come on down snd talk to nassau otb workers and bettors
no raise for ny state kegislators too!
Nassau GOP chair intends to collect fat paychecks for 3 jobs
Commission to Determine Whether State Lawmakers Will Get Pay RaiseNext week will be the first meeting of the legislative pay commission, which was created by the legislature earlier this year. It will make a recommendation on how lawmakers should be compensated going forward.
Members of the legislature currently earn a $79,500 base salary and haven’t had a pay increase since 1999.
State Comptroller Tom DNapoli is a member of the pay commission.
"I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say we have to deal with the issue," DiNapoli said. "I’m not sure the way it was rushed laid it out in the best way possible, but hey we have a job to do, and I’m sure we will do it."
Earlier this year, as the state budget was being negotiated in secret by legislative leaders and the governor in Albany, a last-minute item got shoved into the budget that established the pay commission. The idea was to take politics out of the decision-making process.
The recommendations of the commission will be binding, assuming the legislature does not pass a law saying otherwise.
"This pay commission, this pay crisis has been going on for 20 years. That’s the last time there was a pay increase in the legislature," said City Comptroller Scott Stringer. "So yes, there is a lot of politics to this. No one is ever going to be satisfied."
There have also been discussions about ending lawmakers' ability to earn outside income, although that would likely require a constitutional amendment.
City Council members gave themselves a significant pay raise two years ago, but banned outside income as part of the deal.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has been advocating for a pay raise for his members, but says the commission will not tackle the thornier issues dealing with outside income.
"The commission’s really only charge is, determine what is fair pay for the legislature, the statewides and the governor's commissioners as well," Heastie said.
The pay commission will have its first meeting on Tuesday. It will then lay out a timeline for condensed schedule of public hearings. Its recommendations are due to the legislature by December 10.
By Zack Fink Puerto Rico
Next week will be the first meeting of the legislative pay commission, which was created by the legislature earlier this year. It will make a recommendation on how lawmakers should be compensated going forward.
Members of the legislature currently earn a $79,500 base salary and haven’t had a pay increase since 1999.
State Comptroller Tom DNapoli is a member of the pay commission.
"I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say we have to deal with the issue," DiNapoli said. "I’m not sure the way it was rushed laid it out in the best way possible, but hey we have a job to do, and I’m sure we will do it."
Earlier this year, as the state budget was being negotiated in secret by legislative leaders and the governor in Albany, a last-minute item got shoved into the budget that established the pay commission. The idea was to take politics out of the decision-making process.
The recommendations of the commission will be binding, assuming the legislature does not pass a law saying otherwise.
"This pay commission, this pay crisis has been going on for 20 years. That’s the last time there was a pay increase in the legislature," said City Comptroller Scott Stringer. "So yes, there is a lot of politics to this. No one is ever going to be satisfied."
There have also been discussions about ending lawmakers' ability to earn outside income, although that would likely require a constitutional amendment.
City Council members gave themselves a significant pay raise two years ago, but banned outside income as part of the deal.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has been advocating for a pay raise for his members, but says the commission will not tackle the thornier issues dealing with outside income.
"The commission’s really only charge is, determine what is fair pay for the legislature, the statewides and the governor's commissioners as well," Heastie said.
The pay commission will have its first meeting on Tuesday. It will then lay out a timeline for condensed schedule of public hearings. Its recommendations are due to the legislature by December 10.
On the heels of pay-to-play corruption scandals that have tarnished the Long Island GOP, the Nassau County Republic Party has elected a one-time disbarred lawyer to be its new leader — and the retirement-age politico intends to collect fat paychecks from three different jobs simultaneously.
Joseph Cairo, 72, the new chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party, is also head of the Nassau County Off-Track Betting Corporation. He’s paid $198,000 at OTB.
The long-time No. 2 to former Nassau GOP boss Joe Mondello had his law license yanked in the 1990s for misusing client funds. His license was reinstated and the politically-connected lawyer now has an established law practice, GOP sources said.
He also has not ruled out collecting a third paycheck from the Nassau GOP.
Mondello, his predecessor, made more than $250,000 last year as GOP boss, and pulled in $1.5 million from his private law practice and real estate investments, records filed with the government show.
At one time, Mondello also simultaneously headed the Nassau GOP and OTB.
Cairo’s law office is in Valley Stream, his OTB’s corporate office is in Mineola and Nassau GOP headquarters is in Westbury.
A Post reporter found him at GOP headquarters.
Cairo said he was not relinquishing his OTB executive job or suspending his law practice after taking the reins of the GOP.
“I’ve been at OTB. This is a crucial time at OTB with possibly sports gambling coming so we’re deeply involved with that there now,” Cairo said.
“This is a political position. My attorneys tell me there is no conflict and I think having a position in a political party is such that it’s been done in the past by people on both sides of the aisle. And I think it’s currently done, too, in some other counties — their elected officials are also party chairmen,” he said.
But watchdogs have long complained that allowing people to simultaneously hold top positions in government and party leadership opens the door to conflicts of interests and potential corruption.
“It’s business as usual. This is an example of the rotten political system in Nassau County,” said George Marlin, who formerly served on the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, a state agency set up to monitor the county’s shaky finances.
Marlin said the multiple paid gigs for Cairo is remarkable, especially after the Nassau Republicans lost the county executive’s race and the Town of Hempstead supervisor’s race last year amid concerns over corruption.
“They’ve learned nothing,” Marlin said. “They don’t care.”
Cairo chalked up the suspension of his law license to a mistake from the distant past.
“I think that’s something that happened — it was earlier than ‘95, that’s 25 years ago, and I think people who know me know the type of person I am,” he said.
With that, Cairo grabbed a suit jacket from a parked black Cadillac before jumping into the passenger seat of a Jaguar driven by a friend.
Cairo is right about one thing. On Long Island particularly, politicians simultaneously collecting hefty paychecks from top government and political party posts is a time-honored tradition.
The Post reported last week that Rich Schaffer is drawing down a combined $350,000 from three paychecks as head of the Suffolk County Democratic Party, as the full-time Town of Babylon Supervisor and from a law practice that includes representing plumbing contractors.
But Long Island Democrats have their scandals, too.
Gerard Terry, the former North Hempstead Democratic Party chairman, was convicted of tax evasion for failing to report his income that included payments from legal services provided to eight different local government agencies.
New Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, a Democrat who won the election on anti-corruption platform last year, passed executive orders barring county government officials from holding party positions or from accepting gifts.
New York City has a law that bars top government officials from serving as party bosses, following the municipal corruption scandals of the 1980s.
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