democrat in their entire lives.
That’s a significant hurdle.
Gendebien is doing a lot with this ad.
He’s telling voters he’s his own man.
He’s acknowledging that Gov. Kathy Hochul is pretty unpopular and blamed for most of New York’s problems upstate.
And he’s telling Republicans he is even open to working with President Trump. Of course, it is highly unlikely that Trump would be willing to work with him.
Gendebien is trying to peel off some Republican votes since the Republican candidate, Anthony Constantino is - I wanted to write “crazy” here but that’s not really right - he’s just someone who is interested in being in the spotlight and getting lots of attention with no real plan for what he would do to help the district if he actually won, unless it is a commercial sticker factory on every corner.
Of course, Gendebien is a novice as well, but he’s at least an expert on farming issues facing the North Country. I spent some time around him last summer and he seemed to be a good and decent man trying to do the right thing.
My few questions to Gendebien last summer were whether he was prepared for what was coming, if he knew how dirty the politics would get and the toll that might take on him and his family.
He said he was, but I doubted that.
One of the things you hear about politics today is that “both sides do it.”
Well, Gendebien is getting a healthy dose of that from a surprising source - state Democrats.
After his “I’ll-stand-up-to-Kathy-Hochul” ad ran, Politico reported Gendebien heard from the state Democratic organization that the ad must be pulled or the state party would not help him.
Talk about short-sighted.
For the past two years, President Trump has been carrying out a campaign of retribution, so state Democrats showed they were no better by doing the same thing to one of their own.
Here you have Blake Gendebien pulling off a minor miracle - if a WNYT-13 poll can be trusted - with an actual early lead against the Republican candidate in this really red district, and the state party slaps him down a notch.
Hey, you idiots, maybe the ad was working. Maybe Kathy Hochul isn’t the best governor when it comes to agricultural issues and is actually an anchor to someone like Gendebien.
The Gendebien campaign told Politico the ad is no longer running and that was part of their plan all along.
When pigs fly, I say.
The Politico folks asked the state Dems what was up about the information they got from two confidential sources. The state Dems issued this statement:
“The state Democratic Party remains committed to helping the campaigns of Blake Gendebien and Democrats across the state who are focused on lowering costs, protecting healthcare, and making our communities safer,” New York Democratic Chair Jay Jacobs said.
I suspect that confirms they were in fact meddling.
The state Democrats should stay out of Blake Gendebien’s campaign business. Most of the state Dems couldn’t find Saranac Lake or Plattsburgh without GPS; and those are the big cities.
Let Gendebien run his own campaign.
Let him be his own man.
Because one thing they know a lot about in the North Country is “miracles” do happen there.
As a warm-up for Capital Rep’s production of The Last American Newspaper (Sept. 25-Oct. 18) in Albany, I’ll be speaking at the Queensbury Senior Center on Monday, August 31 at 2 p.m.
I’ll give you the story behind the the story for how my book was developed into a play production.
Rehearsals begin for the play on Sept. 1.
Crandall Public Library and the League of Women’s Voters of Saratoga County are co-sponsoring “250 years of marching toward equality” tonight from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the library in Glens Falls.
Patrica Nugent will trace the history of women’s status in the United States from its founding in 1776 to today. Nugent will call attention to the disparity that still exists between women’s and men’s rights.
Other sponsors include the Adirondack Branch of American Association of University Women (AAUW), Soroptimists of the Adirondacks, and Zonta Club of Glens Falls.
If you’d like to attend this free event, register on Crandall Library’s website under “Upcoming events.”
The Times Union’s Dan Clark reported on his Substack column last week that local governments and school districts are struggling to stay under the 2 percent tax cap during budget planning sessions because of the high cost of funding the state pension system.
A report from the state Comptroller’s Office states overriding the tax cap has become more and more common in recent years.
“In fiscal year 2026, 45 percent of cities, 35 percent of villages, 26.6 percent of towns and 24 percent of counties planned to override the cap,” Clark wrote. These were the largest numbers in the 13-year history of the analysis.
To be honored with a stamp in the United States, you not only have to be dead, you have to be dead three years.
This is apparently not the case for airports.
West Palm Beach International Airport recent renamed itself Donald J. Trump International Airport, complete with signage off the highway. As we are reminded every day by the sitting president, he is not dead.
What is even more unusual is that West Palm Beach changed its three-letter code - you know, what appears on your luggage - from PBI to DJT.
The Associated Press pointed out that changing the code is rare and that Chicago O’Hare still uses “ORD,” referring to the original name, Orchard Field.
Washington National was renamed Reagan International while the president was still alive, and Charles Lindbergh had several airfields named after him while he was still alive, so it is not unprecedented, but still.
When a Texas court issued a $50 million judgment against professional liar Alex Jones for his false claims that the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting did not happen, I believed it was justified.
Jones had caused grave pain to the families who lost children, and he should never be allowed on the public airways again.
But a Texas court cut the award to $6 million this past week, citing state laws that limit lawsuit damages.
Jones still must pay a $1.25 billion judgment in Connecticut, where he was found “liable for defaming and causing emotional distress to relatives of the 20 first-graders and six educators killed in the Newtown shooting.”
Jone has been forced into bankruptcy by the rulings.
Dan Clark of the Times Union reported this interesting bit of politics this past week: John A. Sarcone was appointed interim U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York even though he has no experience as a prosecutor.
The appointment could legally last for only 120 days, when federal judges in New York were suppored to make a nomination. Instead, after the 120 days ran out, Sarcone took over as first assistant attorney, normally the No. 2 position in the department, but since since there was no No. 1, he was in charge again.
Sarcone then began an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James. But James fought back, citing the loophole in the appointment of Sarcone.
A federal judge agreed and an appeals court judge concurred this past week that Sarcone was illegally appointed.
We apparently entered another war Friday night - with Canada.
That could have further implications for North Country tourism and trade, especially with Canada’s new prime minister talking tough.
“We’ve recognized from the start that America has changed,” Carney said in an address to Canadians Saturday. “We recognize that sometimes, its signature is written in pencil.”
Ouch!
“We cannot accept what they offered and we will not give what they asked,” Carney continued. “We were not prepared to compromise Canada’s sovereignty or undermine our key industries.”
He concluded by saying, “You’re at war when you’re attacked, and we got attacked.” He also said Canada would retaliate “dollar for dollar.”
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and his play “The Last American Newspaper” is being produced by Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany Sept. 25 to Oct. 18 . He currently lives in both Queensbury, N.Y. and New Orleans, La.
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