Richard G. Wishnie was elected to the Westchester County Board of Legislators in 1993 and re-elected in 1995, 1997, 1999, and again in 2001. Legislator Wishnie represents the Town of Ossining and the Villages of Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Croton-on-Hudson and a portion of the Town of Cortlandt. Presently, as he has for the last six years, he serves as Chair of the Board’s powerful Committee on Budget and Appropriations. He is a member of the Committee on Public Works, the Committee on Public Safety and Criminal Justice, and the Committee on Labor. Wishnie also serves on the Westchester County Criminal Justice Advisory Board and was Chairman of the Westchester County Emergency Medical Services Task Force. As County Legislator, Wishnie has shown himself to be a tireless advocate for the public good. He has spearheaded passage of the budget that has included a County property tax cut for the past three out of four years, with 2001 being the largest in county history. He has also obtained additional funding for police officers, for the enhancement of the Fire Training Center, and for restoration of funding for daycare programs and community health centers. And he has instituted a number of reforms that make Westchester’s budget more "user-friendly." An ardent supporter of educational opportunities, Wishnie initiated the opening of a satellite campus of Westchester Community College in Ossining that specializes in health care and state of the art biotechnology curriculums and has supported college satellites in Peekskill, Yonkers, and Mount Vernon. Wishnie has emerged as one of the Board’s strongest advocates of tough but fair public safety measures. His fight to help survivors of sexual abuse resulted in approval of state and county funding for the SANE (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner) program that provides rape victims with expert services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days per year. His proposal to designate Westchester County as its own planning region for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) was approved by the New York State Legislature and is now a reality. He was at the forefront of efforts to clean up the Kill Brook in Ossining, ending years of environmental neglect and abuse. His series of public meetings on odor and smoke from the Ossining Sanitary Sewer Treatment Plant uncovered health-related concerns forcing the County to remedy the situation. Wishnie has negotiated an arrangement to save all Ossining Sewer District taxpayers approximately $250,000 for the construction of a gas line for the Ossining Sanitary Sewer Treatment Plant. At the Legislator’s urging, the burning of sludge at the Ossining plant has permanently ceased. Wishnie was the author of the countywide Electrical Licensing Law, and the Project Labor Agreement law, saving millions of dollars in construction costs for taxpayers. Wishnie has an extensive record of public service in Westchester County. Prior to becoming a County Legislator, he served the Town of Ossining as Councilman from 1976-1979 and as Supervisor from 1979-1983. He has served as Chairman of the Ossining Open Door Health Centers, Westchester Health Source, the Ossining Volunteer Ambulance Corps, and the Ossining Red Cross Disaster Team. He has also served as an Officer and Director of the Ossining Chamber of Commerce, President of the Ossining Jaycees, Director of the United Way of Northern Westchester, a member of the Briarcliff Manor Volunteer Fire Department, and a Town of Ossining Auxiliary Police Officer. He is the former Director of Operations of the New York State Workers’ Compensation Board (1983-88), and presently serves by appointment of the Governor to a Temporary State Study Commission on Workers Compensation Special Funds. Wishnie is currently employed as Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Industry Board of the Electrical Industry. He resides in Briarcliff Manor with his wife Marilyn, the principal of Hillside School in Hastings-on-Hudson. They have two daughters, Beth and Jennifer.