While police officers and firefighters will be looking at 1% and 2.5% pay raises respectively this year, City Council members in New York Council are seeking to give themselves an additional salary of $80,000 each – a hike of 71%.
The raises would put council members ahead of the governor and members of Congress for salary.
Via the Daily News:
Poverty-crying City Council members are quietly plotting for a massive pay raise that will bring their six-figure salaries up to a whopping $192,500 — a 71% windfall — as cops face a proposed 1% hike, and firefighters will only see a 2.5% bump this year, sources told the Daily News.
More than half a dozen Council members — who earn base pay of $112,500 — have been holding hush-hush meetings to try to engineer the huge raises, which would bring their salaries above those of the governor and members of Congress, multiple Council sources said.
Political consultant John Brodigan took to Twitter to express outrage at the council’s seeming lack of self-awareness.
If you could bottle the lack of self awareness in the city council, you could probably feed the hungry. https://t.co/0DaSkuIhQy
— Brodigan Strong Style (@brodigan) November 12, 2015
Patrick Lynch, president of the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association, criticized the council for making such a brazen effort to reward themselves while men and women on the front lines of public safety in the city are being given meager rewards.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy for the City Council to seek a raise of this magnitude while New York City police officers are expected to settle for 1%,” Lynch said.
Daily News sources indicate that council members were looking at comparable numbers to their colleagues in Los Angeles, proving once again that liberals will leave no stone unturned in their efforts to turn New York into California East.
While outrage to the council’s proposal has been widespread, one person is supporting the raises. That person is none of than Anthony Weiner (aka Carlos Danger), who penned a column saying, “We should pay City Council members more.”
The former mayoral candidate who resigned from Congress in disgrace said his support was contingent on council members not accepting any other forms of outside pay.
Weiner’s reasoning is that the $80,000 for each city council member is a small price to pay to avoid predicaments similar to the one facing former Assempbly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who is currently on trial for alleged quid pro quo connected to his work for a law firm.
“The proposed increase from $112,500 to $192,500 is a bit steep,” Weiner explained. “But if the additional salary means that we buy transparency and a no-nonsense redefinition of the job, then I see it as well worth it.”
See how that works? If you want to reduce the risks of corruption for lawmakers in New York City, you’re just going to have to pay them more.
Cross-posted at the Mental Recession
