crime pays

Andrew Cuomo to become the highest-paid governor in the US even though he tried & failed to run over the wandering dago food truck

Wandering Dago, Inc. v. Destito, No. 16-622 (2d Cir. 2018)

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Justia Opinion Summary

WD filed suit against OGS, alleging that defendants violated its rights under the First Amendment, the Equal Protection Clause, and the New York State Constitution by denying WD's applications to participate as a food truck vendor in the Lunch Program based on its ethnic-slur branding. The Second Circuit reversed the district court's grant of summary judgment for defendant, holding that defendants' action violated WD's equal protection rights and its rights under the New York State Constitution. In this case, it was undisputed that defendants denied WD's applications solely because of its ethnic-slur branding. In Matal v. Tam, 137 S. Ct. 1744 (2017), the Supreme Court clarified that this action amounted to viewpoint discrimination and, if not government speech or otherwise protected, was prohibited by the First Amendment. The court rejected defendants' argument that their actions were unobjectionable because they were either part of OGS's government speech or permissible regulation of a government contractor's speech. Aaron Feis

April 1, 2019 | 10:12pm

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Andrew CuomoDennis A. Clark

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Even with Albany passing a $175 billion budget underpinned by a series of new taxes, there’s at least one New Yorker whose bank account will be better off: Gov. Cuomo.

Lawmakers voted in the wee hours of Monday morning to hike Cuomo’s salary to $250,000 by 2021, making him the highest-paid governor in the nation. 

Voting largely along party lines, the Senate signed off on the raise around 2:45 a.m. in a 35-to-24 vote. 

The Assembly followed at 7 a.m., approving the raise by a margin of 92 to 46.

Cuomo’s compensation will jump from a 2018 salary of $179,500 to $200,000 this year, $225,000 in 2020 and $250,000 in 2021 — good enough to leave California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s current high of $202,000 in the dust. 

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul will also get a bump to $220,000 by 2021. She was making $151,500 last year.

The state’s Compensation Committee recommended the pay hikes as part of a sweeping slate of raises for lawmakers and top state officials that took effect on Jan. 1. 

The committee voted in December to increase lawmakers’ salaries over three years, from $79,500 to $130,000.

But that came with a restriction on outside income to no more than 15 percent of a legislator’s total earnings.

Cuomo’s raise required separate legislative approval — and lawmakers weren’t notified of the plan to boost Cuomo’s salary until late Sunday night. 

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The raise came amid a rush of new fees and taxes, including a charge to drive into central Manhattan, a 4 percent tax on home sales of $25 million and up, and an extension of the top income tax rate of 8.82 percent to 2024.