2 DEM COUNCILMEN SAY 'NO THANKS' TO PAY RAISE

[Judi Lynn]

2 DEM COUNCILMEN SAY 'NO THANKS' TO PAY RAISE
By FRANKIE EDOZIEN

November 28, 2006 -- Two City Councilmen have notified the council's personnel office that they won't be accepting the 25 percent raise that was recently approved.

Democrats Tony Avella (Queens) and Mike McMahon (S.I.) sent letters last week asking that their base salary remain at $90,000 and not rise to $112,500 after Mayor Bloomberg signs the bill to that effect.

While Avella has railed against the move from the beginning, branding it "unethical and a disgrace" for lawmakers to vote themselves a raise, McMahon was less vocal, and simply sent his letter to the council staff.

McMahon told The Post that he voted against the measure and is giving the money back because he believes the council should continue to be made up of "citizen legislators" who have outside interests and incomes.
(snip/...)

http://www.nypost.com/seven/11282006/news/regionalnews/2_dem_councilmen_say_no_thanks_to_pay_raise_regionalnews_frankie_edozien.htm

(I noticed the source is a slimey one, but it's terrific they actually published this story, anyway.)

[drm604]

1. $90,000.

At $90,000 they need outside incomes?

[Renew Deal]

5. And there's a lot of council people.

Like 45 of them. That's a big raise.

[napi21]

2. That'sgood they did this, but how many councilmen are there

and how many took the raise?

I think allraises for elected people should be voted for by the people who elected them. That includes the Fed. House & Senate! THAT just might make them pay a little more attention to what their constituents want them to do!

[RC]

3. How many would be paying us for the privilege of being in office?

[napi21]

4. Some sort of are already,based on the amount of their owm $$

they put into their election campaigns! I still don't imderstand why anyone wants to "buy" ahouse or senate seat that pays $160,000 and they spend millions of their own $$ to get it??????

[Robb]

6. "So Lenny, how much does this job pay?"

Lenny: "Nothing."
Homer: "D'OH!"
Lenny: "Unless you're crooked."
Homer: "WOOHOOO!"
:D

[Peace Patriot]

9. Power = money. That's why. And big corporations and the rich know how

to reward people for their "public service." Let the corporate lawyers write the laws, and a nice fat job or "consultancy" will be waiting for you later. Revolving door employment. Lavish lobbying. The officeholder doling out government contracts and making a lot of business/corporate/banking/military friends and obligating them for return favors. You can't find a nice house? Somebody will surely find one for you. Can't get your kids into an exclusive school? Same. You're one of the "players." You'll be taken care of. I would suspect that most office holders leave office a lot richer than they entered it. It's not the salary (although salary and benefits--full medical care, for instance--are pretty nifty). It's the OPPORTUNITIES. Big lecture circuit fees. (Remember when Reagan got $2 million for one speech in Japan, after leaving office?) Joining "think tanks" with fat stipends ("think tanks" funded by corporations and billionaire political contributors).

Our political system is FILTHY with money--to a truly unbelievable degree. Dick Cheney, for instance, has, all this time, been getting about a million dollars a year from Halliburton in "golden parachute" retirement funds, tied to Halliburton profits (which are directly linked to the billions of dollars in corporate welfare that Halliburton receives in NO-BID military contracts for the war that Cheney started). It's the most unbelievably filthy and corrupt arrangement ever seen in our government. And that sets the tone. Public officials making HUGE profits from decisions that kill and rob millions of people.

This crap started under Reagan, with the first tax code re-write to favor the rich. Before Reagan, there were NO homeless people on our streets. It just didn't happen. It was unthinkable. Everybody had enough--a roof over their heads, food, clothing, decent jobs. What we are seeing now is a disgrace--and it's been going on for 25 years, with our politicians becoming millionaires (and hanging out with millionaires--they've become a class unto themselves)--and doing the bidding of millionaires and billionaires in public policy. Bush and the Bushites have run rampant, but they are not the only guilty parties. The entire political system is rotten with money and greed and that includes all too many Democrats as well.

The model of a public official as objective, and creating policy that benefits most Americans, has gone the way of TRANSPARENT vote counting. Everything in American political life has become more corrupt than it has ever been in our history. And, in addition to all this, public officials continually raising their own salaries and benefits, when many Americans are making $8 an hour and have NO benefits, and the system furthermore treats them cruelly. I know someone who has no job, no house and almost no money, and got hit with a $40,000 bill for a medical emergency, but doesn't qualify for state medical aid because of the pittance she has in the bank. The medical-industrial complex is going to squeeze every last bit of profit and life out of this poor woman. And this is TYPICAL of our system--while those who are supposed to be protecting us from corporate predators--our political representatives--fatten their own coffers with insurance and pharmaceutical investments, and lavish perks, and generally make $100,000 to $200,000 a year in publicly paid wages with full benefits.

These city councilmen are making a statement against all this filth and corruption, by refusing the raise--which affects them materially, of course--but it's more than that. It's an ethical position. Public service should not be a for-profit enterprise in any circumstance, but especially when so many Americans are hurting badly. And Democrats Tony Avella and Mike McMahon should be applauded for it. It has to be difficult to take this stance--because it challenges the whole system, not just the salary itself. It challenges all their brethren and sistren who enter public service in the interests of the rich, who intend to get rich themselves, if they are not already (or to get richER), and who accept and promote, and exist comfortably within, a government/political system that is awash in dirty money.

Go, Tony! Go, Mike! Give us back our country! Give us good government again! Give us disinterested public service again! Give us government of the people, by the people and for the people!

[Hosnon]

7. Elected officials should not have to rely on outside incomes. I don't want a government

where only the rich get to play.

But good for these two if they can afford it!

[Donnachaidh]

11. uhhh -- I thought that's what has already happened here

the rich get richer, and the poor get nothing.

that's why we've taken back the congress.

[dubykc]

8. Good for them, we need more politicians like these guys...

It reminds of when Leon Panetta was my Rep in Congress and he turned his raises back to the treasury, I believe, every time he got one.

[Javaman]

10. so if these two Dems have the average wage they

would be getting a $22,500 pay raise. multiply that by 45 (someone said that was the rough estimate of the amount of people sitting on this city council), that comes out to $1,012,500!!! That is money that could be put back into the community rather than these $90,000 dollar a year idiots. Bravo to the Dems. Yes they still almost make 3 times more than me but at least they stood up and took a stand.
the next impressive thing would be that they now take a pay cut...I'm holding my breath.

[undeterred]

12. Remember this is New York, where a burger lunch costs $15

$90,000 is a lot of money, but it doesn't go as far in NY.

Good for them.