Legislative Pay Raises?

A rare display of bipartisanship occurred at the New York State Capitol Building earlier this week: A Republican State Legislator and a Democratic State Legislator commiserated over their lack of a pay raise.

The Republican complained that he ("he" could mean "he or she") “had been promised” a pay raise when he was first elected; from the context it appeared to me that the “promised” pay raise was part of how he was persuaded to run for the Legislature. The Democrat sighed sympathetically, agreeing that the lack of a pay raise was “ridiculous.” The conversation continued along similar lines as the Legislators moved out of my hearing range. I didn't follow them.

This was not some private conversation I spied on. The Legislators were talking openly, and in public. I was right around a corner, I saw them just before I fully rounded the corner, and I could hear them clearly. They couldn't see me, but there were about five people in the immediate vicinity whom these Legislators could clearly see, assuming they were paying any kind of attention to their surroundings.

If I heard it, others had to have heard it, and I'm willing to bet more Legislators than these two have recently engaged in similar conversations, especially as the story about the recent, now-rescinded, gubernatorial staff pay raises broke or was about to break.

What on earth could possess any Legislator to openly discuss a pay raise for themselves in this climate, I can't imagine.

The funny thing is that under normal circumstances I would probably agree with this pair of Legislators. Despite the disparaging portrait of the State Legislature painted by former State Senator Seymour Lachman in his book Three Men in a Room, from talking to people and hanging around at the Capitol it does indeed appear to me that those Legislators who bother to work at all do in fact work hard, and probably deserve more money than they are getting.

And I, personally, would rather not draw elected officials solely from a class of people who can afford to acquire and hold office. I'd rather have a more open field to select from. No one save the corrupt should ever have to look upon public service as their greatest career mistake.

Further, when Legislators are underpaid relative to the demands of the job, they can be tempted by outside income, and sometimes that outside income can taint political outcomes, taint the people's faith in the process, and can lead to criminal activity.

Under normal circumstances, thus, I'd be sympathetic to the idea of a Legislative pay raise.

Present circumstances, however, are far from normal. New York State is in the middle of severe, system-threatening fiscal and ethical crises. I could easily go on and on for pages about all the troubles New York State faces, but instead I'll focus on the most obvious: The State Budget is over a month late and the budget extenders haven't exactly been peaches and cream. These two Legislators were, literally, whining about not having pay raises while simultaneously failing on what is arguably their primary responsibility.

Under normal circumstances, I'd be sympathetic to a pay raise for State Legislators. Under current circumstances, however, so much as thinking about it, let alone talking about it publicly, is disgraceful.

I recommend that the leaders of the four legislative conferences advise their members to not discuss this issue publicly for the next couple of years. Save the money to avoid bankrupting the State. If you discover you have the money to spend that you didn't realize you had, I'm sure your constituents can think of things to spend it on that'll do the State, and yourselves, a lot more good than raising your own pay will. If you must spend it on yourselves, invest in competent staff, something which it appears all four conferences are severely lacking in. There's also bridges that need fixing; a lot of them. And I'm sure a lot of people would like to avoid Thruway tolls or mass transit fares going up.

Basically, anything would do more good right now than raising your own pay. Raising your own pay right now, or even talking about it, doesn't even help yourselves. Don't let the thought enter your minds, let alone openly discuss it in public areas, until maybe the State is no longer on the brink of fiscal, ethical, and political oblivion.