Politics on the Hudson

Members of Westchester County Unit 9200 of the Civil Service Employees Union picketed County Executive Andrew Spano’s annual birthday fundraiser last night, their third protest in the last month. The union, which represents about 4,000 county employees, has been without a contract since the end of 2005.

Unit President Jack McPhillips complained on one CSEA “web site”:http://www.csealocal1000.org/r3/region3.php that a number of guests arriving at the fundraiser were in county-owned cars, “including one emblazoned with a large Westchester County logo.”

“It felt like a slap in the face to these hardworking CSEA members, on the job for so long without a contract, to watch the blatant disrespectful use of taxpayer dollars, which could be used for giving raises to the rank and file workers rather than footing the gas bill for other county employees to attend a political fundraiser,” McPhillips said.

A county spokeswoman, Lynne Bedell Smith, said out of 191 county employees with assigned vehicles, 33 employees, generally department heads or commissioners, have “unrestricted use” of them. Others may have cars they can take to and from work, she said. The figures do not include police or district attorney employees.