She rode into office on her father’s coattails but, as evidenced by her speech before the Ulster County Chamber of Commerce last week, state Sen. Michelle Hinchey has very quickly become an accomplished legislator in her own right. Just 35, Hinchey has jammed a world of practical experience into just 31 months in office.

It was all on display at the Chamber of Commerce’s monthly breakfast at Best Western in Kingston last week before an appreciative crowd. Chamber breakfast attendance had been off its pre-Covid salad days by at least 50 percent. Hinchey’s appearance brought it back to almost a full house. Why, they even ran out of scrambled eggs at one point. Oh, the horror.

Reading from prepared text, Hinchey rattled off at least a dozen of “accomplishments” contained in this year’s overdue state budget, much of which she had doled out in almost daily press releases after the budget finally passed at the end of April.

A bundle of energy, she works hard for the money, now set at $140,000 a year. “I must have been at a dozen ribbon-cutting events, and it’s only May,” she said in opening remarks. Then she asked for more. “Just call my office.”

Like most pols, Hinchey leans toward exaggeration, as in decrying “decades of disinvestment” before Democrats achieved a supermajority (veto-proof) death grip on the Senate two years ago. I did not get an impression of disinvestment from the record budgets flowing out of Albany over the last decade, except for Covid years.

A practiced pro at public speaking, the two-term Democrat could use some work in two areas. Maybe it was the weight of the material she had to cover in less than 30 minutes, but she talks way too fast. I thought I was listening to a machine gun.

Thanks to Bill Clinton, virtually every public speaker nowadays uses their hands too much. Hinchey’s hands were all over the place. I find it distracting and annoying, but flowing out I did like one gesture she used to emphasize some of her points. Hinchey, like many people of her generation, has no patience with the lack of progress on what were considered must-do’s decades ago, like blanket cellphone service. To that she gives the extended (index) finger waved in a circular motion that says, “get on with it! No more excuses, no more delays!” Cool.

She brought some news. This year’s state budget will invest millions in new firehouses in rural upstate. Some fire stations date back 50 years or longer, she said, and modern trucks don’t fit. She did not mention the most serious problem with our fire companies: a lack of volunteers and an aging firefighter force.

I’m not sure many in the audience of over 220 participants knew that Hinchey’s 46th District is now the 41st and will include most of Ulster, some of northern Dutchess and all of Columbia and Greene counties. “So many bridges to cross,” she sighed.

One of those bridges leads almost directly to the doorstep of Republican congressman Marc Molinaro, who represents a good portion of Maurice Hinchey’s old congressional district. Michelle Hinchey’s 41st Senate District covers a significant portion of the eastern end of Molinaro’s district.

Hamstrung in Congress by right wing extremists, and vulnerable in his second term, Molinaro could be ripe for the plucking, especially in a presidential election year. But let us not get too far ahead of ourselves.

As for now, some may differ with Hinchey’s big spending woke-ish philosophy, but few would challenge her work ethic, her energy or enthusiasm, or her rapport with constituents.

Congress: You’re Just Like Crosstown Traffic (So Hard to Get Through to You)

Since it’s my job as a journalist to listen to all sides of every argument, it’s hard to understand gridlock in Washington. What bugs me about the great divide between left and right is that both sides usually have some good points, if only they’d listen to each other.

Take the all-important issue of raising the debt ceiling, now racing toward a June 1 or June 15 deadline.

Republicans are demanding conditions, chief of which is cutting spending over the next decade, while Democrats want a “clean bill,” with budget baselines set at 2022 levels.

Anyone who’s ever put together a household budget knows you can’t live on borrowed money for very long. The interest payments will eat you alive.

We have congressmembers on both sides of this issue. Let’s see if they can agree on a sensible plan to save our grandchildren from crushing debt.

Doing the Santos

U.S. Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-Red Hook, after calling for the expulsion of Rep. George Santos, voted instead along party lines to refer it to the House Ethics Committee. Former Kingston mayor Pete Mancuso used to call that “the old Bossa Nova.”

But there may be a larger issue here than the almost-unbelievable record Santos brought to Congress: his constituents elected him, perhaps unknowingly. They, not Congress, should make the decision on removing him. I think they call that the next election, now just 19 months away.

The state legislature has strict rules in these situations. A member can remain seated while his or her case is being adjudicated but once convicted of a felony, is immediately expelled.

At least Democrat Pat Ryan has been consistent on this issue. Like Molinaro, he called on Santos to resign, then he voted to remove him. Parenthetically, I wonder how Ryan, a most partisan Democrat, would have voted were the shoe was on the other party.

Metzger Said What?

The Freeman headline had County Executive Jen Metzger saying “No migrants coming ‘at this time’” in a press release on May 18. I don’t think Metzger knows if migrants are coming or going, which is beside the point.

But “no migrants” isn’t what she said. She said her administration had not heard from officials in New York City “at this time” on questions of who’s going to pay for it all. In the meantime, Dutchess and Sullivan counties have declared states of emergencies in anticipation of large groups of asylum-seeking migrants arriving at their shores.

The more intriguing part of Metzger’s May 18th press release was her stating that “Ulster County is committed to protecting all of our residents.” (Emphasis added)

Just how does she define “residents?” Is it the 182,000 people who already live here or is it anybody who seeks sanctuary here? I think the latter; Kingston has been a “sanctuary city” for years.