With four key Dutchess County positions up for election in November, Democratic Party candidates met with potential voters March 5 at The Stissing Center in Pine Plains to present their positions on issues ranging from affordable housing and gun crime to improved public access to government services.
Democratic groups from the Northern Dutchess County towns of Pine Plains, Stanford, Milan, North East, Washington and Clinton organized the event.
The candidates include Anthony Parisi for district attorney, Tommy Zurhellen for county executive, Kenya Gadsden for county clerk and James Rogers for family court judge. They and their Republican opponents were formally endorsed during their parties’ county conventions in late February.
Michael McCormack, chair of the Dutchess County Republican Committee, said there are no current plans for a similar party forum, but that all four Republican candidates will be participating in various public events throughout Dutchess County.
Michael Dupree, the county’s Democratic Committee chair, opened the conversation by noting the Nov. 7 elections will mark the first time in 40 years that voters will have the opportunity to choose between two fresh candidates for district attorney, the county’s top prosecutor of criminal cases.
William Grady, a Republican who has held the post since 1983, is stepping down this year after completing his 10th four-year term.
Parisi, who heads the violent crimes bureau in the county district attorney’s office, will face off against Matt Weishaupt, a chief assistant district attorney in the same office.
The contest made local headlines after Grady, a Republican, told Parisi in December 2022 he would need to step down if he received the Democratic endorsement. Grady was forced to backtrack after a voice recording of his remarks emerged in February.
Parisi, who was raised in Millbrook and now lives in Beekman, said he would seek to make the DA’s office a “model of best practices in prosecution” by increasing oversight and creating web portals to give defendants and victims timely information about the process of criminal cases.
Citing his past experience as a public defender representing clients who were often extremely poor, Parisi said education and work programs were effective ways to prevent crime and reduce repeat offenses.
“I’m all about public safety. But I’m also here to protect people’s rights,” he added, noting that a criminal conviction can prevent young people from ever qualifying for federal aid for college. “What does that do for society? It does nothing.”
Credit: Daisy Sindelar
Zurhellen, a Navy veteran, author and English professor at Marist College, will run against former state Senator Sue Serino for county executive, the position responsible for submitting the operating budget and appointing key legal, public works and social services personnel.
Zurhellen, who in 2019 walked across the United States to raise awareness about homelessness and suicide among military veterans, cited affordable housing and food security for seniors, veterans and working families as a priority of his campaign.
“Housing affordability won’t cost us any more than what we’re paying now,” said Zurhellen, a Poughkeepsie native. He pledged to unveil soon a detailed plan for supporting low-cost housing and farmland.
Asked whether his background as an educator and veteran had prepared him for a run against Serino — who has spent the past 12 years in local government, including four two-year terms as state senator — Zurhellen said dryly that he had “zero experience as a career politician.” He pointed to his work with VetZero, which partners with the nonprofit organization Hudson River Housing to provide affordable homes and food to Hudson Valley veterans, as an indication of his leadership ability.
Credit: Daisy Sindelar
Gadsden, of Fishkill, who has spent three decades working with the developmentally disabled, is running for a second straight time against Republican incumbent Bradford Kendall, who is looking to secure a fifth four-year term.
Gadsden said she aimed to bring greater transparency and accessibility to the county clerk’s office, which oversees the work of the Department of Motor Vehicles as well as naturalization and passport services. “The clerk’s office should be the front door to Dutchess County,” she said. “When you want to integrate someone into the community, you need to give them access.”
Rogers, a former state deputy district attorney for social justice and former president of the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, is running against Republican incumbent Joseph Egitto.
Rogers, who worked for years to successfully halve the individual caseloads of state family law attorneys, said he is committed to increasing the time attorneys can dedicate to children who have been subjected to trafficking and violence.
“A child who is a victim of abuse and neglect – they really need their lawyers,” he said. “They have no one else to depend on.”
The candidates also collectively addressed the issue of crime, which is expected to be a frequent talking point as the race gains momentum. Zurhellen noted that crime rates have gone down in Poughkeepsie, a claim supported by the city’s police officials, who have marked a 10-year overall decline in violent crime.
Asked about gun safety, Parisi said New York has some of the strongest gun laws in the U.S., but that most gun crimes in Dutchess County involve firearms brought in from other states. He said meaningful change in gun safety would require coordinated reform in other states and at the federal level.
As of 2020, some 196,700 people were registered to vote in Dutchess County – just over 80% of eligible voters. Information on how to register to vote can be found at the Dutchess County Board of Elections website or by calling the board at 845-486-2473.