Republicans Embrace Memory of Lincoln

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COBLESKILL - A touch of Honest Abe was on the agenda Thursday night for Schoharie County Republicans who gathered at the 68th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner.

Packing the Best Western ballroom full of party dignitaries and faithful, attendees listened to speaker after speaker extol the virtues of the sixteenth president, including the keynote speaker.

Quoting Lincoln as stating "A house divided against itself cannot stand," 2014 Attorney General candidate John Cahill warned in his address that the divide between downstate and upstate New York has only grown deeper.

 Despite calling it a system "driven by the special interests of one area of the state," which has resulted in unpopular legislation such as Common Core and the SAFE Act, Cahill remained positive.

 Saying that the "commitment to hard work is very much alive," the first-generation American born to Irish immigrants rallied his party counterparts by encouraging them to stay strong and stay involved. 

Other speakers, including State Senator Jim Seward, also alluded to the unpopular SAFE Act in their speeches. Seward pledged that the GOP controlled State Senate in Albany would continue to work on chipping away at the law.

The highlight of the evening was District Attorney James Sacket announcing that former Cobleskill and Richmondville Village Trustee George Konta was the 2015 Republican of the Year award recipient. 

Sacket, the 2014 Republican Man of the Year, called the honoree a "great friend and loyal Republican supporter."

Admittedly speechless, the one-time treasurer of the Schoharie County Republican Committee told the crowd that "there is no one who has more love for this community than I do," and that life has been "very good to me."