On a beautiful fall holiday morning in Millerton at a busy Irving Farm cafe, Chris Drago discussed why he decided to run for Dutchess County Legislature, what he sees as the challenges facing Pine Plains and what he would do if elected. Drago is running against five-time incumbent Gregg Pulver on the Democratic ballot line to represent Dutchess County District 19, which—as noted on his campaign tee shirt—includes Milan, Millerton, North East, Pine Plains, Stanford and a small area of eastern Red Hook.
A few events, beginning three years ago, prompted Drago to enter the race. First, his beloved octogenarian Aunt Fee (Frances Silvert), a longtime resident of Pine Plains, fell and broke her hip in her home on Lake Road, then waited two hours for emergency medical services to arrive. Drago knew the delay “was not right.” Soon after, he heard many stories from people who dialed 911 only to endure excessively long and frightening wait times. “People who were born here should be able to grow old here,” he said, in place, with dignity.
At around the same time, Drago was reading drafts and attending public hearings about the Comprehensive Plan in Stanford, where he lives, which led him to start attending more town meetings and working on Town Board campaigns. When Stanford decided to sign a $700,000 contract with Northern Dutchess Paramedics to cover its emergency medical service needs, Drago said he understood, because “we can’t do it ourselves anymore and we need to pay for it.” But he also saw it as a high-cost solution and he believes the problem of emergency services needed to be addressed not town-by-town, but districtwide. He has since come up with the idea for a pilot program that could be implemented in the more rural part of the district—and importantly, it could be tested. Evidence could be gathered for the efficiency of the program in improving services and keeping costs manageable for towns and individual taxpayers.
Another event that motivated Drago was the county legislature’s last-minute budget amendment to fund $25 million in renovations to Dutchess Stadium, home of the minor-league, New York Yankee affiliated, Hudson Valley Renegades in Wappingers Falls—a project that Pulver, as chair of the legislature, strongly supported and saw through the legislative process. The funding was approved last December “without public comments or due process,” Drago said, and “no assurance that we would break even…. We could have spent that money on empowering emergency volunteers, solving the spotty cellphone coverage in our area, making sure that Dutchess County is doing everything it can to reduce waste flow into the incinerator in Poughkeepsie and expanding access to mental health services.”
Drago added that no sound business case for the stadium renovation was ever made and “to date, there is no evidence that it has done what it should … no evidence that this was a good deal, a good investment.” (The office of Robin Lois, the Dutchess County Comptroller, said that an audit report on the stadium investment will be made public before the election.) “I am not running to be the chairman of the legislature,” Drago said. “I am running to be a representative of the townsfolk of our district.”
Drago said the skills he has developed over the last two decades in business will transfer to the public sector. As a digital marketing and media executive he said he works with Fortune 500 companies, runs large teams and manages budgets of $100-plus million. “I see how the county has operated in recent years in deals that were not really great for the taxpayers, especially for our district,” Drago said, adding that a more businesslike approach to problems is the “needed new way of doing things.”
Asked about the key issues confronting Pine Plains, Drago said that he first wanted to celebrate the wonderfully rural town, where residents enjoy being out in nature and engaging with their neighbors. He pointed to family farms like Chaseholm and Ronnybrook, where the next generation is showing the value of “turning the keys over.” Chaseholm, for example, has become not only a dairy farm but also a venue for music and food as well as place for celebrating and safeguarding diversity.
Drago highlighted one of the town’s challenges: “It has become extremely expensive to live in Pine Plains, and we need to proactively address the rising cost of housing.” He also mentioned the need for more funding of mental health services and for improving cellphone coverage in rural areas—an issue on which he hopes to work with State Senator Michelle Hinchey, of the 41st District, who is trying to get a bill passed that will update maps to reflect current cell usage in the area.
“All of this will require improved coordination between town, county, and state government, as well as private sector partners, which I’m ready to do,” Drago said. “Instead of being a rubber stamp on the county executive’s budget, I’ll scrupulously analyze the proposed budget for ways to save our tax dollars and I’ll spend our tax dollars only on what serves our communities and residents.”
Drago specified three priorities for his first six months in office. First, he said, he wants to improve the communication among towns so they can better share ideas and solve problems. Second, “I want to make sure each of all the towns has a way of identifying and applying for grants at the county and state level,” he said, adding that he envisioned creating a crew of volunteer grant writers for the communities to draw on. And third, to address budget issues he would build alliances with Hinchey and Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
Drago was born in Clinton Corners and grew up there and in Stanfordville. Although he worked and lived in New York City and London for periods to time, this district has always been home. He lives with his partner, Eric Rewilak.
The election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5. Early voting is from Oct. 28 to Nov. 5. Pulver and others running for office in Pine Plains are scheduled to attend a Meet the Candidates forum at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 18 at the Pine Plains Community Room.