Legislator Mike Anagnostakis was a leader in the fight to stop the sale
of Orange County's Valley View Nursing Care Facility
After 15 years of service to his community, today, Orange County Legislator Mike Anagnostakis announced his retirement, from his 17th Legislative District office, effective at the of this month, representing parts of the Towns of Newburgh and Montgomery, including the Village of Walden.
“When I ran for office, as a political outsider, I vowed to always fight for what was best for the people, and not the political insiders. I did just that – even if it meant fighting my own political party,” said Anagnostakis.
Anagnostakis wrote and fought hard to have "Rocky's Law" passed.
This created an Animal Abuse Registry and prohibition of
adoption or purchase of animals by any person convicted of animal abuse
Some of the highlights of his Legislative career include:
Stopped Central Hudson from imposing a $20 Million “Storm Fee” on his constituents to recover costs from a late February blizzard (2010)
Ended the free health insurance all Elected Officials and hundreds in management were getting for themselves and family members, all on the taxpayers' dime (2011)
Helped end gas/mileage reimbursements for Elected Officials (2011)
Saved Valley View, the County Nursing Home (2011-2015)
Fought for and helped save the Stewart Post Office from closing (2012-2013)
Wrote and passed the “Pay-to-Play” anti-corruption Law (2013)
Exposed and uncovered the $50 plus millions of Valley View cash being hidden by two County Executive Administrations (2014-2017)
Exposed that 93% of K.J. was on welfare, and fought against expansion (2014)
Saved DMV Office from closing in Orange County (2014-2015)
Wrote and passed “Rocky's Law” to help stop animal abuse (2015)
Fought against tax breaks for Amazon and Medline warehouses already situated here (2019-2020)
Celebrating passage of a Law he wrote that restricted "Pay to Play" influence by limiting campaign contributions by individuals and companies seeking county contracts
While the political insider class scorned many of the positions advocated by Anagnostakis, judging by election results his constituents approved of his actions.
Legislator Anagnostakis achieved landslide victories in his three contested races: His first run for office in 2009 was against a 32-year incumbent, when he was challenged in a 2021 primary, and then again in the 2021 general election. He ran unopposed in his re-election wins in both 2013 and 2017.
“In a polarized and almost evenly divided nation, when most races are decided by a very few percentage points, I was humbled to have received, in my three contested races, overwhelming support across all political party lines, with an average margin of victory of 44 percentage points (72% to 28%) – these historic margins in Orange County, let me know that my work was truly appreciated,” said Anagnostakis.
Legislator Anagnostakis often took up causes outside the “normal” course of his Legislative job. “I believed an Elected Officials job should be more than just voting on the normal course of government business and then going home. I believed action should be taken when there were injustices against my constituents,” he said. “After all, the well-connected have plenty of say and representation – someone needed to fight for the rest of the people!”
Such was the case when Central Hudson wanted to charge a “Storm Fee” of $20 million to his constituents, for the cost of restoring services to them after one week of power outages from a major winter storm which occurred the second month he was in office, in February of 2010. “I went on a one-man crusade against any such storm fee being imposed, and was able to stop it,” he said. “Another injustice was seeing that Elected Officials and hundreds in management, in Orange County Government, were getting free health insurance for themselves and their families – All on the taxpayer's dime! None of the Elected Officials would ever say or do anything to change this. Why would they? By making everyone pay towards their insurance, including myself, tens of millions of taxpayer dollars have been saved over the years. It was the right thing to do!”
When a case of horrific animal abuse against a dog came to his attention, Legislator Anagnostakis authored and passed “Rocky's Law”, to help stop animal abuse in Orange County. It was the toughest such law in the United States at the time, and it was subsequently copied by many municipalities throughout this nation.
In his most visible effort, over a five-year period, Anagnostakis fought his own political party, and two County Executives along the way, in the process of saving the Valley View Center for Nursing Care in Goshen. On the topic of the Nursing Home, Anagnostakis stated, “It was outrageous to try and sell or close the Nursing Facility based on false financial pretexts. At the time, almost 300 of our seniors, including 78 WWII veterans, resided at Valley View, and Lord knows, any one of us might have needed that service in the future. It now has the best nursing care in the Hudson Valley and has been running at no County taxpayer costs since 2016 – Thank God it is still available for our citizens to use if needed!”
During his years of service, Anagnostakis attempted to be as accessible to his constituents as possible, by providing each of them his home phone number, and by trying to be at every single public event occurring within his district.
Legislator Mike Anagnostakis concluded by saying, “I am eternally grateful to all my constituents and value each of the thousands of visits with them – be it at their doors, asking for their vote; at community events, honoring them; or on the phone, helping to solve their issues. I consider it an honor to have served my community, and I could not have been successful without your overwhelming support. To each of you, I wish nothing but health and happiness always!”
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