Political mailbag
I walked by my fictional mailbox and saw it stuffed with fictional letters that many of you wanted to write but didn’t have time to seeing you’ve been busy trying to figure out if some mystery voice was saying Yanny or Laurel? It’s Yanny by the way, no doubt. Anyway when you don’t have time to write me I occasionally decide to pen the letters for you and then give you my prompt reply. Since so much is going on politically why don’t we stick to just that arena for today’s mailbag OK? Let’s dive right in.
Brian in Broadalbin writes: “Dear Mr. Gray, did you see anything interesting or surprising at the recent state conventions for the Democratic and Republican parties?”
Thanks for writing Brian and to answer your question, yes, absolutely. Let’s start on the democratic side of things. Andrew Cuomo getting the nomination is about as predictable as a Stark getting killed on “Game of Thrones” but what surprised me there was the endorsement from Hillary. I take people for their word until they prove I shouldn’t and ever since Hillary lost that big race for the house on Pennsylvania Avenue she’s been telling people how disappointed she was that women didn’t support the woman in the race. I get it, she had a chance to be the first female president so you’d expect women would get behind that and many did; just not enough. So she has chastised women for not having her back in a race against a man. Imagine my surprise then when she supported the man running for governor and not the progressive woman, Cynthia Nixon.
The other surprise came on the republican side of things when they decided to nominate a whole slate of people you never heard of to run for all the important statewide offices. It’s almost like they want to lose. You think there would be one republican with a name you recognized. Nope.
Charlie in Chatham has a question: “Hey John how do you feel about Joe Biden? It was good to hear him speak the other day wasn’t it?”
You know Charlie it was. Whatever your political stripes it’s hard not to like Joe Biden. I’ll tell you something, had he run for president a couple years back he would have won, hands down. He basically brought no baggage to the campaign and he would have represented a safe choice. After the death of his son I just don’t think he had it in him to jump into something like that which I totally understand and respect. I know he’s old but if he decides to give it a shot in 2020 watch out.
Sally in Scotia chimes in: “I’m curious John if you got any blowback from your second column about the governor wanting to eliminate the tip wage in New York? I know you annoyed people with the first one.”
Hi Sally. Curiously I did not get a second phone call telling me I was misinformed when I said eliminating the tip wage was a well-intentioned but dangerous idea and something not a single person I’ve met in the restaurant industry supports. That means one of two things. My argument was flawless and the powers that be knew they had no solid ground to stand on. Or they just rolled their eyes, called me stupid and went about their day. I’m guessing it’s the second one.
Al in Albany wonders: “John of all the bigshot politicians you covered as a reporter and met do you have a favorite?”
Hmm, there are two answers to that Al. On the local level I’d have to say former Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings. He’s just an old school, street level guy you’d enjoy having a beer with. Once when we had a snowstorm and the road to the TV station wasn’t plowed and nobody could get home I called him shortly before midnight, woke him from a sound sleep and I said, “What the hell mayor?” Ten minutes later the plows came and he called back to bust my chops about it. I liked that he owned it and still teased me over the ordeal.
The other one I liked was Governor Mario Cuomo. He loved jousting with the press and would randomly invite us into his outer office on a Friday afternoon at the capitol to talk sports, food and ask anything we wanted. Few politicians have that kind of courage and openness. I miss him. We have time for one more.
Connie in Cohoes wonders aloud: “Dear John. Would you ever run for office?”
That’s a tough one Connie and three things hold me back. One I’m a journalist and writer and don’t want to stop doing those things just yet. Two, I don’t like following orders or doing things I don’t agree with and sometimes politicians have to eat some serious cow droppings as part of their daily diet. And third I don’t fit perfectly into a single party. I’m conservative on some things, liberal on others so I think I’d just drive everybody on both sides crazy. But never say never, right?