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Frustration fuels Plattsburgh man’s bid for Dem endorsement

Steve Krieg

PLATTSBURGH — Plattsburgh City School Board member Steve Krieg has joined the crowded field in the race to challenge incumbent Congresswoman Elise Stefanik in New York’s 21st District, and he is causing a stir right out of the gate.

A longtime Republican, he has switched to the Democratic Party and will run as a Democrat.

“I was frustrated at what the Republican Party was doing,” Krieg said.

“I had hoped that they would act sensibly, but I don’t think they have, and it became clear that they weren’t going to change.”

Angry Facebook post

His frustration led him to post a comment on Stefanik’s Facebook page on July 19 that has angered the incumbent’s camp.

“I intend to kick your stingy, money-grubbing, sniveling coward of a butt out of congress,” he said, in part. “Don’t worry, sweetie, you’re a little girl. You can always run home to Mommy and Daddy.”

Stefanik’s campaign normally deflects any discussions of next year’s election, saying she is concentrating on working in a bipartisan fashion to deliver results for the hard-working men and women and small businesses of the district. But angered by Krieg’s Facebook post, her campaign spokesman fired back with more than a canned quote.

“Our district doesn’t need more partisan, political rhetoric,” Lenny Alcivar said. “Republicans, Democrats and independents know that Elise is not only recognized as one of the most bipartisan members of the U.S House of Representatives; she is ranked among the most bipartisan leaders in Washington.”

‘Strong record’

Alcivar added that Stefanik wrote the largest fix to the Affordable Care Act last Congress — the repeal of the auto-enrollment mandate signed into law by President Barack Obama. And last week she introduced bipartisan legislation to protect funding for community health centers in the district.

“Congresswoman Stefanik also has a strong record of working across the aisle on environmental issues. She is a member of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus, the leader of the House Republican Climate Resolution and the co-chair of the House Invasive Species Caucus,” Alcivar said. “She received the ‘Supporter of Nature’ Award from the Nature Conservancy and just last week crossed party lines to vote against an amendment that would block the EPA’s methane rule.”

Noting Stefanik was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, Alcivar said she is seen by many as a rising star, not only in the party but in all of Congress, and to call her names is inappropriate.

Partial apology

Krieg apologized for part of his Facebook post but not all of it.

“I was angry because of the fact that her vote would put in jeopardy speech therapy and occupational therapy for children in our schools. She didn’t even attempt to explain that,” he said.

“But I apologize to her for what I said. It was wrong of me to get angry and to call her money-grubbing and a little girl.

“Calling her stingy came from the fact that she put her tax return out before the last election. She made $150,000 and had no deductions for gifts to charity.

“Perhaps she just decided not to take the deductions, but she did take deductions for investment expenses.

“If she gave to charity and just didn’t take the deductions, then I apologize for calling her stingy. Otherwise, I don’t.

“Making $150,000 and giving nothing to charity is stingy.”

Crowded race

Krieg joins six others who are seeking the Democratic Party nod to take on Stefanik next year in the 12-county 21st District, which stretches across the northern tier of the state from Lake Ontario in the west to Lake Champlain in the east. Hoping to win party endorsement are Katie Wilson, a business owner and political activist from Keene; Tedra Cobb, a business consultant and former St. Lawrence County legislator; Emily Martz, an economic development adviser and political activist from Saranac Lake; Ronald Kim, an attorney from Queensbury; Patrick Nelson, a political activist from Stillwater; and Donald Boyajian, an attorney from Cambridge.

A primary is likely to be held next June to select a candidate to take on Stefanik in the November election.

Russell Finley of St. Lawrence County, a Republican, aims at taking on Stefanik in a primary next June.

Christopher Schmidt, a political activist from Hudson Falls, is running as a Libertarian Party candidate.

No response

Krieg, 60, said the three main issues he will focus on in the campaign are health care, education and term limits.

He said Stefanik’s lack of response was disconcerting during health-care debates in Washington earlier this year, when Republicans were trying to remove the Affordable Care Act known as Obamacare and replace it with the American Health Care Act.

“As a school board member, I was concerned about how their [Republican] plan was going to affect schoolchildren, and I called her office, and I got no response until I got a form letter that she posted on Facebook some time later,” he said.

“I think health care is an important question to talk about and try to understand everyone’s point of view, but she doesn’t seem willing to engage.”

Public option

Krieg said he would propose a plan that would build on Obamacare and expand coverage while beginning to lower costs.

The easiest and best way to do that, he said, is to offer a public option for health insurance, which was originally proposed for Obamacare but did not make it into the final bill.

“Medicare and Medicaid can offer plans to individuals and to employers — these plans would be in direct competition with commercial health insurance,” he explained. “We should remove all obstacles to Medicaid and Medicare negotiating with providers, and with pharmaceutical companies, which Medicare is currently prevented from doing.

“This will begin to lower costs and continue to expand coverage to move in a step-wise manner to affordable health care for everyone in this country.”

Against vouchers

An optometrist for 30 years, Krieg has served on the school board since 2010. He and his wife Celeste have two daughters: Felicia, 28, and Letitia, 25.

He is opposed to voucher systems for public schools.

“As generally used, they provide a fixed amount, usually around the average cost of educating a student,” he said. “One problem with this is that no single child costs that amount.”

Krieg said he would support publicly funded charter schools in areas where public schools are failing.

“In those areas, I think publicly funded charter schools may provide a viable option,” he said. “In any case, I am not opposed to trying them as long as they are constantly evaluated to make sure they are working.”

Term limits

Krieg said he believes that most Americans now agree that there should be term limits at the federal level of government.

“Many if not most Americans now see senators and House members as self-serving rather than as public servants,” he said. “The desire to stay in office for as long as possible has led to gerrymandering, increased polarization of the political parties and to a system where representatives become dependent on their large donors.

“They spend more time fundraising than solving the problems of the people they represent. This has become a recipe for corruption in our government, and I believe the time has come to end it.”

Climate change

Krieg is also not happy that many Republicans also staunchly deny climate change.

“I can’t figure it out,” he said. “They act like they know more than the scientists, and they try to stifle any discussion.

“I’m angry about that.”

Krieg, a member of the U.S. Air Force from 1976 to 1980, including a stint at the former Plattsburgh Air Force Base, has several family members who have served in the military. He is also not happy with America’s involvement in the prolonged wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“If we are going to send our soldiers somewhere to fight a war, we better have a good reason,” he said. “If I had a child that was killed by a U.S. bomb, I would hate the U.S., too, and I don’t understand why people don’t see that.”

(Editor’s note: Four daily newspapers in the North Country — the Enterprise, Post-Star of Glens Falls, Watertown Daily Times and Press-Republican of Plattsburgh — are sharing content to better cover New York’s 21st Congressional District.)

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