EDITORIALS
No pay for no work
Comptroller’s withholding of checks highlights damage Senate is doing
The state comptroller’s sally into the swamp of senatorial malfeasance may do little public good in the end, but his decision to withhold senators’ paychecks has to be heartening to all who are fed up with the gamesmanship that has been substituting for governance in Albany.
Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli announced last week that, despite questionable constitutionality, he would withhold the pay of senators until they resolved the power struggle that has paralyzed government in New York. It’s hardly unfair. According to DiNapoli, the standoff has cost local governments $741 million, New York City $902 million and the state $1.3 billion. If senators don’t care about that, maybe they’ll care about having their paychecks withheld.
Or maybe not. Wednesday’s checks were the first to be affected, but a court hearing—initiated by DiNapoli—is scheduled for Friday. While senators have announced their intention to reach a leadership agreement today, that’s no sure thing and it remains possible that the judge will issue a paycheck ruling Friday that could well go against the comptroller. It wouldn’t be the first time the law was unjust.
And, to be sure, such a ruling would be unjust. Here is some of the damage senators have done to New York by refusing to compromise their way out of a deadlock that has gripped the Senate since Republicans staged a coup early in June:
• Sales tax extenders worth $582 million are being left undone. Niagara, Genesee, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties are among the victims. Meanwhile, the comptroller says, 25 counties, cities and villages are waiting for approval for mortgage recording, real estate and hotel/motel taxes; wireless and traffic surcharges; parking authority; deficit financing; income tax surcharges and pension incentive payments.
• An extender for the Power for Jobs/Energy Cost Savings Programs, worth $125 million, is being ignored. Legislation to increase funding caps and let county and city veteran service agencies access funds included in the state budget is going nowhere. That’s worth half a million dollars.
Why shouldn’t senators forfeit their pay? Even if, in their intransigence, they were doing no harm, they would merit the sanction. In the real world they’d be fired. In Albany they and their staffers not only get paid, they get per-diem compensation for room and board plus travel allowances. But it’s worse than that. They are damaging the state, hurting real people.
DiNapoli says he will refuse to cut checks for senators until they end the foolishness or a judge rules that he must pay them despite their misconduct. Sad to say, the latter may occur before the former.
Too bad, but it’s New York.
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