Patty Ritchie fights Albany's New License Plate mandate Video

St. Lawrence County Clerk Patty Ritchie is leading the fight to overturn Albany's latest money grab--a plan to force motorists to replace their perfectly good and functional vehicle license plates in April 2010, at a cost of $25 each.

The order will cost state taxpayers $250 million, with the money bing used to pay for more of Democrat-led Albany's wasteful spending. (The state faces a $4 billion-and-growing deficit as a result of overspending in the current budget.

Ritchie launched an online petition--and a fury among outraged taxpayers--collecting tens of thousands of signatures within hours of the announcement.

The new license plate mandate was approved by just a single vote. Every Upstate Democrat Senator, including the North Country's Darrel Aubertine, Central NY's Dave Valesky, WNY's Bill Stachowski and the two Long Island Democrats, Brian Foley and Craig Johnson, supported the plan.

Every Republican voted against it.

This report is from Channel 6, WRGB-TV, Albany on 10-22, the date that Ritchie announced the petition drive.