Something strange has been happening recently in Upstate NY. The Governor's airplane has been here in Oneida County at least 3 times in the last few weeks. Lo and behold, we have suddenly been blessed with the presence of the Governor lately. If he's not here telling us how to weather a snowstorm (which turned out to be a nothing-burger), or looking at creek flooding and threatening to sue a railroad that uses a bridge crossing said creek ... Well, today, the last day of January, he's looking at a water main break and patting construction crew workers on the back with the advice 'keep up the good work.'
Suddenly, Central NY is on Andrew Cuomo's radar screen. Since his airplane is not here very often, some people (even me, a FAA-certificated Commercial Pilot) mistake it for a UFO. We're not used to the Governor topping off the tanks at Griffiss International Airport. Speaking of which, I'm not sure the International part of that name is really getting heavy use.
I confess, I was confused for at least 3 seconds as to why he's suddenly showing a great interest in the Mohawk Valley and it's surrounding area. Then it hit me: There was an election last Autumn and he got his brains beat out at the polls upstate. He was beaten severely, almost as if a burly laborer pummeled him about the head and shoulders. Well, figuratively, anyway.
Many people don't pay attention to elections results unless something remarkable happens. And the local newspaper can't be trusted to tell us Democrat horror stories. So when I discovered how poorly Andrew Cuomo and his Lt. Governor candidate actually did in Oneida County last fall, then I understood why he's suddenly so interested in building up his numbers Upstate again. Out of 62 counties in NY State, Andrew Cuomo won only 15 of them. Upstate (north of West Point) he only won 6 counties. And most all of those 6 counties went to him because of a large city (larger than 100,000 population) present in the county.
But Oneida County was especially brutal to Andrew. About 81,000 votes were cast, and he only got about 28,000 votes out of that. His major-party opponent got about 45,000 votes and the rest went to small 3rd party candidates. He didn't lose by a whisker, he got the snot beat out of him. Even US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand outpolled him by more than 10,000 votes in Oneida County, and she's not real popular upstate.
2020 is a Presidential election year and Andrew says he's not running. Well, take that with a grain of salt. Maybe he isn't, maybe he is. Maybe he's waiting to see if a Democratic superstar emerges from the pack. So far, the pack looks pretty lame. Besides, there's always a Veep slot to be filled, and running for Vice-President is completely risk-free for Cuomo. If he loses, he's still the Governor.
So, the next time you think you see a fancy UFO, maybe with a contrail, don't be fooled. It's probably just Andrew Cuomo burning up some more Jet-A fuel coming in to help us poor and distraught Upstate New Yorkers. Well, those of us who haven't left yet, due to the weather.
UFOs? Yup, with at least one ET on board. Oh, thanks for your advice on how to fix water main breaks, Andrew. I'm sure they couldn't have done it without you.
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