Comments on: Cuomo Open To Legislative Pay Raises (Updated)

By: Roger Murdock

Roger Murdock — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Or 1 year and ten months before the next election……

By: Roger Murdock

Roger Murdock — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Or 1 year and ten months before the next election……

By: Roger Murdock

Roger Murdock — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 21:03:00 +0000

Or 1 year and ten months before the next election……

By: nick from niskayuna

nick from niskayuna — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 18:41:00 +0000

Of course- but we know that will never happen.
They will get the pay raise after some deal is made to put a commission of some sort in place and it will be found that the NYS legislators are under paid and need to have their salaries raised in order for NY to continue to attract high calliber individuals with integrity to serve the public as elected officials.
Oh- and it’s likely to be buried in some bill that gets passed at the very end of a session or before a break when absolutely no one is paying attention…..

By: Roger Murdock

Roger Murdock — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:38:00 +0000

Unlike Judicial pay raises, legislative raises, on their face, are not immediately warranted. Legislators have too much freedom to spend campaign funds on themselves, too much leeway in the use of travel, expense and legislative per diems, and too much reliance on special interests to determine their future.

New York State could never pass a pay raise sufficient to replace all the financial benefits bestowed upon legislators by the interests they sleep with. For example, it is hard to quantify without prosecution, how much Sampson and Smith have benefited from AEG. I’d bet their salaries pale in comparison.

Campaign finance reform, ethics disclosure, term limits on leadership tenure…. All of these items must be tied into any legislative pay raise.

By: BronxVoter

BronxVoter — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:28:00 +0000

Any pay increase must be tied to ethics reform and at the very least full transparency on outside income. Ideally – we should demand no significant outside income. Outside income is a major toxin in our politics. See Sheldon Silver or Sen. George Winner for example. Make legislating a full time job.

By: BronxVoter

BronxVoter — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:28:00 +0000

By: Terry O'Neill, Esq.

Terry O'Neill, Esq. — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 16:01:00 +0000

As I told the Chairman of the Fund for Modern Courts, Victor Kavner, five years ago, most people would not have a problem with judicial and legislator pay raises as long as the people got a couple items of basic judicial reform in return. I suggested merit selection of judges and legal representation to the poor. Mr. Kavner and I did not hit it off well at all. Let us hope that Andrew Cuomo does what no governor has done since Rockefeller’s time — make court reform a gubernatorial priority.

By: nick from niskayuna

nick from niskayuna — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:24:00 +0000

Hey- why not???

Look at the majorities by which so many of the incumbants received in cruising to re-election. Certainly the voters of the state believe their legislators are doing a great job if they voted them back in with such margins.

So why not give them big fat pay raises as most New Yorkers are trying to figure out how to pay their school and real estate taxes; get fee’ed to death whenever they need anything that passes through a governmental agency; can’t figure out the taxes and fees added on to their cable, phone and energy bill- but know the taxes and fees are as much as the service purchased; and can only remember the name of their long time legislator when they get to the election booth.

If 20% more New Yorkers payed any attention to this blog or CapTon, none of this would continue to go on. So tell your friends and neighbors to pay attention- there’s not much time left before only those with no options are left to fend for themselves and scrap by in NYS.

By: nick from niskayuna

nick from niskayuna — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 15:24:00 +0000

Hey- why not???