The Legislature today is back for one day and one ostensible purpose; to boost the base pay for the part-time positions, from a present-day $79,000 to anywhere from $90,000 to $96,000; those in leadership positions would gain much more. Lawmakers have been without a raise since 1999, when they used another after-election session to claim a 38 percent spoil; this was in exchange - some societies would just call it tribute - for something Gov. Pataki wanted: charter schools.
That quid pro quo bordered on the obscene: Part-time jobs aren't supposed to pay full-time wages, not when taxpayers are footing the bill, including a vast majority earning substantially less. The new pay grab is worse because the Legislature is worse: Since 2000, its track record consists of runaway debt, unchecked spending, token reforms, worst-in-the-nation property taxes, and a business and economic climate that has residents and business fleeing. A major New York University Law School/Brennan Center study in 2004 called ours the most dysfunctional legislature in the nation. The moniker has hardly changed since.
Of course, only a body blissfully unconcerned about electoral defeat would boost its wages such. To be certain, with a re-election rate at well over 90 percent, the last thing New York lawmakers worry about is our dim and forgiving memories. So we are stuck with compensation levels that no right-thinking taxpayer would design or endorse. (Explaining a lot, one of Albany's few departing lawmakers, the freshly defeated Sen. Nicholas Spano, R-Yonkers, said, "If presented to me, I will vote for it - even though I won't get it.") We should be ashamed, of them and ourselves, for letting them get away with it.
Ouch.
From the Albany Times Union:
A raise? For what?
Ah, $96,000 a year to serve in the state Legislature? Make that a base pay of $96,000, plus a few thousand or so extra for most of the members, because we are indeed counting.
Couldn't New Yorkers get legislative dysfunction, complete with a system so rigged to favor incumbents that re-election is about a 98 percent certainty, at a more economical price?
Perhaps not, alas. Today's special legislative session, ostensibly to consider laws that would allow sex offenders to remain in state confinement even after their prison terms have ended, and perhaps allow more charter schools as well, comes with strings attached.
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Cute, isn't it? Everyone gets something, except the public that has to pay for those legislative raises.
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If there's to be a raise for the Legislature, and the $96,000 range would merely keep up with the cost of living, the terms should be very different. The professional horse-traders who serve there should be required to pay the price of genuine reform. That means giving up the power to draw legislative districts with the intent of saving each other's political skin. That means passing campaign finance laws that make competitive elections a possibility, even a routine occurrence, rather than a fantasy. That means a more efficient and more representative government.
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Today is shaping up as one of those truly revealing days at the Capitol. Dismayed as the public might be at the shenanigans seemingly in store, it can take solace in this. It hired, in essence, these legislators in last month's elections. Come November 2008, it can fire them, too.
Hear hear.
From the Poughkeepsie Journal:
No salary raise for lawmakers
Members of what is commonly referred to as the most dysfunctional state legislature in the nation are ready to give themselves a raise. It's outrageous that lawmakers would have the gall to even consider such a move, when so many important state matters have been left undone in recent years.
Short of adopting serious reforms aimed at ending the dictatorial way leaders control rank-and-file legislators and the legislative process, the Legislature should not even discuss hiking its pay. Legislators' work to date has hardly been worthy of praise, much less a raise. The Legislature and governor have approved an on-time budget two years in a row, after failing to do so for two decades. But that achievement pales in comparison to other changes needed in Albany.
Lawmakers are already paid $79,500 a year, not to mention thousands more for holding appointed committee and leadership posts, which boost the average salary to above $90,000. And because these are still technically considered part-time posts, many lawmakers hold jobs outside the Legislature, drawing additional income.
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If the Legislature wants to prove its worth, it can institute more-strict campaign finance limits and allow for an independent panel to redraw legislative districts, to help eliminate the unfair advantage incumbents have when running for re-election.
Legislative leaders should also loosen their tight grip over their members by allowing legislators to have equal resources for staff and to support favored projects in their district.
If legislators do vote on the hike, they should also eliminate the stipends. All lawmakers should receive equal pay, except for each party's top leader in each house of the Legislature, which is what Congress does.
State legislators have much work to do before they can make a compelling case for higher pay.
Indeed. Make them EARN it.
From the Ithaca Journal:
Pay hike should be rejected
We urge our state elected officials, all of whom are going back to Albany next year, to vote this pay raise down. Technically, it is one state Legislature voting the pay raise for the incoming state Legislature, but since most lawmakers are coming back, they are essentially voting themselves a raise.
A $96,000-a-year salary is a lot of coin, especially in Upstate New York. Let's look at it compared with some hard workers who earn less.
Just how many hours would a minimum-wage earner, who will earn $7.15 per hour on Jan. 1, 2007, have to work to make $96,000? About 13,426 hours. That's 258 hours per week in a 52-week year.
What about the living wage earners, always a big topic in this county? For a single person who has health insurance with no family, the living wage is $9.18 per hour, according to the Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition. They would have to work 10,457 hours in a year, or 201 hours in a week.
That's what is commonly referred to as a "smackdown".
Note to Albany dems: You are going to get your pay raise. Bruno and Co will let just enough safe republicans vote for it and he'll let it pass. The dems, particularly Assembly dems from NYC, will be (quite rightly) be painted as the ones who pushed this through. The Republicans will still get their raise but they will beat you over the head with it for the next two years. As I hope you can see from the opinions cited above, it's an idea that is popular with pretty much no one outside of the legislature. You are walking into a trap of your own making here.
Hell, they're probably already cutting the ads.
Are you really this dumb? |
