POUGHKEEPSIE – When Democrat Anthony Parisi defeated Republican Matt Weishaupt earlier this month to be the next Dutchess County District Attorney, many, including Mid-Hudson News called Parisi the first Democrat to serve as DA in Dutchess County although Parisi did not make such an assertion. That claim of being “first” is inaccurate and Dutchess County Clerk Brad Kendall has provided Mid-Hudson News with the name and history of the first Democrat to serve as Dutchess County District Attorney; John Mack.
John Mack, born in 1874 in the Arlington area of Poughkeepsie was the first Democrat to serve as District Attorney in Dutchess County. He was a highly-regarded attorney in Poughkeepsie and his political career began when he was elected Town of Poughkeepsie Justice of the Peace as a Democrat in 1899. He was re-elected as a judge with both the Democratic and Republican endorsements and then was elected as DA in 1906, while still serving as a judge. He served as Dutchess County District Attorney from 1907 through 1912.
John Mack has been credited with encouraging FDR to run for the New York State Assembly in 1910. Mack delivered the nominating speech for his friend, then-New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, resulting in FDR running, and a victory that began FDR’s legacy as the longest-serving President in US history.
John Mack is one of the founders of the Poughkeepsie law firm of McCabe and Mack. The history of the firm, including John Mack’s extensive influence in local, state, and national politics and the historical cases he was involved in, can be found here.
