| (Again, my thanks to Bill Mahoney of NYPIRG who compiled this information and sent several Excel files to me regarding Assembly and Senate member items. I greatly appreciate it.)
As we have seen with the Assembly, the allocation of member items is a rich business. Members of the Assembly, especially those with the Democratic majority, enjoy a great advantage in pork barrel spending. The same can be said of the majority in the New York State Senate.
This spreadsheet gives you the breakdown of member items among all state senators for 2007. The total amount for these member items is $85,900,387.00. That works out to $1,385,490.11 per senator.
The Republicans enjoyed a clear advantage, just as their Democratic counterparts in the Assembly do as members of the majority. The average total in member items for Republican senators is $2,324,745.06 while the average among Democratic senators is $296,251.61.
The Pork King of the Senate is none other than Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Bruno will have $4,211,000.00 in member items distributed to his district (and others, I'm sure) this fiscal year.
The Democrats top ranked Pork King is Sen. Carl Kruger, who will have $850,000 in member items for fiscal year 2008-09. Kruger came in 34th overall among "porkers," with the top 33 spots occupied by Republicans.
Here is a list of the top five Senate "Kings of Pork."
| Legislator |
Total Amount Of Member Items |
| Joseph Bruno |
$4,211,000.00 |
| Dean Skelos |
$3,740,000.00 |
| Tom Libous |
$3,497,000.00 |
| Owen Johnson |
$3,275,500.00 |
| Joe Robach |
$2,550,000.00 |
To see the spreadsheet, click here. |
