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Thread: Double-Digit Pay Raises For Legislatures

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    Angry Double-Digit Pay Raises For Legislatures

    Spitzer may propose raises for legislators
    By Tom Precious - NEWS ALBANY BUREAU
    Updated: 01/24/08 7:01 AM


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    Sheldon Silver sees raise bill coming soon.
    ALBANY — At a time when the state’s economy is declining, Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer is considering backing a pay raise for the 212-member State Legislature as part of his new olive branch approach to dealing with lawmakers, government officials say.

    It is uncertain how high their pay could be boosted, though there has been talk of some type of cost-of-living percentage adjustment stretching back over nine years — easily resulting in .

    Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Democratic ally of the governor, told his colleagues in a closed-door conference this week that the governor could send a pay hike bill as soon as February, officials told The Buffalo News.

    Lawmakers, who have gone without a pay increase since 1999, have been maneuvering for a salary hike for several years.

    The base pay for legislators is $79,500. But annual stipends for committee posts or “leadership” positions drive most legislators’ pay over $90,000.

    The governor, if he moves on the pay hike, also would likely propose some sort of commission to consider the issue, though a pay raise would be a certain result of the panel’s work. Such a commission was pushed more than a year ago, but the effort failed.

    It’s a tricky time for such a maneuver that automatically raises complaints from voters. Spitzer is trying to raise his poll numbers among New Yorkers after the beating he took during his first year in office. Meanwhile, the entire Legislature is up for re-election this fall.

    Silver would not confirm or deny that a salary increase bill is being worked on by Spitzer. “I’ll let you know when it gets here,” he said Wednesday.

    Several hours later, Dan Weiller, a Silver spokesman, called to caution that Silver does not know for certain if Spitzer is going to introduce a pay bill. There is hope in the Legislature that the governor will include the measure as part of an annual amendment plan that occurs 21 days after submission of his budget, which he proposed this week.

    “Shelly hopes it happens soon. It could be in the 21-day amendments, but he did not specifically say he was sure it was going to happen by the end of February,” Weiller said.

    Aides to the governor would not say if there is any sort of timetable to a possible legislative pay raise, but they were not ruling out the chance of a salary hike. “The governor has publicly expressed his hope that this matter can be resolved and said that he looks forward to working with the leaders on this issue,” said Christine Anderson, a Spitzer spokeswoman.

    Lawmakers had thought their best chance, politically anyway, for a pay raise was last month; they figured December would have provided some safer calendar distance before the 2008 elections. A pay hike was quietly in the works, along with a salary increase for the state’s judges, but it fell apart when lawmakers could not agree on a number of bills demanded by the governor, including tightening campaign donation limits.

    Speaking privately, some legislators say that while they want a pay raise, they don’t relish having to defend it during an election year and at a time when the nation’s economy is in trouble and the state is facing a budget deficit of $4.4 billion in the coming year. Word of the pay raise bill came a day after Spitzer proposed his 2008 budget, which includes an array of cuts, spending increases and tax and fee hikes as part of a budget that grows at more than the inflation rate.

    The common theory in Albany is that the pay raise is far more important to Assembly members, who, unlike many of their Senate counterparts, often do not hold outside jobs that can add substantially to their state pay. For the Senate, a pay raise vote this year would be especially tricky: Spitzer wants to help Democrats take control of the Senate, so a “yes” vote on a pay hike could be harmful to Democrats and Republicans alike in that chamber — especially so close to the elections.

    Many of Silver’s colleagues have been clear, in public, over the past year that they want a pay raise, especially those from New York City who argue they now make far less than their counterparts on the City Council. It did not help soothe their feelings when Spitzer’s proposed budget this week called for a pay increase for state and county judges but not for lawmakers.

    Also, the window is closing. By law, legislators cannot raise their own pay during a current session. The session ends Dec. 31. If they pass a pay bill this year, it would go into effect Jan. 1. But if they wait until next year — after they are re-elected — their pay could not increase until 2011. The governor last fall signaled that he could support a legislative pay bill — but only if lawmakers went along with the campaign finance measure and other bills he wanted. By year’s end, no such deals were made on any of the outstanding issues, and the pay bill deal was off.

    An attempt to set up an independent commission to look at pay levels of state legislators and top state officials, including the governor, collapsed last spring amid partisan bickering in the Senate. The Senate has backed efforts to raise judicial pay levels, but many rank-and-file members in the Assembly oppose such hikes unless their own pay is included.

    Another option lawmakers have is an old Albany tradition of increasing pay: wait until after they are re-elected this fall. In the past, legislators have gotten themselves voted back into office and then returned to Albany for a special session sometime in December to approve a pay raise that would kick in the following month.

    But such a move would certainly be unpopular with the public, and the wrath could be aimed at Spitzer, who promised to change the cultures of Albany that have given it a sour reputation among New Yorkers.

    The State Legislature is considered a part-time job. However, the National Conference of State Legislatures estimates that legislators in New York, Michigan, California and Pennsylvania work the most of state legislators — the equivalent of 80 percent or more of a fulltime job.

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    Member Velvet Fog's Avatar
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    I already started a thread with this--read before you post!!!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    I already started a thread with this--read before you post!!!
    link?
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Member Velvet Fog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mesue
    link?
    http://www.speakupwny.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17974

    And I gave the source!
    Peace Out Funky

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    In this thread?
    I didn't see it.
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mesue
    In this thread?
    I didn't see it.
    HOnestly its here! The title is Spitzer promises Raises to Legs.
    Peace Out Funky

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    Quote Originally Posted by Velvet Fog
    HOnestly its here! The title is Spitzer promises Raises to Legs.
    I know the thread is on this message board. I was asking for a link to the thread, so we can go over to it. It wasn't in your first post of this thread.
    But, it's here now and we can post there.
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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