Our local elected officials take a lot of heat. Whether county legislators or town councilmen or school board members, they tend to be the primary targets of taxpayers’ ire over the dire straits the upstate region is in.

It’s rare that I apply that same heat to them. In the past couple years of writing this column I have spent little time addressing local politicians. Sure, they might to a point contribute to the sorry state of affairs in New York, but much of what appears in the budgets of schools and local governments are not of their doing: They must kowtow to the State and accept a myriad of unfunded mandates like Medicaid, union directives, educational demands, and social programs.

In the whole scheme of things anything local politicos do to harm taxpayers is exceeded a thousandfold by the evils perpetuated by state-level politicians and their bureaucratic brethren in the state’s various departments and 750 authorities. Hundreds of bills are passed every session (and countless more administrative actions developed) that increase taxes, take away our rights, and feed the entitlement philosophies of the liberal downstate contingent. It’s the latter that also limits our voice in state politics (a primary cause of our "Appalachian" economy) because Maziarz, Hayes, Schimminger and the like represent a distinct minority in Albany, drowned out by the vast majority of elected officials who reside in the NYC metro area.

My disdain for Albany is apparent in my columns. Over a third of them have focused on state-level government. Like a civics nerd I study and offer commentary on what happens there because it affects me – and, similarly, everyone else - in two really significant ways: as a businessman and as a regular taxpayer.

As a businessman I look at it this way: My coworkers and I can control almost all competitive factors that affect the company’s ability to gain and/or maintain business. We can control labor costs, regulate material usage, and streamline ourselves. But, we have no control over the costs associated with where we are. Our cost of doing business in NY equates to a staggering 4% disadvantage. This number is derived from Albany-induced costs associated with utilities, insurances, taxes and more. A 4% loss in competitiveness is significant in today’s worldwide economy and will definitely make or break a business deal. That’s why so many businesses have left NY and many more are opening elsewhere in our nation.

Businesses are not alone in this. The citizens suffer a great deal, too. New Yorkers pay 43% more in taxes than the average American. Looking at it on a per capita basis, each and every man, woman, and child in NY loses $1,800 per year by living here. That’s $1,800 that could be spent on food, school, investments, durable goods, and more…$1,800 per year that we will never recoup.

As someone trying to live and work in such an environment I find it necessary to my survival - and the well-being of everyone around me - to change this mess. To further educate our citizens I’m taking-on a new endeavor. Starting next week, every Monday I will be a call-in guest on "Dialog", the talk show that airs after the 11:00 AM news on 1340 WLVL and is hosted by my good friend Scott Leffler. I will share with him and his listeners "the Albany Update", my ten-to-fifteen minute analysis of what happened the week before in state politics and how it will play out in our future. Hopefully it will be a great way to start the week out, initiating related discussion not only on Scott’s show but also around water coolers.

I strongly believe knowledge is power and if people know even just a little bit more about the real cause of our high taxes, shuttered businesses, and disappearing loved ones then they will be empowered to affect change where it needs to occur…in the State Capitol and the backrooms of state agencies, the evil domains that have turned New York’s economy into our own little Hell.

This may seem to be an insurmountable battle, but if we all work together as good citizens then we can gradually change things for the better. It will take time, it will take some sacrifices, but, someday, maybe we can appropriately consider ourselves the "Empire State" a prosperous place to live, work and raise a family.