Thursday, September 9, 2010

How New York State Legislature members spend your money for stuff, for them, to do stuff, which they should do, because that's a lot of money (boring!)

It's a well known paradox: we hate getting taxed in the state, but we love our legislators for bringing the pork home. But how much do they spend on office operations, like travel, mail, long distance calls, personal service (?), and, uh, stuff?

Well, here is a little informative chart that should help you decide in November which way you might want to go, as I'm told that our role in journalism is to communicate to our audience valuable information so they can make informed decisions.

CRAZY TALK!

Anyway, here's the chart, courtesy of The Empire Center's seethroughny.net, as first reported by the awesome Celeste Diaz of the New York Daily News.

Legislative Expenditures 10.09-3.10 Release2

If you are too lazy to break down your local white dude in office (yes, all our representatives are white men), here's a breakdown, from Oct. 1, 2009, to March 31, 2010.

State Senate:

* John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope (we hope). $396.115, ranking 21 out of 65 big spenders, I mean, state senators.
* Steven Saland: R-Poughkeepsie. $377,244, ranking 27.
* James Seward, R-Oneonta. $352,177, ranking 38
* Bill Larkin, R-Cornwall, $338,820 , ranking 49

The biggest offender? Pride of the State Senate Pedro Spada, who likes to switch parties, sushi, and get in trouble with ethics and the law, which is why he is their leader. I wish I was joking.

State Assembly:

* Kevin Cahill, D-Kingston. $219,349, ranking 32 out of 152.
* Joel Miller, R-Poughkeepsie,  $153,175, ranking 83.
* Frank Starkados, D-Milton. $142,156, ranking 106
* Clifford Crouch, R-Guilford. $135,604, ranking 116
* Marc Molinaro, R-Red Hook. $133,186, ranking 123
* Peter Lopez, R-Schoharie. $113,674, ranking 145.

More detailed reports, including pork, are also available.