(CENTRAL VALLEY, NY) December 11, Chapter Leaders of the Young Democrats from Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland and Westchester Counties came together to outline a strategy for the next twelve months that will focus entirely on county and municipal elections. Ira Marguiles, the Hudson Valley Regional Vice President of the New York State Young Democrats, led the meeting of approximately 20 young Democrats who represent dozens more throughout the region.
The New York State Young Democrats have made it very clear that the people of New York must be represented by individuals who seek to serve the people for the good of their community, not for their own personal advancement. Today’s meeting was a productive first step towards electing Democrats throughout county and municipal government to ensure that the people of the Hudson Valley are appropriately represented at the most communal level.
The Hudson Valley area Young Democrats identified specific elections in Putnam and Westchester Counties including the Mayoral election in Yonkers and a potential special election to fill the vacancy in the Putnam County Executive’s Office. Republicans that are ensnared in scandal; Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone and Former State Senator and Never Actually County Executive Vincent Leibell, who recently plead guilty to federal corruption charges, currently hold both of these offices.
New York State Young Democrats President Kevin Lawrie said, “Today’s meeting is exactly how our organization is designed to function. Our regional vice presidents are the people on the ground with the ties to the individual communities throughout our state and they will only see greater results as resources and ideas come together for one unified goal. I’d like to thank the leaders in the Hudson Valley for taking this initiative and coming together to make sure that we solidify New York as the base for the Democratic Party.”
“It’s really encouraging that we have such an engaged group of young people working to advance the goals of the Democratic Party in the Hudson Valley,” said Hudson Valley Vice President and Dutchess County resident, Ira Margulies. “The Young Democrats are looking forward to 2011 when we will be aggressively promoting our progressive agenda and working to elect qualified Democrats to the hundreds of local offices in our region.”