LETTER: Editorial on cost of regulations was right on

I read your Monday editorial on the cost of federal regulations. A few years ago when I was in California, the locals were complaining about Sacramento’s regulations. The autocrats demanded that all counties maintain a full-time elevator/escalator inspector. The county was supposed to pay for this person’s salary, retirement, medical, etc.

This was a far-reaching state mandate for, I believe, Lassen County. The county was forced to hire an inspector, full time, to inspect what the county didn’t have. That’s right. Not a single elevator or escalator in the county. That was several years ago, but it does show how a state government can pass a regulation and then make others pay.

The worst part of this is that those bureaucrats are not elected officials. We, the people, cannot vote them out of office. And to add misery to this, a crooked or inept official cannot be removed unless he or she is currently serving a prison sentence — and even that is not certain.