Your Legislative Candidates

This November, voters in most of Putnam Valley will have an opportunity to choose a new person to represent them in the county legislature. Their current legislator, William Gouldman, has served four, three-year terms and cannot run again.

Two people with very different experiences are vying for that position: Christian Russo and Maia Gilleo. Russo, a Republican, is a local chiropractor who has served for the last five years as a member of the Town Board. Gilleo, a Democrat, has spent the last 22 years running her own hair salon and was appointed vice chair of the town's Neighborhood Business Committee.

Both cite their experience running personal service businesses as useful training ground for serving as an effective legislator. Gilleo says she has spent years listening to customers share their personal experiences and, having recently sold her salon and obtained two masters degrees, is ready to try to make their lives better. Russo says that in order to be a successful chiropractor, he has to listen very closely to patients' descriptions of what ails them in order to design specific plans of action that they will embrace.

There, the similarities end. Russo is now an experienced politician, having been taken under the wing of former Town Supervisor Jacqueline Annabi. He has also aligned himself closely with State Assemblyman Matt Slater and County Executive Kevin Byrne. Gilleo has limited political experience and is late to the campaign trail. She has been slow to fundraise or knock on doors, noting that as a recently divorced single person, she still has to work long hours as a hair stylist to support herself. The most recent campaign finance filings show that Gilleo's account was inactive, while Russo had amassed $22,191. Gilleo recently received some funding from the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party, which has also endorsed her.

Gilleo says what she lacks in political experience is more than made up for by her passion for her community and her determination to provide support to working class families in Putnam Valley who she considers overlooked. "I had a tremendous amount of people come to me saying, 'please Maia, run for office. You listen to us, we need a change.'" Gilleo's political base is Lake Peekskill, which she calls "the forgotten area" where she lives and works. "We’re all working class people," she said. "That is why I’m running. I’m speaking up for those who can’t speak up for themselves."

Last year Russo said he wasn't sure he would run for the legislature, noting the additional time it would take away from his business and family. Asked why he now wanted the position, he said, "I think I need to do this because I believe that Putnam Valley and the people of Putnam Valley need a strong voice at that county legislature." The nine county legislators each represent communities of about 10,000 people, but because Carmel's population is so large, that town effectively has three representatives compared to Putnam Valley's one. "Carmel, because of its population, gets this huge say," said Russo. "They can literally create a voting bloc that can get legislation done that definitely benefits them but maybe not everybody else." Asked why he thought his impact would be any different than Gouldman's, he said, "I think I’ll be louder. I believe I will be louder."

He hasn't always been loud on the Town Board. When Annabi was supervisor, he rarely spoke at public meetings. Now that Alison Jolicoeur, a Democrat, is supervisor, Russo has been regularly weighing in, often reading statements from his phone. "I have a lot more ability to speak my mind this year than I did in previous years," said Russo. "This is not in a negative way. What I will say is, Jackie is a loud voice. She tends to take the reins on stuff. So, she spoke for most of the topics, she just spoke right for it. So, this year I have the ability to talk, to speak, and I felt that I needed to make sure that I spoke my mind on certain things."

Russo has even started his own podcast, Christian's Corner, which he uses to keep residents up to speed on town activities. Russo says he got the idea after watching Jay Lee, a relative newcomer to the educational system but adept at social media, beat Crystal Hernandez, a school principal, in this year's race for school board trustee: "I said, well, that worked, so I’m doin’ it. "

Asked what he would like to accomplish if elected, Russo emphasized his fiscal conservatism. "I’m a business owner. I look at the costs and I try to determine, is it necessary? Can we afford it? Should we afford it? So, I do want to be that type of person on the legislature," he said. 

Gilleo said she wants to try to bring more social services to Putnam Valley, especially mental health counseling for children and veterans. She says she also wants to use her experience on the Neighborhood Business Committee and her masters degrees in business management and international business to try to encourage more economic development in town, especially creating opportunities for trades people.

The results of this race could have implications beyond who will represent the town in the legislature. If Russo wins, he will leave his Town Board seat in January and it will be up to the remaining Town Board members to select a temporary replacement. If Jolicoeur is re-elected as Town Supervisor, there would be three Democrats and one Republican on the board making that selection. If Gouldman becomes the next supervisor, the two Republicans and two Democrats could be deadlocked. If a compromise candidate couldn't be agreed upon, the board would likely have just four members until the fall 2027 election.

Early voting starts October 24th; the schedule and locations can be found here. Information about obtaining early mail or absentee ballots is available here.

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