Albany pay raise “is going to happen”
A pay raise for state legislators was being discussed behind closed doors yesterday and “is going to happen,” a top Democrat close to the talks said.
Yeesh.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has said he thinks lawmakers deserve a pay raise, as has Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith, D-Queens.
So let it be written, so let it be DONE!
They quote one of our local boys:
Much of the pressure for a raise is coming from New York City lawmakers, said Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County.
“If you live in Walcott or Irondequoit, that’s ($79,500 base pay) certainly a reasonable salary,” he said. “But if you’re in Manhattan and a city council member who lives and works at home makes $32,000 more than me, it might rub me the wrong way.”
I see his point, but how about some reform first? Like, you know, starting with the 3 things that the Albany Project folks recommended recently:
1. Following the lead of the Sunlight Foundation’s brilliant “Punchclock Campaign”, we insist that all New York state lawmakers publish their schedules online while the legislature is in session. They work for us, after all and we want to know what they are doing and who they are meeting with on our behalf.
Want a raise? Punch the damn clock just like the rest of us.
2. Independent non partisan redistricting. New York’s redistricting process is a mess of insider baseball partisan protection of incumbents. It does not serve the public’s interest nor the democratic process. It has created a legislature that is unresponsive, unaccountable and undemocratic. It serves only to perpetuate the status quo.
This is non negotiable.
3. Every piece of member item spending must a separate line item in the budget WITH THE SPONSORING LEGISLATOR’S NAME ATTACHED. Once again, why the hell should we even have to bring this up?
This is a no brainer and is also non-negotiable.
Anyone heard back from their local Assemblycritter or Senator? Are they voting for the raise, and if so, do they support these simple reform steps?
I emailed both my Assemblyman and Senator on 11/28/06. Senator Mike Nozzolio said he was “adamantly opposed to any legislative pay raises at this time.” Because I still hadn’t heard from Assemblyman Bobby Oaks, I called his local office in Lyons and was told that he planned to vote against the pay raise, too.
Wow, 11/28? That’s what I call being on the ball.
I emailed Koon but haven’t heard back yet. I was going to email Alesi but his website seems to discourage it in favor of calls. I’ll do that tomorrow.
[...] Maybe they heard from enough of us that they thought better of the raise.ÂÂ I’m disappointed that the simple reforms the Albany Project suggested weren’t adopted– it’s hard to find a more effective lever for promoting reform than the carrot of a pay raise. [...]