NEWBURGH, N.Y. — Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus had to call an audible.
With the 2021 County Executive election on the horizon, Neuhaus had to abandon his golfing campaign events. They attracted a crowd larger than what is now permitted amid COVID-19.
Neuhaus decided to create a win-win situation for both his campaign and local restaurants that might be struggling amid the lockdown.
Neuhaus’ team rolled out a series of events called Go Local with Friends of Steve Neuhaus. Neuhaus and his team will gather at a select restaurant and speak with no more than 50 members of the community.
Neuhaus says this series of events will benefit the restaurant hosting.
“How about you provide the food, I’ll provide the people and they’ll pay cash bar because many restaurants make a lot of their money from alcohol sales,” said Neuhaus.
Cosimo’s Brick Oven in Newburgh, New York will host the first event. The occasion is slated for Monday, Aug. 17 at 5:30 p.m.
Neuhaus says his relationship with Cosimo’s owner, Nick Citera, played a significant role in his decision to pick Cosimo’s as his first restaurant.
“Five years ago I called him up I said I need you to give me 50 free pizzas and…meet me at Stewart airport,” said Neuhaus. “There’s 150 army guys flying to Afghanistan tomorrow. This is going to be the last meal before they leave the country and go on a year deployment to Afghanistan. I still have pictures of this and he said it was one of the best days of his life and he handed out pizzas, to all these men and women that went to Afghanistan.”
Entry to the event is $25 per person and anyone interested must RSVP on Facebook.
Even though the election is in 2021, Neuhaus says it’s important to continue to engage the community.
“You always want to build continued momentum,” said Neuhaus. “So that’s why we were looking at stuff, and we have a lot of Facebook followers now.”
Despite running as a Republican, Neuhaus emphasized that he wants to give his residents a break from the political divide that has gripped the country.
“I’m kind of a sanctuary for these people to go to where they no need to see the president beating up every the democrats and the democrats beating up the President,” said Neuhaus. “I just basically give people the facts, I throw a few jokes in there, and I try to keep it light to keep us all going through this.”
Neuhaus does not have a formal opponent yet.
Neuhaus’ campaign team will announce the next event in the series in the near future.
