State Senator Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) has been in office a little less than a year, a fact he readily concedes. This did not prevent him from complaining about his base pay of $79,500 and doing so in a thoroughly offensive manner. He went so far as to claim that his base pay, the third highest rate of pay for any state legislature in the nation and for which he is performing a part time job, "qualifies (him) for public assistance." It was quite a spectacle.
There are plenty of folks in the Senator's district that work two and three jobs to make half of his base pay. Some of them qualify for public assistance. There are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, many in his own district, who work two or three jobs and are scared to death that they will lose their homes as the subprime lending mess continues to snowball. There are millions of New Yorkers who are struggling just to pay their skyrocketing property taxes while working more than one job while Senator Adams says to his colleagues "I don't know how some of you are making it" on $80K a year BASE pay.
He then has the gall to tell the Senate, the taxpayers of New York and his own constituents to "Show me the mon-ey! Show me the mon-ey! That's what it's all about."
It was an offensive display and Senator Adams should be ashamed of himself. The man has been in the Senate for less than a year and has done little of note as far as I can tell. Yet, he feels he deserves a significant raise in pay. It's not like you didn't know what we pay legislators when campaigned for the job, Senator.
For the record, I have no problem with raising the pay of lawmakers. It has been quite some time since they had a raise. I get that. But that raise needs to be earned. Want a raise, Senator Adams? EARN IT. Deliver.
When you are able to deliver on some basic and badly needed reforms, get back to us. I'd gladly support a raise. Until then, may I suggest you do what everyone else in such a situation has to do. Get a second job. You're a smart guy, a former cop. I'm sure you won't have trouble landing another part time gig.
