Westchester County is the highest taxed county in the nation and in these uncertain economic times, our representatives in county government cannot pick our pockets with abandon as they usually do this time of year. Instead, they have decided to justify their jobs by assaulting our liberties. Make no mistake, this is not over-the-top hyperbole; our liberties are under assault.
You would think the legislature would be devoting its time to really streamlining the budget, getting rid of redundant services such as, according to Republican minority leader George Oros, “the Tax Commission, the Consumer Protection Board and the Human Rights Commission. These agencies are either unnecessary (the Tax Commission) or duplicate a function done at other levels of government (Consumer Protection, Human Rights Commission). The Tax Commission is really a doozy (another one of my mother’s phases).”
Also on the docket, according to Legislator Oros, should be the county mounted horse patrol and our county executive’s security force. I would also think that the board of legislators could function just as well with a serious reduction in staffing. It has been proven that the chairman does not really need a chief assistant as he has been on paid vacation since June when it was alleged that he billed taxpayers for items for personal use. He has since been indicted on four counts of theft of services and has resigned with full pension and benefits.

So if you thought these would be the pressing issues, you would be wrong. The pressing issues facing our county government include passing a calorie count law and idling law. One would think that for a governing body that kicks and screams every time the state passes an unfunded mandate, they would not be so hypocritical as to do it to its own citizens. Again, you would be wrong.

The calorie count law forces chain restaurants and coffee shops such as Dunkin' Doughnuts and Starbucks to, at their own cost (the definition of unfunded mandate), redesign their menus and menu boards to post the calories of their products. This is as if those who patronize those places really care. Ordering a triple Whopper and large fries or three Boston crème doughnuts with your coffee colada are not the actions of people worried about calories. In fact, if you take a close look at some of these legislators, I would advise them to start counting their own calories and leave us alone. Such hypocrisy galls me; fat people telling me I am too fat. I am and it’s my own damn business.

As for the idling law, this is Westchester County's effort to single-handedly stop manmade global warming. I have said before, manmade global warming is a hoax designed by frustrated socialists in an effort to curb your liberties and separate you from your money. This law is a perfect example. You will be now fined $250 if you are caught idling your car for over three minutes. Mind you, it’s your car and gas and comfort. Mind you that the traffic on Route 287 every rush hour negates everything they wish to accomplish. No, you have to freeze your butt off waiting to pick up or drop off your child at a bus stop or waiting for your friend or relative at the airport. As for me, it means, as I own am part owner of a taxi company, the county is offering me just in time for Christmas the gift of pneumonia. Sure there is a 32-degree cut off, but sitting in 40-degree weather with a wind is just as cold. The practical effect of this law has no bearing. No. It is the money and power that matters.

These are feel-good laws in efforts by our legislators to justify their jobs and brush up their health and environmental credentials in time for this election cycle. This is where challenging candidates could actually score points by brushing up their liberty credentials and their anti-hypocrisy credentials. As noble a goal that these laws try to achieve, the plain fact is that neither are the function of government. The government can educate and suggest, but in the end the choices are ours.

I have to ask, are we so tired of life’s choices that we, as a people, are willing to surrender our personal liberties to the government? I for one am not. This election cycle, do not be fooled by election year epiphanies of fiscal prudence. The reality of these two new laws is that our legislators and county executive have been in office too long and have no regard for personal liberty. They have concluded life’s choices are theirs to make for you, your liberty be damned. It is time for us to choose a new set of representatives.
This is my opinion, you may beg to differ.

I will be Dominic Volpe's guest on the Volpe Report. Air times and dates are as follows: Peekskill/Cortlandt area- Nov. 20 and 27 Thursdays at 8 p.m. Yorktown/Putnam Valley area- Nov. 19 and 26 Wednesdays at 6 p.m.

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