Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Gordon Woodworth, Chronicle News Editor
“Oh my God…I had the experience of a lifetime with my wife Beth and my best friend Brett West,” Queensbury developer Rich Schermerhorn told The Chronicle Tuesday morning, hours after he flew Rudy Giuliani and his wife Judith on his jet to Cleveland for the Republican National Convention.
Mr. Giuliani, the former New York City Mayor and past GOP presidential candidate, gave one of the prime-time speeches Monday evening.
How did it end up that he flew on Mr. Schermerhorn’s jet to and from Cleveland?
Mr. Schermerhorn, a Queensbury resident who’s major apartment developer locally and contract operator of the Warren County Airport, said it came about because Brett West is a close friend of Carl Higbie, a former Navy Seal “and a big Trump supporter, as is Brett and my wife and I.”
Brett West, contacted for comment, calls Mr. Higbie a “Trump surrogate.”
Mr. Schermerhorn says, “Brett introduced me to Carl, who is on Fox News all the time. So Carl invites us down to the convention and said there’s an opportunity, if you want it, to pick up Rudy Giuliani and his wife and bring them to the convention.
“We picked them up [Monday] at Westchester Airport…We flew to the convention, and we spent the whole day with Fox News, all of the Fox News reporters.
“We were in the Fox studio that was set up there. We talked to Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson, Sean Hannity, Dana Perino, Charles Krauthammer, Charlie Gasparino, Herman Cain. The only person we didn’t get to meet was Megyn Kelly.”
Mr. Schermerhorn said, “On the airplane on the way to Cleveland, Rudy practiced his speech with us. He is the nicest man, and I consider him a brilliant man. I know that I love him, and many, many people at the convention were just thrilled with him.”
Mr. West grew up in Queensbury. His father Jim West started TV Data, a pioneering computer listings business now absorbed into Gracenote in Queensbury, the former Tribune Media subsidiary.
Brett West, who owned West World Media before selling it, said Mr. Giuliani “was really still tweaking his speech, and asked if he could read it to us. He was reading it like he was reading a college term paper. Trust me, it was nothing like his performance that night.”
After all of the speeches Monday night, Mr. Schermerhorn said, “We left Cleveland at 12:30 in the morning. We sat with him, talked the entire time, his wife talked with my wife, the four of us conversed back and forth. I can’t say enough about the man. I was flying high, and I’m still flying high. What an unbelievable experience we had. It was the experience of a lifetime.”
Mr. West said Mr. Giuliani “knew he had hit a home run with his speech. We had a really fun celebration on the flight home.”
Mr. Schermerhorn said, “We actually developed a really nice friendship and I have a feeling we may end up seeing him and his wife again…I have a feeling that our paths are going to cross again. His wife and my wife exchanged numbers last night, so I have a feeling we may end up seeing them somewhere down the line.”
Mr. West said Mr. Higbie started the George Washington Leadership Foundation, aiding veterans with political aspirations. He said, “Rich and I were actually the first two supporters of the foundation.”
Mr. Schermerhorn said he saw Queensbury at-large county supervisor and Trump delegate Rachel Seeber in Cleveland. “We were texting during the convention. We never did hook up with her, because we were in the Fox studios the whole time.”
Asked about Melania Trump’s speech, he said, “I know some of the press has torn Melania’s speech apart, but I thought she did wonderfully. I thought she knocked it out of the park.
“Rudy blew them away. He was fantastic. The place was so energized.
“It was the Republican Convention, and we’re Republicans. You know how I have supported Donald Trump from the get-go. He will be our next President. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s going all the way.”
Mr. West, who has homes at Lake George and Ridgefield, Conn., said he and Mr. Schermerhorn both also have homes in Naples, Florida, as does Mr. Hannity.
“Sean and Rich live about 100 yards away from each other on the beach,” he said. “Sean is such a nice guy, so down to earth. While we were talking, he had his assistant get our contact information, and I think we’re going to have dinner this winter with him down in Florida.”
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