I have been hemming and hawing about writing this diary for a long time now. I, like many of you, like to see the game of politics played fair, with no mud slinging and with a general rule that discussion of an opposing Candidate's family should be off limits. But sometimes rules need to be broken to achieve a greater good, and after listening to a recent morning "puff-piece" by NPR on Elise Stefanik which made me shout at my radio, I have come to the decision that this is one of those times.
You see I know members of the Stefanik family personally. But the part of the Stefanik family I know are far different economically, socially and morally from the Elise Stefanik's part of the family. This is a tale of two parts of the same family; one which is very rich and live lives of privilege among the top 1% (Elise's side of the family); and the other which has little money but are hard working class folks (the side of the family I know). But its not just a story of rich and poor that I wish to tell, its more a story of how the rich treat folks that are not rich, even when those folks happen to be in the same family.
If you want to learn more about the Stefanik's I know and which Elise hopes no one finds out about, and how this may fit into the campaign for NY-21, please jump /\ over the orange squiggle with me for a more in depth view.
To start off, this is a story of two brothers, one being Elise's father and the other being the father of the working class Stefaniks I know. I don't know much about the two brothers other than one acquired significant wealth (in forestry products I think), and the other lead a poor working class life. But for some reason unknown to me, the rich brother grew to completely shun the working class brother, to the point where when the working class brother died a few years back, the rich brother didn't even bother to attend the funeral, nor did any of his children including Elise. Maybe the rich brother had some good reason for treating his brother as if he didn't exist or maybe he just didn't want anything to do with folks below his income level, I don't know. But whatever the reason, the rich brothers cruel treatment of his working class brother has been passed down to his children, including Elise.
The working class Stefaniks I know, who are Elise's cousins, are hard working folk. One with children and grandchildren (5 grandchildren altogether) living in a single modest two bedroom home supported by one middle class income. We take two of the grandchildren (twin girls) on camping vacations each summer and they are just a joy to be around, well behaved, polite and very appreciative of our help. My Stefaniks are just plain good folks.
Of course, Elise and her siblings who associate with their well connected friends in the top 1% will have nothing to do with their working class cousins, and basically pretend they don't exist. With all the wealth and multiple homes on Elise's side of the family, none of them will provide so much as a penny to their working class cousins who labor each day to provide the basic necessities of life. Now I'm not saying that the working class Stefaniks are somehow entitled to some of their rich relatives wealth. But personally, I can't see myself having more wealth than I could ever spend in my lifetime (I don't by the way), not at least providing a few crumbs to my less fortunate cousins. No matter what the situation, I couldn't live with myself, could you?
In talking to my Stefanik friends about Elise, they describe her as your typical top 1% snob, fully absorbed in her own self-interest. She never contacts her cousins on the "other side" of the family, and the impression they get is that she would prefer to pretend that they don't exist.
Politically, the point I'm trying to make is, that Elise has lived her whole life among the rich and privileged, and has shown little or no regard for the plight of the economic classes below the top 1%, even if some people in those classes are part of her own family. So if she won't do anything to help her cousins who are within the lower 99% with the rest of us, what makes you think she will help her District constituents who are also members of the 99%?
I am not sure what, if anything, I should do with this information. I don't want to thrust the good Stefaniks I know into the political lime light. But I also want to do everything I can to help Arron Woolf (the Dem. Candidate) beat this elitist snob. So I am trying to decide whether I should E-mail this "dirt" to the Woolf campaign to use as they see fit. To help me decide, I am asking you folks to take the poll I have set up and let me know what you think I should do???????
BTW: Arron recently picked up 5 points on Elise, and now trails by 8 according to the latest poll. Please take some time and visit Arron's Site, and consider sending him a few bucks as I have.
THANKS!