State Senate candidate Patty Ritchie is running her first campaign TV ad, which talks about her successful campaign to stop Albany’s plan to mandate new license plates, and her record of returning millions of dollars to local taxpayers as St. Lawrence County Clerk.

The ad, running on broadcast and cable TV channels in Oswego, Jefferson and St. Lawrence Counties, features photos of Ritchie meeting voters and local residents, while an announcer talks about her record:

The ad highlights the 48th District GOP candidate’s record fighting against last year’s plan to make all New Yorkers buy license plates even if they didn’t need them. She created an online petition that drew more than 110,000 signatures, and organized county clerks across the state to protest the plan, forcing the governor and Legislature to repeal the law. Her campaign claims the effort save motorists in Northern and Central New York over $7 million.

And the ad focuses on her job as St. Lawrence County Clerk, where her campaign office says she has run the office under budget and without cost to taxpayers every year since 2001. She attracted millions of dollars to the county through an innovative program to handle vehicle registrations from the New York City area.

The ad can be seen online at http://www.youtube.com/user/ritchieforsenate?feature=mhum.