To the editor:

Last spring, Elise Stefanik, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, stated about Russian election interference: “It was stunning to read how systemic it was in the Mueller report. This wasn’t just Facebook ads, this wasn’t just disinformation campaigns; this was targeted hacking of the committees, targeted outreach to senior people in presidential campaigns. That should concern every American.” Yet she subsequently voted against a law which would have required campaigns to report suspected or potential foreign interference to the FBI. Stefanik devotes herself to a president who cries that the Russian investigation was a hoax, despite a recent determination by Trump’s own Justice Department that there was no political bias in opening the investigation.

Given her propensity for falsehoods and name-calling, it is not surprising that Stefanik decided to link herself closely with this president. A president who publicly invites foreign interference in elections. A president who pushes a vulnerable ally to dig up political dirt on his opponents by withholding approved congressional funds, in violation the Impoundment Act. A president who publicly states he believes adversary dictator Vladimir Putin over the consensus of all the U.S. intelligence agencies.

Elise Stefanik has turned a corner in her career. She has been noticed nationally with her dramatic outbursts at the impeachment investigations. Donald Trump praises her, and she runs away from any semblance of bipartisanship and now clings to his coattails: defending him in Congress, co-chairing his New York reelection campaign and stumping for him in faraway states. She seems to be interviewing for some future appointment in Trump’s PR department, Fox News.

I am stunned by the president and his followers’ statements that Democrats personally hate his supporters. “They hate you,” he says at rallies. Please don’t be swayed by these tactics of fear and division. Enough! Enough lies. Enough name-calling. Enough of personal ambition. Enough disregard for facts. Enough kowtowing to corporate donors.

We have a chance to elect a representative who is actually from the North Country and cares about her neighbors, Democrat and Republican alike. Unlike Stefanik, who prioritizes her career and her donors, Tedra Cobb refuses to accept corporate PAC money. Tedra Cobb knows how to reach across the aisle and work hard for accessible, affordable health care, a strong economy, our environment and to eliminate corporate influence in government. Tedra is experienced, honest and energetic and her only ambition is to serve the North Country.

Peggy Wiltberger

Saranac Lake