Recently, Sue Kelly made an actual public appearance, at the dedication of the new control tower at Stewart "International" Airport. (International is merely a grandiose wish, as no international flights currently fly into or out of Stewart.) Standing next to Sue in this Times Herald-Record photo is Mr. Charles (Chuck) Seliga, President and COO of Stewart Airport. Sue touts on her website that she pushed through federal funds for several projects at Stewart. Mr. Seliga, according to FEC records, gave Sue $1000 in November 2003, and lo and behold, Sue announces in July 2004 that she has gotten $1 million towards improvements at Stewart.

Since then, Mr. Seliga has given more money to Sue, $500 in August 2005, $500 in May 2006, and $500 in August 2006, for a grand total of $2500 to Sue. Mr. Seliga has also given $1000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee, back in May 2005. Coincidentally, ( or not?) Sue has been touting the millions of OUR dollars that she has directed into infrastructure improvements (the tower, access road, runway improvements) at Stewart.

What's the beef, you may ask? Don't you want the flying public to be safe, or have a pleasant flying experience? Well, yes I do, but consider this fact- Every other airport in the US is owned or run by some facet of local/state government, but NOT Stewart. That's right, Stewart is the ONLY privately owned passenger airport in the US. So, essentially, our tax dollars are going to improve a private corporation's facility, and hence, it's bottom line. Whose bottom line, you may ask? National Express Group PLC, of England, is the parent company currently holding the lease at Stewart. Apparently, their bottom line isn't good enough, because they are currently looking to unload Stewart. So far, no takers. So, our money goes into what is essentially a dead horse, to help sweeten the deal for any prospective buyer. Kinda like those shows on HGTV, where they fix up a home to make it more sellable. Not so sweet a deal, considering that very few flights go to or from Stewart, practically no direct flights to anywhere folks might want to go. Sue probably doesn't ever use Stewart herself, since there are no direct flights from Stewart to Washington DC that I could find.

From the Times Herald-Record, Feb. 9, 2006-
"There's a new control tower that's almost done and terminal renovations going on behind the scenes. A new hotel will be built on the airport approach road and airport operator National Express says more projects like that may be in the pipeline. And airport officials are trying to get federal funds to build an international terminal, to enable foreign charter flights to come and go.

Yes, there's a lot going on our local airport these days, and it's moving Stewart in the right direction, said marketing director Tanya Vanasse.

"I think we'll have a lot of accomplishments this year," she said. "I think we'll move ourselves forward quite a long way from where we are now."

Now, if they can just get some of those pesky airlines to set up shop here ...

Airport officials say they're working on it, doggedly, but that the airline industry is in a tough spot right now and few carriers are expanding."

The tower, approach road (Drury Lane), and other renovations have already been paid for, and Stewart is looking for more federal handouts for an international terminal, for passengers that the airlines will NOT be bringing here? Public sentiment is also against the type of expansion that Sue is pushing for, since we here in the 19th don't want a replica of LaGuardia or JFK here in the Hudson Valley. Nor do we want the increase in noise, pollution, and traffic that such an airport expansion would bring. I think I can speak for most Hudson Valley residents in saying that , if we wanted to live in Queens near LaGuardia, we'd be living in Queens! (Nothing against Queens, I like visiting friends there. Just not rural enough for my taste...) An airport that, remember this, is privately owned.

Mr. Seliga seems to have gotten a good deal for Stewart. $3500, in return for millions of our dollars. From what I can tell, Mr. Seliga does not seem to be otherwise motivated to contribute to the political process at all, because, other than his contributions to Sue and the NRCC, he has not made any other donations to any other candidates, according to the FEC. Quid pro quo? Just a coincidence? Two more days to decide if Sue REALLY is looking out for us. I decided long ago...