By Dan Murphy
If you listen to talk radio or watch the chatter from your friends on social media in Westchester, the majority of callers and posters will say that a pay increase for any politician is a bad idea. “Throw the bums out of office… Pass term limits… I haven’t had a raise in years, why should they get one…” are all common refrains.
And we agree with Eastchester Supervisor Anthony S. Colavita, who gave us a memorable quote we use again and again over the years, that “today’s salary increase is keeping your job.”
But, being it is the holiday season, let us try our best to get the Grinch and Scrooge out of your hearts and show you the way to believing that a salary increase for your local Assembly member or senator is the right thing to do.
The proposal that Gov. Andrew Cuomo and legislators may vote on early next year would increase the salaries of state senators and Assembly members from the current $79,500 to $130,000 by 2021. The governor’s salary would also increase to $200,000, and other statewide officials would see a pay bump, as well.
The last time salaries were increased in Albany was back in 1999. Part of the reason our governor and leaders in the Assembly and Senate can’t agree on a pay increase is because New York State government has been labeled the most dysfunctional state government in the country, and because many of the leaders in Albany – democrats and republicans alike – have been handcuffed and charged with corruption.
Three current and former Westchester state legislators have opined on the proposed state pay hikes. Former Assemblyman and Westchester resident Richard Brodsky explained the reasons he believes there hasn’t been a pay increase for NY legislators in the 21st Century, in a recent op-ed in the Albany Times Union. Calling it “the pay raise fiasco,” Brodsky puts the blame on the governor and calls for his former legislative colleagues to rise up.
Brodsky writes that state legislators are guilty of “a worshipful attitude toward chief executives and by power grabs by those same executives. On ethics, for example, governors emerge largely unscathed when blame is handed out for the disasters of our campaign finance system, abuses of power by agencies and authorities and criminal conduct in the letting of public contracts,” he said. “As awful as the behavior was of former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and ex-Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, they are pinpricks compared to the massive fraud coming out of the corrupted bidding convictions we’ve seen. Yet outrage and contempt focus on the Legislature.
“Nothing better exemplifies the pitiful state of the Legislature than this week’s pay raise fiasco. For 20 years, governors have shamelessly impoverished the members and used the issue to extort favorable action on cherished plans and programs… Again, the primary fault lies with the Legislature. Rather than exercise their constitutional authority to enact a pay raise and then go explain it to the people, the Legislature twice hid behind commissions controlled or influenced by the governor… The result is a compensation package that does not even keep up with the cost of living. If there is any good to come of this, it may be an end to the recent tendency of the Legislature to pull its punches in the hope of getting a pay raise from the governor… Not everyone has a Legislature that can check the power of the king and protect the liberties of the people.”
Tied to the pay raises for our Assembly members and senators are a strict limit on outside income – no more than $19,500 – and limits on leadership bonuses, or lulus.
Many state legislators are also lawyers, and this plan will hinder their efforts to earn more than $150,000 per year. Other opponents of a pay raise believe that the role of a state legislator should be part-time and they should be paid part-time.
Outside income means just that; all income outside of your salary as a state official. That also means that the $700,000 Cuomo earned from his book in 2014 “All Things Possible” would no longer be permitted.
“I was clear that a raise for New York State legislators is appropriate following 20 years of no increases,” said Westchester State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who will become Senate majority leader Jan. 1. “For many years, the Senate Democratic Conference led the fight on ethics reforms against staunch Republican opposition and forced a vote on our gold standard outside income bill modeled after Congress. That vote was unanimously supported by our conference members at the time. Now that we will be in the Majority, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I continue to support that legislation and expect to secure its passage in the upcoming legislative session. We will also continue to advance other crucial reforms.”
The other recommendation is that pay hikes also be linked to the passage of an on-time budget, or a budget passed in “a reasonable amount of time” – whatever that means. Westchester Assemblyman Tom Abinanti doesn’t agree with that part of the proposal.
“That is giving the governor the upper hand by allowing him to refuse to negotiate reasonable changes, under penalty only to the Legislature and not to the governor, and placing the interest of the Legislature against the people of the State of New York,” he said. “I actually think that’s a conflict of interest. It’s extortion; it’s an illegal condition to force legislators to forfeit part of their pay in order to do the right thing.”
Despite all of the reservations and concerns, we believe that a salary increase is the right thing to do for the people of New York for the following reasons:
Legislators have been without a pay raise since 1999.
Most legislators do not hold outside jobs – only 63 out of 213 Assembly members and senators have outside jobs and outside income.
While some legislators will resign to continue their work in the private sector, that may be the turnover and transition that many who call for term limits are looking for.
We do not agree that limiting outside income will deter most from seeking to run for office.
Providing legislators with an adequate income will deter them from seeking additional outside income and, perhaps, from attempting to benefit from their position either legally or illegally.
Public service should not be about becoming rich.
