Tempers flared at a meeting of a state commission that's considering giving lawmakers their first pay raises in 17 years. While the commission is supposed to be bipartisan, some of its members failed to keep politics out of the discussion. State House Reporter Zack Fink has more.
The idea was to create a commission to dispassionately determine whether legislators in Albany deserve a pay raise. But tensions over the highly charged issue bubbled over at the Commission's meeting, even though not a single current lawmaker was present.
Things got very testy between Fran Reiter, an appointee of Governor Andrew Cuomo, and James Lack, a former State Senator who is representing the Republican led state Senate on the Commission.
Legislators currently make $79,500 per year, and have not received a raise since 1999. Reiter complained that only two lawmakers had bothered to show up to any commission meetings to make the case for why a pay increase is or isn't necessary.
"Why don't you calm down," Reiter said. "I'm not disagreeing with you."
"You're saying three State Legislators, all of whom are junior," Lack interrupted her. "You don't bother to distinguish between full and part time. Come on??! Who cares about them?!?"
"The reluctance of the State Legislature to make its own case for itself pisses me off!" Reiter said. "And I'm sorry if you don't get that."
"Oh, I get it," Lack said. "And I certainly get why they don't want to come and see you."
In years past, lawmakers have voted themselves a pay raise. The commission was quietly created last year during a late night vote on the state budget to avoid the spectacle of state lawmakers increasing their own salaries.
"That was an attempt to de-politicize," Lack said. "And that's one reason those salaries haven't been increased for 18 years. And that is what we have been appointed to do, and that is what we will do."
"I do wish that someone would have come in and made the case for the work that they do outside of what they do when they are in session," Reiter said. "And I think that would have been informative and I think it would have helped the case."
The pay Commission is set to make its recommendations by November 15, which is a week after election day. Many insiders believe that was done by design.