It isn’t how I envisioned spending the day after New Years but I was more than happy to take it. A few hours earlier I had been sent to the wrong room and got to be the only man not in uniform to witness Governor David Paterson entering the Capitol as Governor for the last time. Moments later Mario Cuomo came through the door and finally Andrew Cuomo came in holding a briefcase for his first day of work.
For as exciting as that all was a lot went on in the year before I got to that point and since I last wrote a blog post. I witnessed many amazing things in the last few months and I was blessed to be accompanied by my camera for most of it.
What feels like a lifetime ago, way back in May, I delivered a speech at the Ulster County Democratic Convention. That night really kicked off what would become a memorable election cycle. I realize now that as I walked to that stage I truly had no clue as to all that would happen in the next few months. Considering I hadn’t known I was going to be speaking until a few hours prior. Over the next few months I had some incredible experiences that usually came up with little to no notice, things I never thought I would get to do or see and I enjoyed it all.
Like when I ended up outside the DEC only a few weeks after the Convention to give another speech on the issue of hydrofracking or fracking. I had been asked only two days before if I would and could do it. For those who may not know fracking is a technique used to remove natural gas from the Marcellus Shale. The problem is the chemicals that are pumped into the ground don’t have to be disclosed; which is known as the Halliburton Loophole (thanks Dick Cheney). There have been a number of cases where these chemicals have leaked into the watershed and poisoned the water. If this at all seems scary to you get ready for this one. They also want to do it in New York! For more information I suggest checking out the Josh Fox film Gasland.
I got to run a table at the Clearwater Festival about fracking. My favorite memory of that day came when I went for a walk and accidently walked into a ceremony called “The Blessing of the River.” I stood behind the Native American chanters and spotted the one and only Pete Seeger. It was such a gift to see this man at ninety plus still humbly doing what he loves.
I spen
t the next few months working on Maurice Hinchey and Elliott Auerbach’s campaigns. I learned an immense amount about my community and my country working with both. One of my favorite moments with Elliott was at the simplest of all events. It took place up in the Woodstock Community Center one hot summer night. Elliott was fielding questions from a group of people who really only could assemble in a place like Woodstock. The questions often had nothing to do with Elliott’s position as the County Comptroller, yet he was able to handle each question with ease. 
Although I had been to dozens of events with Elliott and heard relatively similar messages over and over I found myself learning a lot at this event. I was amazed at all the social programs the County had for the poor and for the hungry. In a political season that was marked with so much cynicism it was a great reminder to hear all the good that government does do for people.
Going to events with my Congressman felt like a completely different ballgame. I was watching the Country politically change and it was clear that not even New York’s 22nd Congressional District was spared. It was a shift that few of us could have really imagined. I have always been blown away at how much Maurice means to the community. From the County Fair to simple fundraisers, it amazes me to see how many people have a story about Maurice. I witnessed a parent thank Maurice for helping their son get into West Point. I saw a man literally stop the bus he was driving in another Cong
ressional district to thank Maurice for all he has done, and this all transpired in the middle of a street.One of my favorite events with Maurice happened about a week before I started my sophomore year at Marist College and interestingly enough it happened at Marist. The college was hosting an event called “The American Great Outdoors.” It was an open forum for federal officials to tell regular citizens about some of the things the government is doing to help farmers and other local producers. Only a few places in the country were selected to host these events and the Hudson Valley was one.
It was also a bit controversial at the time as it was one of the first public events for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack who had just made a controversial firing. We were piled into a private dining hall. I had found out about the event the day before so I was shocked to see some of the people I was now in a small room with. I was taking pictures of Assemblyman Marc Molinaro, Congressman John Hall, Tom Vilsack, and a number of other Obama cabinet members. At one point a man stepped in front of me while I was taking photos which seriously annoyed me. I think he may have noticed and he turned to introduce himself. Before he could tell me his name and put out his hand I noticed the pin that read “U.S. House of Representatives.” I failed to recognize that the man was in fact Congressman Paul Tonko. That was not one of my prouder moments but it certainly is an amusing one.
Due to Vilsack’s recent actions we had Secret Service for the day as well. The Secret Service cleared the room and asked everyone but the government officials to take their seats. I sat in the second row and witnessed one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. It felt like a scene straight out of the hit show Glee. Secret Service members lined the front of stage and three people who looked about my age walked to the stage and started to sing. They sang This Land Is Your Land and asked the crowd to sing along. No one joined in and it was a bit awkward at first. Then I saw a flashbulb go off down at the other side of the row I was sitting in and there I saw one man singing along. It was again folk legend Pete Seeger!He had shown up unannounced and the crowd of a few hundred started to sing along. Then in the middle of a verse the Congressman walked on stage and started to sing along.
This of course included John Hall who had once been the lead singer of the group The Orleans (for those who may not know). Once that happened the whole place broke out into spontaneous song. As quickly as it started it ended. I sat in my seat and realized I just saw Obama cabinet members, a former Governor, Congressman, a rock star, Pete Seeger, and a small crowd, sing together an American folk classic. To say it was a moment that gave me goosebumps doesn’t seem to give it the full credit it deserves.Sometimes the most amazing things in events like these are the unexpected or the moments you take for granted. I met a lot of amazing people over those months. I got to photograph and talk to so many people from so many different walks of life. I saw everyone from Democrat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer to hundreds of regular everyday citizens at the County Fair. Out of each instance, I felt I learned something new and interesting even if I didn’t necessarily agree with the person I was talking to.
I got to co-organize an event for then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The most exciting aspect about the event was that it was in New Paltz.
One of the best parts was simply bringing the future Governor to my home essentially. I like even more that the event was put on by me and my friend Ashley Dittus. We are both very young and it was great getting to throw an event for the “adults.” I also got a pretty good hand from the home crowd when my name was announced with the other elected officials. In fact it was loud enough that the Attorney General who was sitting right in front of me turned, looked at me, and simply smiled.
Cuomo left behind a small foot stand from the event. It was old and broken with tape on it. I was a bit surprised that someone who was running for Governor couldn’t get something a bit nicer. I received calls for about a week asking for the stand. Each time the campaign wanted me to drive an exuberant amount to return the stand. I sort of wondered if it had some kind of sentimental value as the thing itself was a piece of garbage. Finally a poor intern drove up from the city to retrieve it. I noticed that there was writing scribbled on the bottom, most of which I couldn’t read. However, there was one thing clearly legible, two letters, “DT” not sure how that got there…
Going back to school and working on campaigns was not as easy as I first thought it would be. At times it worked out well. In my Political Communication class we had to keep a blog and write about a political thing of our choosing. I have a feeling that my posts may have been just a tad bit more exciting than my other classmates.There was a bit of a struggle between midterms and Midterm Elections. In fact I did a lot of balancing during midterm week. When I had envisioned the week I knew I would be taking pictures at a debate in Saugerties and at an event at SUNY New Paltz. However, I ended up doing a lot more than that.
That Monday I had one of the most amazing moments of the campaign season. I found myself sitting in a Holiday Inn hours away from campus in Binghamton. I stood in an empty room leaning up against a protective barricade only a few feet away from the stage. The stage had a large American flag draped behind it. In a few seconds I knew hundreds of people would flood the room to see the forty second President of the United States, Bill Clinton.
Yet, I stood there and all I could do was think and wonder how I even ended up here. While my friends were back on campus, doing who knows what, I found myself waiting for a former President of the United States in what had clearly become at this point one of the most heated election cycles this country has seen in a long time. Campaigns become so fast moving, we always talk about the next event, raising more money, responding to this, or wondering what the other guy is doing that I think we rarely get to stop and take it all in. It seems odd that I was able to do just that, right when I knew this campaign was about to climax. I guess for me sitting and waiting for the President was really the eye of the storm for the moment. I think Clinton put it best when he said, “There is nothing wrong with this country that can’t be fixed by what’s right with it.”
The next day I found myself at SUNY New Paltz taking picture of Maurice in a tad bit less exciting setting, but one no less important. I was told moments before I left that Carl Paladino was about to make a stop in New Paltz. I knew I couldn’t miss this one and I ran right over to the site. I was one of the first people there and I was still dressed up from the previous event.
Apparently wearing a dress shirt and dress pants makes you look like a Republican. Enough so that I was told by his staff when and exactly where he would be coming, they even told me with enough time to text my friends in Kingston as they got ready to stage a protest. You see Paladino had just made controversial remarks at a synagogue in the city and decided that his next campaign stop should be in a liberal area. One could be shocked by this move, but after the disastrous campaign he ran I can’t say that I am.The next day I found myself in another Holiday Inn. The room was only a fraction of the size though. The room was filled with Republicans to hear Ed Koch speak about Maurice Hinchey’s opponent and why he is supporting him.
I came in to the event feeling uncomfortable. A few hours earlier I had just been told that the Karl Rove group was going to spend nearly half a million dollars in an attempt to take out Maurice. I went back to campus and ran into State Senator Steve Saland at the Marist College Republicans meeting. He asked if anyone had a question and my hand shot up first.At the time I wondered if he remembered that only a few weeks earlier I had been called on at an event he was moderating on the Hudson Estuary Program. Luckily for me, this event was also held at Marist College and conveniently after I got out of my final class for the day. I ended up slamming him and other State lawmakers for cuts in education and increases in unfunded mandates. Right before I spoke it was announced that there would be no applause allowed. As Marc Molinaro put it, “We are like a family here and when people tell stories at a dinner table you don’t applaud.” After I finished a man said, “I am sorry but I have to clap for that…”I left to a large ovation and I think I even saw Assemblyman Molinaro crack a smile. Although, he didn’t accept my Facebook friend request so who knows…I still like him anyway though. With all of that Saland called on me and I got to ask him about New York’s Race to the Top Program. I don’t think he was expecting a real question and he asked if I knew what a charter school was, when I said yes, he decided to spend the next ten minutes talking about charter schools and never answered the question.
There are certainly many disadvantages to being young and involved in politics. Every now and then though it does have its advantages and I try to take advantage of them when I can. I knew no one would know my political involvement at ether of the events Saland was at. I choose to wear a t-shirt and jeans to both events. I like creating the illusion that I am a regular kid who maybe is sitting at this event for class credit and then coming out with a hard unexpected question.After a less then memorable debate in Saugerties it was clear that for the first time in years Maurice was going to have his first real challenge. I couldn’t help but wonder if we were having trouble here, what is must be like in other places around the country. For me it all turned around the weekend before the election. I was in Poughkeepsie with Maurice who was scheduled to address a group of volunteers. Before the event started I saw Maurice walk out and start to talk to people on the street. He didn’t know I could see him and yet there he was by himself with no camera, no staff, just himself, listening to there concerns, answering there questions, and telling them why they needed to send him back to Congress. He was simply asking people what was on their mind. I could see in his face that he also really cared what they had to say as well.
As volunteers started to fill the room I heard them talk about what it would mean if Maurice didn’t go back Washington. I heard one woman talk about her neighbor and how her life would be negatively impacted if some of the social programs Maurice had fought years for would suddenly disappear. I think sometimes campaigns become a war of words. I had someone once tell me politics was simply “gentleman war.” Moments like that remind you though that there is an importance behind the rhetoric. It seemed only fitting that while I sat there thinking about this Jon Stewart was telling it to hundreds of thousands of people in Washington that very day.
It seemed that I never was able to tell anyone exactly what my weekend plans were. They always seemed to change on a fly. The best example of this is when I had planned on going to a Marist football game until I woke up with a text message asking if I wanted to come to Saugerties to help walk around then State Senator Eric Schneiderman.
Now our Attorney General, I felt then and I do know that he is by far one of the most exciting people to run for state wide office in New York in a long time. I first got to meet him when he spoke at the County Convention. I fell in love with his progressive politics then and I am so thrilled that he was elected. Even more impressive is that I can now say I spoke at an event with Eric Schneiderman…sort of.One weekend I got to help throw an event for United State Senator Chuck Schumer at Marist College. The gathering was for st
udents and community members before Schumer went into what was the only debate he partook. A good number of citizens and candidates showed up. Congressman Hall even came and spoke. He read off of a note card and seemed scared. I don’t even recall what he said. My biggest memory of that moment was turning to Jon Sennett who stood next to me and pointing out how fitting it was that the sun was setting right behind him, both physically and metaphorically.
For as stressful as those months were there was also so much fun that went on. 
I won tickets to see the band OneRepublic on the Today Show, saw Jakob Dylan, hung out with friends, and took some great classes and some not so great classes, I even got interviewed by WWE on the Midterm Election...go figure. One of the best moments was going up to Woodstock and seeing the Levon Helm Band. I will never forget watching seventy plus year old Levon perform the best show I have ever seen and end with his hit The Weight.All my work would have felt like wasted time if it did not work out at the polls. Voting was very different this time around and not just because they changed the machines. As I filled in the bubbles I realized I had partaken in the democratic process in ways that went so beyond my one vote.
I knew the country was going through a real shift and that the night probably wouldn’t end well nationally, but I did know I could go to sleep that night having done everything I could. I didn’t just sit down and let the twenty four hour news cycle take me in. I got up and did something I believed in, and I knew no matter what the results showed I personally had done my job.I sat and waited with a few hundred people for the election results to come in. We watched the country slowly become red. In fact every neighboring Congressional district around us became red! The power had gone out in Broome County, the Ulster numbers were closer then they had been in years, and the Sullivan County website wasn’t updating the results.
Finally we got the numbers in from Tompkins County. Maurice ended up taking around 80% of the vote. Anyway a single news outlet had yet to call it; Maurice came out and made his victory speech in what turned out to be one of the closest elections in his political life. He thanked everyone and immediately talked about the colleagues he had lost and the challenges that lay ahead for him and the new Congress.As I sit here in a brand new year I once again realize I live a rather unique life. I guess I am not your average college sophomore, school board member, photographer, and sort of political consultant, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. In the end I get to live two very different lives, and I can’t tell you which one I necessarily like more. I can only hope that 2011 will be at least as exciting as its predecessor. For the time being I have enjoyed the wild ride and I appreciate getting to learn so much more than just the sixteen credits a semester I take.
