| I wish I had the video of this, but you will have to take my word for it. I have seen this ad that the Independence Party has put out criticizing Sen. Bill Stachowski for sponsoring a bill to raise his (and other senators') pay. Oddly enough, the Independence Party actually provided proof of Stachowski wanting to raise pay. Their proof? S.05822.
First off, the Independence Party claims Stachowski is sponsoring this legislation. He is not. He is a co-sponsor. The true sponsor of this bill is listed as Sen. Martin Connor, who will no longer be a senator as of January 1. The ad also claims that Stachowski is trying to raise his pay by $52,000. There is a catch to all of this.
If you read the full text of the bill, you will see why this isn't bad at all. In fact, it is really good. The bill would do the following:
- It would allow for a raise ONLY if that legislator is classified as a full-time member of either the Assembly or Senate.
- As a full-time member of the Legislature, you would not be able to have an outside job and you would be required to file time sheets for accounting purposes so that you are verified as full-time. According to the legislation, legislators would be required to work 1,820 hours per year or if they do not work the full year, the must work the proper ratio. Hypothetically, you could say that if they only worked half the year, they would be required to work 910 hours a year.
- Legislators, as full-time members, would get vacation time, sick time and personal time.
- What would a full-time legislator's work consist of? From the bill's text:
Legislative work shall include all work in connection with holding office, including but not limited to work in or out of the member's office or the Capitol, such as attendance at meetings and public events, travel, attendance at session, research time, constituent service and education, speeches, attendances at conferences and hearings, and general office work such as correspondence. Legislative work does not include purely political campaign work, attendance at political conventions or fundraisers.
So what is wrong with the bill? It's not perfect, but it has the right idea and the primary focus of the legislation is to reward those who become full-time legislators. Stachowski co-sponsored this bill, only to get smeared by the Independence Party and accused of giving himself a pay raise. Yes, he's giving himself a pay raise, but only after he makes himself a full-time member of the New York State Senate and refuses to take any other income.
It's a great idea, but will probably never see the light of day unless we have Democrats willing to take this up. This would be one piece of the puzzle in making our Legislature more effective and efficient. We need our government to be operating all the time, not just half the year. Economic issues and problems don't take a break just because the Legislature is out of session. Bill Stachowski realized that and co-sponsored legislation that would send him to work for his constituents all year.
ON THE WEB:
Bill Stachowski's ActBlue Page |
