NEW SCOTLAND —  When his candidates are out on the stump, Deane Fish, the chairman of the New Scotland Republican Party, stresses that they stick hard to the local issues. But the local GOP and its candidates’ social-media platforms tell a different story.

The Facebook page of the Town of New Scotland Republican Committee shared a post on Jan. 6 from Republican Congressional candidate Liz Joy that called the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol “very peaceful & kind.” Joy wrote that “Everyone there was law abiding,” and sought to blame the day’s violence on left-wing activists. 

Another riot-related post was shared on March 22, “If A Fence Around The Capital [sic] Seems Like A Good Idea But Not On The US Border You’re A Special Kind Of Stupid.”

Last April, the New Scotland GOP committee also shared a post from Parler, a favorite social-media app of the right that was banned for a time from the Apple App Store in the wake of January’s attack on the Capitol and continues to be banned from the Google Play Store. The post was deemed by Facebook to contain false information and instead linked to a fact-checked story of the false post. 

The local page also shared a post from Dec. 9, 2020 that said, “How come we never find missing Republican ballots?” And another post from Liz Joy on Nov. 29, 2020 that said, “We need Voter ID! #ElectionFraud.”

There were additional voter ID-related posts, one about Benghazi, another about Jan. 6, a couple about President Joseph Biden, and one from a conservative commentator whose six public statements fact-checked by the site Politifact have been deemed either false or mostly false.

 Fish was asked if he was OK with his party sharing these types of posts, specifically the posts related to Parler and Jan. 6, which was referred to as an insurrection by the Enterprise reporter. 

Fish initially declined comment, but then took issue with the events of Jan. 6 being described by the Enterprise reporter as an insurrection.

Fish, who made clear he was speaking only for himself and in no way did his comments reflect the opinion of the town’s Republican Committee, said there was only one killing on Jan. 6, and “that was at the hands of the Capitol Police,” and said to call it an insurrection “is laughable.”

An insurrection — depending on your preference of the origin of the definition: Merriam-Webster, Cambridge, or Oxford — is an act, often violent, of revolt or rebellion or uprising against an established government or governing authority.

Five people died in connection with Jan. 6 as the rioters tried to stop the confirmation of electoral votes to certify Biden as having won the election: a Capitol Police officer, who “died the day after he was overpowered and beaten by rioters,” according to The New York Times; two rioters died from health-related causes; one rioter was crushed to death; and one rioter was shot and killed after she “clambered through a broken window leading to the Speaker’s Lobby inside the Capitol,” according to The Times.

The Times also reported that, on Jan. 6, about 140 officers — 73 from the Capitol Police and 65 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington — were injured.

Fish compared the events of Jan. 6 with those of the racial-justice protests  that took place in Seattle, Portland, Chicago, and New York City during the summer of 2020. 

Those events, which took place over many months in at least 140 cities across the country and involved as many as 20 million people, in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by a white police officer, were in response to what many Black people said was yearslong systemic injustice in law enforcement. Jan. 6 took place because of a lie — that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. 

“There have been many killings,” Fish said of the summer of 2020. “And those incidents were described as mostly peaceful.” One Washington Post analysis from August 2020, put the number of deaths at 27. 

But a review found of the 27 deaths “linked to either protests or subsequent violence since late May indicates that those ultimately alleged to be culpable, in cases where a suspect or perpetrator were identified, were almost never actually part of the protest movement.”

 

 

 

 

Mayer and Grissell

During the Oct. 16 Enterprise candidate forum and in the editorial pages of this week’s paper, Charissa Mayer was a picture of comity, agreeing with her fellow Republicans on issues but also with the Democrats as well — a sharp contrast with a speech she made this past summer at Stanton’s Farm in Feura Bush. 

During the Aug. 15 speech, Mayer said, in part: 

“I feel that my calling is to stand up for our individual rights and civil liberties, which I feel have been violated at the town, county, state, and federal level. We live in a world plagued with anger and discontent where people are easily triggered. We live in a world where control is at the heart of our government’s agenda. Not common sense, not science, and not free thinking. A government that does not represent the views of all of its people. 

“We live in a world that labels individuals instead of welcoming them as —  welcoming them, excuse me — no matter what their race, gender, or party affiliation is. We live in a world where there’s no respect for our police, our military, and people that are in a position to protect us. Instead we actually talk about defunding these groups and we leave our soldiers in harm’s way by walking away because of political and non-humanitarian reasons. 

“We live in a world where respect for different beliefs, convictions, and viewpoints is non-existent. We are totally shut up the threat, removal of social media posts, and mandates. 

“Our party is under attack and we cannot just sit along the sidelines and wait for someone else to come along. I am standing up to ensure that the world my kids grow up in has faith, values our differences, and is not a communist regime. Toward that end, I will do all that I can to help parents fight for their rights in school. 

“I will do all I can to support families that are struggling to work and balance the needs of their kids. I will support small businesses. I will support small businesses instead of smacking them with regulations that don't make sense. 

“I will support our places of worship that are broken down and devalued, and I will ensure there’s balance on the board when important decisions are made that impact our community. I will work to ensure our tax dollars go to things that will make sense, instead of big investments which do not impact our community. 

“In the six years that I’ve lived in New Scotland, I’ve seen a decline in business growth; vacant buildings; parent discontent with schools; break down of the family unit; churches; next-to-no services for our seniors and children; expenditures made without transparency to constituents; regulations and enforcement instead of respecting one’s property rights; and a board that makes one-sided rash decisions. 

“This is not the purpose of our government. The government works for us.”

Asked to square how she presented herself to voters during the Oct. 16 forum with what she said at Stanton’s Farm this summer, Mayer said there were two different things going on. In August, she was speaking at a GOP fundraiser put on by the town of New Scotland Republican Committee, where each candidate spoke. And in mid-October, she was speaking “kind of to the town.”

“So there were things that were discussed there outside of just the town, obviously,” Mayer said of her Aug. 15 remarks, which were made during what was billed as a “Vote Red and Back The Blue” fundraiser. 

Asked if her August speech could be attributed to Mayer just politicking, she said, “No, not at all.”

Mayer then said she’s “trying to be the person and not the party.”

And because this is a local campaign, she’s trying to advocate for every resident’s rights and freedoms regardless of party affiliation. 

Mayer also said that at the time, in August, there was a lot happening in Afghanistan, adding that the father of her sons was deployed. But not to Afghanistan. “So there were a lot of things going on at the federal level that we were kind of looking at from a freedom perspective,” she said. “And, you know, maybe I was a little bit passionate about it that day.”

She then pivoted back to the election and said that she’s “trying to represent everybody as a person, as Charissa.”

Mayer, who has shared Facebook posts that claim, “Our kids have been wearing masks the entire school year without any scientific evidence supporting this,” was asked how she can believe in climate change but be so ardently against the mask mandate. 

At first said she didn’t want to discuss the issue. When it was pointed out that, when she had spoken at Voorheesville School Board meetings. Mayer always mentioned she was a candidate for town board, she said, “I don’t think it really relates to how I’m going to represent the town.”

She then said she was at the school board meetings as a mother and registered nurse, advocating for her son who she says has special needs.

“I am not an anti-masker. I’m not an anti-vaxxer. And I’ll repeat that: I’m not  anti-anything,” said Mayer.  

During an Oct. 21 fundraiser held at the Knox home of Jeff Thomas to support the lawsuit he’s spearheading against health Commissioner Howard Zucker over the state’s mask mandate, Mayer can be seen on a Facebook livestream. While others  play to the camera, making short speeches, Mayer, after being greeted with great enthusiasm by Thomas, does not speak to the camera and appears to avoid being on camera — twice. 

Mayer disputes this characterization. 

“Not at all,” Mayer said. “I was talking to people and mingling and then I had to go get my kids.”

Thomas is a friend of hers, she said, stating that “there were people there from all sides of the fence.”

“I wasn’t trying to be out of any publicity,” Mayer said.

Erik Grissell, on his Facebook page, Erik Grissell - For New Scotland Supervisor, shared a Liz Joy post that said, “Continually Masking our children is wrong. It’s unhealthy. It needs to stop ….”

Asked if he thinks there should be a mask mandate, Grissell told The Enterprise he preferred not to comment. 

During the Oct. 16 forum, Mayer said she believed climate change is real.  

Grissell, who has deleted his Twitter account since speaking with The Enterprise last week, was asked by the paper if, like Mayer, he believed in climate change; he said that he preferred not to comment on the issue. But he did say that he wants to protect the open green space the town currently has. 

Grissell also wrote a response to Governor Kathy Hochul’s tweet that said, “Climate change is happening right now. It is not a future threat. It is a current threat. Record-breaking floods are the new normal and we must work to increase resiliency and support green infrastructure.”

Grissell wrote, “Fyi - not record breaking, check your history, just floods that occur every year, like normal. You know when you have hurricanes every year, like normal, you will get floods. I’m guessing with your philosophy Albany will get no snow this year because of climate change.”

 

 

 

Assessing his party’s chances

Asked about his candidates being in favor of the town’s saving the Hilton barn and his being against it for years, Fish said that they are individuals entitled to their own opinion, as he is to his.

Fish said he doesn’t dictate policy; the candidates and he came to an agreement on three major planks, outlined in a recent letter to the Enterprise editor: 

— Promotion and preservation of small business in all parts of the town; no one wants big boxes. Micro and small businesses would improve our town;

— A voice for all residents, breaking the tired monopoly. Republicans support things like town hall meetings where all voices are heard and considered; and

— Improved quality of life through a top-down review of all rules, regulations, and policies that limit freedom and property rights in our town.

“After that, they’re free to do whatever they want,” he said of the GOP candidates. 

Fish still thinks the Hilton barn is a bad idea. “Six years is far too long to fool around with something like this,” he said; he’s leary of the funding and doesn’t think the state is in any position to support it. 

 “And I would hate to see it underwritten by the taxpayers, even though [Democrats] deny that,” he said. “I don’t see any way around it.” 

When asked to assess his candidates’ chances on Nov. 2, Fish said, “I’m not in the prediction game. I’m not a pollster. All I can tell you is that my candidates have worked harder than anyone I’ve seen in town during my residency here, since 1990.”

But Fish admits it’s an uphill climb.

In 2011, there were 2,496 enrolled Democrats in town and 1,697 registered Republicans, a gap of 799 voters. 

As of February, Democrats out-enrolled Republicans in New Scotland by 1,159 voters, 2,881 to 1,722 — but throw in their ideological third-party brethren, Conservatives and Working Families Party members, and the gap shrinks to 939 voters. There are another 2,393 voters in town whose party affiliation is listed as either “other” or is blank. 

Since 1999, the GOP has won just three seats on the New Scotland Town Board: LaGrange in 2005 and 2009, and that year LaGrange appeared on the both the GOP and Democratic lines, garnering 544 Republican votes and 1,499 votes from Democrats; and, in 2001, Andrea Gleason, who was not enrolled as a Republican, but ran on the Republican ticket — Gleason had been elected in 1997 as a Republican. 

There hasn’t been a competitive race for the supervisor’s office since 2009, when incumbent Democrat Thomas Dolin beat Republican Michael Fields. The last time a Republican won supervisor in New Scotland was 2005

Fish thinks his candidates have better ideas, far more energy, and, over the past decade, “very little has happened in this town,” he said. “It’s been asleep for 10 years.”

Tim Stanton came within 133 votes of overtaking Bridgit Burke for a seat on the board in 2019, and what’s different this time around compared to, say, the last five elections, is that there are fewer small-party lines for the Democratic candidates to affix their names to.

Although Stanton captured the Conservative line in 2019, a line that New Scotland Democrats typically take — and the candidates for supervisor and town board, all  of whom had the Conservative Party’s backing in previous elections, won’t have it this year after a contentious June primary.