It might have been lost in U.S. Rep. Pat Ryan’s almost daily attacks on Trump administration program cuts, but it turns out that the congressman’s dire warning that those policies could cost Kingston’s People’s Place some 620,000 meals was just wrong.

Talk about egg on face. The cancellation of Tuesday’s food delivery at the organization’s weekly farmer’s market on St. James Street in Midtown had nothing to do with Trump, according to a spokesperson from the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. Rather, the FBHV temporarily cancelled its delivery because of what a spokesman called safety concerns. Nobody called it a food riot, because hopeful recipients were reasonably orderly, but when over 900 people showed up for their allotments, things apparently got a little tight. Deliveries will resume next Tuesday.

Faced with the consequences of crying wolf perhaps once too often, Ryan doubled down. “We warned that [Department of Agriculture cuts] would have a devastating real-world effect,” Ryan said Tuesday, “and that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.”

Not exactly. In fact, not at all in this instance, according to the people on the ground. Ergo, we can expect no explanation for causing angst among some 900 food recipients, much less an apology for how the congressman mis-connected what was a policy decision in Washington to where the meat and potatoes hit the farmstand back home.

What should be an abject embarrassment will not deter Ryan (D-NY-18), from continuing his attacks on The Orange Man. And for a good portion of his constituents, it seems, that is a very good thing.

Plenty of Democratic Primaries

For those who bemoaned the lack of a Democratic primary for county clerk after Alexandria Wojcik’s failure to file sufficient signatures on her nominating petitions, there’s four others in legislative districts around the county in which to choose. Two are for open seats. In the other two, incumbents are being challenged.

At the risk of appearing parochial, my main interest this year is in my home district, Kingston’s Midtown’s 6th Legislative District, where former legislator Peter Loughran is challenging freshman Greg McCollough. Both are relatively unknowns. Loughran, who served six terms in the legislature after a stint as a city alderman, has been out of circulation for at least a decade. As a newcomer, McCollough is not exactly a household name.

Voter breakdown in the district suggests either candidate could prevail, if he makes the effort to campaign door-to-door.

According to the Board of Elections, there are about 2,200 registered Democrats in the district. Given a 20 percent turnout (15 percent is the norm in primaries), fewer than 440 enrolled Democrats will vote on June 24. Simply put, the first candidate to get to 221 votes wins the election. As someone said to Loughran at the Dietz Stadium dedication last weekend, “Pete, if you can’t pull 250 votes in that district (where he has lived all his life), you shouldn’t be running at all.”

There is no Republican candidate in any of the city’s three legislative districts.

In Rosendale, long-time incumbent Manna Jo Greene was surprised — shocked, really — at the party’s February nominating convention with challenges from not one, but two candidates, Lindsay Grossman and Cheryl Schneider. Advantage: Greene, what with opponents splitting the opposition.

Grossman handily defeated Greene at convention, Schneider, too, but these elections are won or lost on the street.

I’m beginning to feel sorry for Chris Allen, a former two-term legislator defeated by Joe Maloney six years ago. A candidate for county legislature from Saugerties, like Greene, Allen faces two opponents, party endorsee Nina Schmidbauer and Ann Peters. Poor Allen, he so loved being in the legislature, but didn’t even draw a nomination at convention. Having submitted the necessary signatures, he’ll be on the ballot, to an uncertain fate. Republican Ron Polacco, a Kingston transplant, waits in the wings in what is now a Democratic district. Polacco ran for city mayor twice on the Republican line.

In New Paltz, that hotbed of Democratic intrigue, Bill Murray (not that Bill Murray) will face Stana Weisburd for a seat now held by one-termer Limina Grace Harmon. I don’t know all that much about Murray and Weisburd, but Harmon, who stepped up when Eve Walter resigned to eventually take a job as county health director, looked like she had a promising future in the legislature.

Me and Mario

Your favorite columnist and sidekick Mario Catalano will host another edition of our Me and Mario show on Friday, from 7 to 9 a.m. on WGHQ-AM, 920 on the dial.

Our show has taken on a rhythm all its own, with Mario doing most of the research and me chiming in.

It reminds me of the time our Ulster County Gazette cartoonist Jack Gaughan and I were sipping a few at a bar in Eddyville.

“Did you know,” Jack said, “It’s entirely possible to carry on an intelligent conversation by just saying ‘yeah, OK and uh-huh?’”

“Yeah?” I said.

“Let’s try it out on those two guys over there,” Jack said. And it worked.

That’s my role on Me and Mario. OK?

Of late, in order to draw even greater listener/viewer interest, the Cat and I have been kicking around the idea of a “thousand-dollar raffle.” The winner gets a dollar a year for a thousand years. Anybody interested?

The show airs from 7-9 on WGHQ 920 AM. To stream the show live, or listen to it later, click here: https://vimeo.com/user173056939