To the editor:

Hi Elise:

It’s me, your average NY-21 constituent, local scientist and part-time climate activist. I just read about your plan to vote against certifying the electoral college voting results. Allow me to be casual here, because I’ve tried to have a formal dialogue by calling your office, staging civil demonstrations, walking 50 miles from my home to your office in Plattsburgh, and writing to publications which your staff is likely to read, but all I have heard in response to my calls for action on your part is the politician’s version of the sound of a dial up-modem. (“Thank you for contacting my office with your concerns …” etc.)

My fellow constituents are sick and dying. They are scraping up pocket change to buy food for their families. They are beside themselves with grief from the realities they see every day as front-line workers. You have bigger hills to die on than this one. Might I add that the hill where the desperately needed $2,000 stimulus checks sit upon has a far better view than that of the parking lot behind 4-Seasons Landscaping of Philadelphia. It’s time to hop off the Trump train and stop enabling our sore-loser-in-chief by not certifying the election results. Let it go.

You, a leader in the Tuesday Group, a moderate Republican caucus that was dedicated to working across the aisle, have no business endorsing the GOP’s newest contribution to U.S. politics, Sedition Lite. You, the representative who once promised to work with whoever was in the Oval Office, are now looking like a most loyal follower of the orange prophet, willing to follow him to the ends of the Earth. Throw on top of this the fact that you are doing all of this while our family members are dying of a disease that could have been mitigated with proper scientifically based policies, and it looks like your North Country born and bred patriot persona has become more of a heartless career politician. Don’t get me wrong — as a young professional and fellow millennial, I also understand the pressure to look confident and be steadfast in your beliefs in front of co-workers, but as a scientist, I can assure you that you gain more respect in changing your opinions when presented with evidence-based fact. 

So please, instead of contesting the results of a decidedly fair election, think of the kids from Potsdam whose mom is feeding them instant ramen noodles for the third time this week while she waits for payday, the couple from Saranac Lake who spent the holidays in self-isolation away from each other, or the father from Glens Falls who will be in the ICU on a ventilator rather than at home with his family this evening. Take off the red hat, and put it up on the shelf where it belongs, because lives are on the line.

Kindly,

Madeline Clark

Saranac Lake