NY21: Emails show Stefanik staff pressed SUNY employee to drop ties to town hall
Emails obtained by NCPR show that Rep. Elise Stefanik’s office pressured the employee of a North Country college last year to cut ties with...
Oct 10, 2018 — Emails obtained by NCPR show that Rep. Elise Stefanik’s office pressured the employee of a North Country college last year to cut ties with organizers of a town hall meeting on healthcare.
The forum was held in Canton in April 2017, when Stefanik and other Republicans were making a serious effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
In one of the emails, moderator and SUNY Canton employee Lenore VanderZee told the town hall's organizers she was "extremely upset" by the actions of Stefanik's staff and found their interference "disgusting."
In an email to NCPR, a spokesman for Stefanik, Tom Flanagin, called accusations of interference "absurd" and said the Canton event was organized by "a far-left group."
Early 2017: Healthcare debate boils over
With less than a month to go before the election, NCPR is digging into the records of all three candidates for Congress here in the North Country. One of the most controversial votes Rep. Elise Stefanik cast during her time in office was a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Heading into that vote just a few months after President Donald Trump took office, members of Congress were hosting town halls nationwide.
Stefanik's calendar from this period shows a string of private meetings with healthcare groups, doctors and local residents, and one so-called “telephone town hall.” (There would be more of those call-in meetings as the winter progressed.)
But the congresswoman — who had previously advocated for town halls as a way to reach young voters — refused several invitations to public events and meetings related to healthcare. In a post on Facebook, Stefanik criticized the activists who were trying to “hijack and ambush community events."
Sara Schaff is a progressive activist who frequently protested in New York's 21st Congressional District.
"She wasn’t willing to have one of these town hall-style meetings where the press was invited," Schaff said, "where anything she said would go on the record, where her constituents in large numbers and could actually come and voice their concerns."
In March 2017, Schaff and a group of four other activists tried to get Stefanik onstage. They invited the congresswoman to what they described as a non-partisan town hall meeting in Canton on April 15.The group decided to look for an outside moderator who could keep the conversation on track and who was not involved in partisan politics themselves. "We really wanted our moderator to be, number one, someone who was more neutral," Schaff said.
(Full disclosure: One of the organizers of this town hall is married to an employee of North Country Public Radio. That employee has no involvement in NCPR's editorial operations, and their spouse was not a source for this story.)
A SUNY government liaison signs on
The group settled on Lenore VanderZee, the executive director for university relations at SUNY Canton. VanderZee oversees the college's public relations department and serves as a campus liaison with federal and state officials, in addition to teaching classes.SUNY Canton wouldn’t make VanderZee available for an interview for this story. In a written statement, VanderZee said her job requires frequent contact with the region's congressional delegation.
"Our elected representatives seek out our feedback on issues related to higher education to ensure that they are representing the needs of the district; we also rely on their support for the college’s initiatives when we are seeking grants and other forms of support," VanderZee wrote.
NCPR obtained a series of emails from VanderZee’s work account at SUNY Canton through a public records request. Town hall organizers provided additional emails from VanderZee's private account, which she used to talk about the event.
These messages show VanderZee agreed to moderate in her capacity as a private citizen only, not as a state employee.
Stefanik is a "no" to attend — and staff step in
In late March, Stefanik's staff declined the town hall invitation, citing a scheduling conflict. The organizers promised to share a recording of the event instead.
The following week, the group placed ads in a local newspaper. North Country This Week also published a story about the forum that described VanderZee as one of the main organizers.
On April 6 — the day after the news story appeared — Stefanik's chief of staff, Lindley Kratovil, intervened.
In a brief email sent to Alex Krigstein, a lobbyist for the statewide SUNY system in Washington, Kratovil asked about the event and warned that she was “not sure how productive it is for our relationship going forward."
Cathy Tedford, one of the town hall organizers, said that felt like a threat. "It sounded like Stefanik was threatening SUNY Canton and possibly the moderator’s job there. I can’t say for sure the latter, but definitely the former," Tedford said.
Again, SUNY Canton wouldn’t answer questions or agree to interviews for this story. But based on VanderZee’s private emails, it appears any threat in this situation was directed at her employer.
VanderZee: SUNY Canton threatened "with a lack of support"
In a message to the activist group, VanderZee wrote, “Apparently Stefanik’s office is very upset that 'SUNY Canton' is moderating this town hall (even though I am not doing it as a representative of the college and this is not a SUNY Canton event).”
VanderZee went on to say that Krigstein, the lobbyist for SUNY, had been summoned to Stefanik’s main office in Washington to discuss the event. In her email, VanderZee said she believed Stefanik’s chief of staff was “essentially threatening SUNY Canton and our students with a lack of support from her office if I go ahead.”
There are reasons why the college wanted that support. The congresswoman sits on the House Subcommittee for Higher Education and Workforce Development. Less than a month before her office raised issues with the town hall, Stefanik introduced a bill to expand access to federal financial aid by making Pell Grants available year-round.
"When I speak with North Country students and teachers in my district, I hear about the positive impacts of Pell Grants," Stefanik said in remarks on the House floor.Pell Grants were originally designed to make college more affordable for lower-income families. In recent years, more than half of SUNY Canton’s students received these grants. (SUNY Canton has reported that 64 percent of its student body comes from an “economically disadvantaged background.”)
According to lobbying disclosures, SUNY was actively reaching out to members of Congress in the winter of 2017 regarding Stefanik's student aid bill.
Emails show SUNY Canton officials specifically mentioned that bill as they tried to respond to concerns from Stefanik's office about the town hall.
SUNY official attempts to "clear the air"
VanderZee was prepared to back out, according to her correspondence. She told the town hall's organizers she was "extremely upset" and found the interference "disgusting."
But less than a week before the event was scheduled, VanderZee sent a long email to Stefanik's chief of staff. VanderZee said she wanted to “clear the air" — and stressed that she meant no disrespect to the congresswoman.
“At least one of the organizers has, in the past, been present when I have defended the Congresswoman: I always say that I have met her, like her, and respect her," VanderZee wrote. "She is smart, dedicated, and listens carefully in every interaction I have had with her. Her support for year-round Pell [Grants] is a perfect example of that.”
VanderZee and Kratovil exchanged more emails in a conversation that grew to include Stefanik's district director, then scheduled a phone call.
Meanwhile, the organizers of the event said they struggled to understand why the congresswoman’s office was putting pressure on their moderator.
"We are her boss! She works for us," said Sara Schaff. "Her threatening a private citizen — even an employee of a public university — is not the same as politicians playing hardball. Politicians can play hardball with their opponents in campaigns all they want. When politicians threaten their own constituents, that’s mafioso tactics."
Progressive groups take notice
Over the last 18 months, word of this incident has gotten around — and spread concern among progressive activists across the district.
When the moderator suddenly pulled out of a forum in Plattsburgh last fall, organizer Marque Moffett assumed it had something to do with Stefanik. "If I had not already heard some rumblings of this kind of thing happening to other groups as they were trying to plan their own forum, I would never have thought anything of it," Moffett said.
The moderator was also a SUNY professor. He walked away from the event after someone filed a public records request for his emails. (It turns out the request came from America Rising, a Republican opposition research PAC that's also the former employer of Amelia Chassé, the wife of Stefanik’s campaign communications director.)
Still, Moffett’s event went ahead anyway — and so did the town hall in Canton. In the end, Lenore VanderZee did serve as moderator and Stefanik did not attend. Staff said she was busy traveling with the House Armed Services Committee.
Stefanik's camp calls threat allegations "absurd"
Looking back, Stefanik's spokesman, Tom Flanagin, said that chief of staff Lindley Kratovil "acted under her own accord" in contacting SUNY officials about the town hall. But he strongly denied that Kratovil or any other staffers made threats.
"This is an absurd accusation," Flanagin wrote in an email to NCPR Tuesday afternoon. "SUNY's leadership acted independently in response to questions raised in public reports about a political event. Our understanding is the event proceeded as planned by its organizers."
Both Flanagin and SUNY Canton told NCPR that the congresswoman's office has a positive working relationship with the college — though Stefanik's calendar shows a drop-off in meetings and visits to the campus compared to other SUNY institutions.
(Update, 6 p.m. Wednesday: After this story aired, Flanagin emailed NCPR to draw attention to two "Coffee with Your Congresswoman" gatherings that Stefanik hosted around the time of the healthcare debate. Stefanik met with constituents at a senior center in Johnstown and at a library in Lyons Falls in April 2017. According to press reports, healthcare only came up one of these events.)
Flanagin also pointed out that the congresswoman did agree to hold a town hall meeting of her own, not long after the event in Canton.
Stefanik accepted an invitation to speak at Mountain Lake PBS in Plattsburgh in May 2017. She met with 100 constituents in an event that was recorded and televised. Some people did stand up and have their say on healthcare.
By that time, though, Congress had already taken a vote on whether to repeal and replace Obamacare, with Stefanik voting in favor of repeal. Once it went to the Senate, the bill hit a wall. Despite many attempts, the repeal still has not passed.
Clarification: This story has been updated to include information about Rep. Stefanik's "Coffee with Your Congresswoman" events on April 18 and April 24, 2017.
SUNY Canton's official statement:
"SUNY Canton strives for positive working relationships with all of our elected officials. When we were notified of the congresswoman’s concerns, we contacted her office. We explained that Lenore VanderZee’s goal in moderating the Town Hall Meeting was to ensure a non-partisan and respectful environment for all involved. We shared those goals with the congresswoman’s office and reiterated that she was acting as a private citizen and not as a representative of SUNY Canton. That response is included in the email correspondence obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by North Country Public Radio. Our relationship with the Congresswoman’s office continues to be positive."
Statement from Stefanik spokesman Tom Flanagin:
"This is an absurd accusation.
Congresswoman Stefanik hosted the first town hall in the country after the healthcare vote.
The April 15, 2017 event was organized by a far-left group. Congresswoman Stefanik was on a House Armed Services Committee Congressional Delegation at the time of the event.
Our congressional office has long worked closely with SUNY leaders to help this vital institution meet its mission and to support education across the state of New York. SUNY's leadership acted independently in response to questions raised in public reports about a political event. Our understanding is the event proceeded as planned by its organizers.
Our office maintains a positive working relationship with SUNY Canton and all higher education institutions in our district, and the privately funded event has had no impact on our working relationship with SUNY Canton. Congresswoman Stefanik has subsequently met with Ms. VanDerZee [sic] along with SUNY Canton President Szafran during their SUNY Day visit to Washington, D.C., and our office has supported a recent NBRC grant that SUNY Canton received, as well as supported multiple other grant opportunities for SUNY Canton this term.
While our Chief of Staff acted under her own accord, Congresswoman Stefanik was made aware that the privately funded organizers had been fully informed she would be on a House Armed Services Committee Congressional Delegation, would not be able to attend, and that the privately funded event would proceed.
Public reporting showed event organizers refused to publicly disclose their donors."