To the editor:

I am writing in reference to the controversy surrounding Rep. Stefanik and her support of the president, and his actions on the day of Jan. 6. I have been a supporter of the president and Rep. Stefanik in the past, and although not a registered Republican, I have voted Republican most of my life with a few exceptions. I guess I would call myself a moderate Republican or a Rockefeller Republican.

I believe that Rep. Stefanik has made a grave error in judgment that cannot be accepted or ignored. Her support for calling the election results into question — with no evidence and the concurrence from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the Department of Justice and even former Attorney General Barr that there was little or no election fraud — went over the line. We all know right from wrong, truth from lies, and Rep. Stefanik decided to follow her political instinct instead of common sense and the truth. The president lost the election fairly and was flat-out wrong to mislead people into believing the election was fraud. His speech on the Ellipse was irresponsible and was an incitement to violence. Some in the Capitol, both on the House side and the Senate side, have perpetuated the falsehood that the election was “rigged” for their own political purposes, and Rep. Stefanik seems to be one of them. I believe, as Ms. Jerilea Zempel so eloquently stated in her letter to the editor on Jan. 11, 2021, that Rep. Stefanik “overplayed your Trump card here in the North Country. You have never lived among the people you represent, and I believe you underestimate their honesty.”

I believe it is time for new representation here in the 21st Congressional District in New York. It is time we picked someone with a real vested interest in the North Country and somebody who really understands the trials, tribulations and hardships that people go through here. The North Country and the district have been proudly Republican with few exceptions the last 150 years or so, and I hope that tradition continues, but with someone who represents the district for what it really means to them instead of it being some convenient political stepping stone for a potential higher office.

Again, I don’t make this judgment lightly. I have been a sideline witness to politics at the national level, and I have seen many great politicians on both sides of the aisle make tough decisions that go against their own political tide but benefited the good of their constituents and therefore the country. It’s time we had more politicians like that, and we can start right here in the North Country.

Andrew Orringer

Lake Placid