Thursday, January 19, 2012

Using taxpayer dollars to promote themselves

From the Daily News:

The state's budget crisis hasn't stopped lawmakers from spending big bucks to promote themselves.

Members of the Senate and Assembly have spent nearly $9 million in taxpayer money this year on constituent mailings, the Daily News has learned.

The spending comes as the state faces a $9 billion budget deficit and is preparing to lay off hundreds of government workers on Dec. 31.

"It's an extraordinary amount of money when the state is broke," said Dick Dadey, executive director of the good government group Citizens Union.

"And the timing of the newsletters is geared to inform voters just before an election, which is doubly inappropriate."

Senators spent $5.3 million on postage, while Assembly members spent $3.6 million. The Senate and Assembly spent a combined $12 million last year, records show.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe a portion of that $500,000 that Toby Ann Stavisky gets annually for her North Flushing Senior Center gets kicked back to her self promotion.

Why hasn't the FBI been on this yet?

NFSC could be a nice neat little low profile money laundry for "The Dynasty".

Anonymous said...

How else would I know when Marge Markey is running as an incumbent again without these mailings flooding my mail box with pictures of her in Schools and with senior citizens? I want to make sure I know when she is running so these mailings must continue! I want to insure I vote against her, please don't stop wasting taxpayer $$ !!!

Anonymous said...

How much does the city council spend?
I'm sure Ulrich has no problem taking cash.
Every elected uses the funds.
Newly Elected Turner will use them as well.

Anonymous said...

For heaven's sake, is that useless Marge Markey still around?

I thought she went the way of the Dodo Bird!

How much of our tax money does her salary soak up?

Patronage jobs
are costing NYC a fortune!