BETTER THAN HEARSAY - Not Crashing the Joint

By Michael Ryan

LEEDS - It was pretty hard not to notice the election campaign signs for Congressman Marc Molinaro peppering the grassy knoll above the entranceway to Leeds Hose Company No. 1, last Friday morning.

There were probably 40 of them, and more had been taken down near the firehouse prior to the arrival of Governor Kathy Hochul, making room for parking along the main highway, on the outskirts of Leeds.

Hochul was in town to announce a $1 million grant which was met with jubilation by the Leeds volunteer firefighters and ladies auxiliary, and colleagues from throughout the State (please see related story).

The hearsay is that Molinaro, a Republican, was either not invited to attend the event in his own District by the Governor, a Democrat, or his campaign had heard his opponent, Democrat Josh Riley, was going to be there.

Maybe both or neither but Molinaro reportedly showed up in Leeds hours before Hochul, who rolled in with her entourage around high noon.

Nobody I asked saw hide nor hair of Riley although he’s been very visible during the past few months with his campaign ads splattered all over the television, trying to keep up with similar splattering by Molinaro.

Their race is reportedly in the Twilight Zone of spending, somewhere in the $35 million range and rising, for one measly Congressional seat.

A logical question is…why would that election be worth winning - so much - that this kind of money is sensible to spend?

Even more curious is, why would it be so worth losing to be dropping that kind of dough on it? Where’s the money coming from? What’s it buying?

The further hearsay is that a lawn chair was made ready for Molinaro, atop the grassy knoll, looking down at where the Governor would be speaking. Seeing that would have been worth the $35 million.

Hochul was joined by State Senator Michelle Hinchey, Homeland Security Commissioner Jackie Bray, Greene County Emergency Services director John Farrell and Assemblyman Chris Tague, all seated in the front row.

They all gave speeches, except Tague, who clapped but didn’t rise from his seat when everybody else within eyeshot did, applauding the Governor’s financial windfall and words of admiration for firefighters.

Tague has had to deal with bad hips in the past but he was circulating in the crowd well enough, so it stuck out that he didn’t take part in the standing part of the standing ovations.

I bumped into the Assemblyman an hour or so after everyone was long gone, at a Stewart's Shop in Cairo, a few miles from Leeds.

We shot the breeze a bit, and I remembered the night I met Tague, walking on Main Street in Prattsville, the first time he was running for office.

His down-home style sounded real back then. It still does and I didn’t hear this from him, as the saying goes, but some drama apparently also surrounded his appearance in Leeds.

The way it was told to me, Tague was likewise not on the Governor’s list of initial invitees, snubbed in his own District, which he didn’t take sitting down, or then again perhaps that’s exactly what he did.

Tague, too, is from GOP country, and therefore in the minority in Albany. The way I hear tell, he got on the phone to the Governor’s office after getting left off the Leeds list and expressed his displeasure.

Over the years, Tague has done well with voters and firefighters in Greene County, a GOP stronghold, not surprisingly faring better than Hochul.

So he pushed a few buttons and said he would love to stage his own event across the street from the Governor, possibly drawing a better crowd. Ah, the beauty of politics!

I didn’t see the Molinaro signs when I arrived, needing to scope out a spot where I could get photos, encountering unexpected resistance to my plan.

Not being the sharpest tack in the box, I grabbed a chair close to the speaker’s podium with a good angle and plunked myself down.

It then occurred to me, with all the lurking security dudes and dudettes in shiny shoes and sunglasses, that I ought to make sure it was okay to suddenly pop up in front of the Governor like a Halloween ghost.

I went to a woman who appeared to be official. She said that wasn’t her call but that I should wait. She would go find that person.

Some very fidgety guy came over and said that wouldn’t work, nervously informing me that, in fact, I would have to move my seat.

“You’re blocking the aisle. It’s a fire hazard,” the guy said. I looked at some firefighters sitting in a row next to me and said, “imagine that. Me being a fire hazard. In a fire house!” I laughed. No one else did.

So I moved and as it turned out, I popped up in front of the Governor and she didn’t blink an eye. I admit, though, I think it would have been fun to watch her reaction if Molinaro and Tague had crashed the joint.