From the NY Post:Lame-duck state legislators showered loyal staffers with fat raises after their defeats, a Post analysis of state-payroll records found.
As state Sens. Shirley Huntley (D-Queens) and David Storobin (R-Brooklyn) prepared to exit their government offices at the end of this month, they suddenly promoted pet staffers and granted them salary hikes that, in some cases, are higher pay rates than their own.
After a defeat, losing legislators typically “try to get as much money as they can to their friends and supporters,” an Albany insider said. Lawmakers’ taxpayer-funded staffing budgets begin at $350,000 but can increase.
Raises over 10 percent annually are considered “questionable,” the insider said.
“Its an old Albany game of ‘take as much as you can,’ ” he added. “This is the time when no real work is going on, especially for someone not coming back.”
Most of the hikes arrived in paychecks a day after the Nov. 6 general election.
