Dems Hand Out Raises During Albany Crisis
Senate too busy to work for you, not too busy to spend your money
Sen. Malcolm Smith, left, and John Sampson, center, made sure their people got paid, while Pedro Espada was looking out for Number 1.
Despite holding the state of New York hostage to their petty power struggles for a month, the Democratically-controlled state Senate still managed to find time to hand out pay raises to 11 staffers totaling nearly $200,000.
The bumps -- ranging from 10 to 51 percent -- were approved at the same time Controller Thomas DiNapoli and Gov. David Paterson were trying to dock the pay of Senators as punishment for their negligence to the people of New York, reported the New York Daily News.
Not surprisingly, most of the raises went to aides to Senate President Malcolm Smith, whose rudeness allegedly inspired the coup, and Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson.
Austin Shafran, a spokesman for Smith, says the raises were granted months ago, but only recently went through
"When the Democrats came into the majority in January, a number of high-level essential staffers were given raises commensurate with their duties now in the majority," Shafran said.
"The raises had been scheduled for a while. The decision was not made after June 8, after the leadership dispute. One thing had nothing to do with the other," Shafran added.
