Jul 2, 2009 6:07 am US/Eastern
NY Senate Feud Hits Taxpayers As Dispute Drags On
ALBANY (CBS) ―
Since New York's senators stopped passing legislation and started passing insults, they've cost taxpayers at least $94,400 for staying in Albany during their protracted power struggle.
That total includes only the $160 daily expenses paid to the 59 senators from outside the Albany area for staying in town since the regular session ended June 22. The meter is ticking to the tune of $9,440 each day for those expenses, which don't include the unknown cost of stacks of late-night pizzas and the comp time they'll eventually give their weary staffers to cover overtime.
It's all a pittance compared to the state's $131.8 billion state budget, but the expense payments since the feud began -- gridlocking the final two weeks of the 2009 session -- total almost twice the annual income of the average New Yorker. During the same period, the number of jobless New Yorkers rose by about 15,300.
"It's unfortunate and I'm not proud of it, but there is a cost to it," said Sen. Thomas Libous, a Broome County Republican. He argued taxpayers will be ahead if his Republican-dominated coalition wins out, because it will try to curb spending and restore tax rebate checks.
The Senate has been deadlocked 31-31 since Republicans and dissident Democrats tried to seize a majority on June 8. The factions have defied Gov. David Paterson's orders to act together on legislation.
Up for grabs aren't just lucrative chairmanships and the distribution of resources and staff, but power to put their ideology into policy and law. Despite ridicule and condemnation by pundits, lawmakers defend the fight for control as their responsibility to their constituents.
But lawmakers are starting to feel a pinch. Gov. David Paterson called for the state comptroller to suspend pay and expenses for lawmakers as of June 15. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli had already suspended reimbursements indefinitely -- which include the senators' per diem expenses, and any other expenses like travel, office paper and pens. But it's likely senators will get the money once the leadership fight is resolved.
DiNapoli's office is consulting with lawyers about the possibility of suspending Senate pay. The next payday would be July 8.
Another cost will eventually include staff overtime hours for late nights and weekends, as well as the uncalculated cost of catered meals for staff and senators. Senate staffers accumulate compensatory time instead of overtime pay, which is usually taken in the summer and fall of a non-election year, like this year.
In addition, both sides have lawyers, most of whom are on staff. Both sides could hire some private attorneys and Democrats say they already have, but no bills are in yet, according to the state comptroller's office. Private lawyers can demand rates of $200 to $750 an hour, which could be paid through the conferences' allotted budgets or campaign funds.
Meanwhile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took over as ringmaster of the Albany circus on Wednesday, cracking the whip to make sure the political chaos doesn't cripple education in New York City.
The mayor told CBS 2 HD he hopes the Legislature returns to sanity … soon.
Senate Democrats may have thought they were dealing Bloomberg a blow by allowing his precious school governance law to expire at midnight Tuesday. But the mayor demonstrated that he can lead while they can't. He quickly established a new Board of Education packed with people who support him, including three deputy mayors. In effect, he's still running the schools.
Deputy Mayor Dennis Wolcott, who was actually named to the panel by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, was elected board president.
"Since the Senate refused to exercise its duties responsibly we here in the city are moving to protect our children. We'll do our best to keep them from becoming victims of the Albany train wreck," Bloomberg said.
The new board picked Schools Chancellor Joel Klein as the "new" chancellor and demanded that Albany pass a mayoral control bill. The mayor lambasted the do-nothing Senate.
"The current paralysis in Albany is making the New York State government a laughingstock from coast to coast," Bloomberg said.
The next meeting of the Board of Education is not until Sept. 10. Officials hope that by then Albany will have gotten its act together and passed mayoral control.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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