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July 3, 2009

NY comptroller wants to freeze Senate pay

By VALERIE BAUMAN

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli announced plans Thursday to withhold pay for state senators until a court requires him to release the funds or there's a resolution of the leadership struggle that has paralyzed the Senate for weeks.

DiNapoli is filing suit in state Supreme Court seeking a decision on whether he has the constitutional authority to hold up the payments. Senators are scheduled to get their next paycheck July 8, or direct deposit the day before.

DiNapoli is urging senators to resolve the deadlock that started with a parliamentary coup June 8. Since then, a Republican-dominated faction has argued with the Democratic conference about who controls the chamber.

"We'll see him in court," said Austin Shafran, spokesman for the Senate's Democratic conference. "We don't believe there is any legal justification for withholding pay."

The Senate Republicans declined comment.

Gov. David Paterson continues to call the Senate back for special sessions until a deal is reached.

DiNapoli already suspended reimbursements indefinitely — which include $560,000 so far for 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.

Since New York's regular Senate session ended June 22, senators have racked up $94,400 just for their per diems — the $160 daily stipend that 59 senators are entitled to because they live outside of Albany.

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.

Lucrative chairmanships and the distribution of resources and staff aren't the only things up for grabs. The fight is also about the power to put ideology into policy and law. Despite ridicule and condemnation by pundits, lawmakers defend the fight for control as their responsibility to their constituents.

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.

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