The cost of a 'part-time' legislature

New York legislators have to be among the most well-paid 'part-time' workers in the world. 

(They insist they are 'part-time' as an excuse to avoid conflict-of-interest disclosure laws that might reveal their leve of corruption). 

Legislators receive a base salary of $79,500 for 62 scheduled work days in Albany, plus more if they chair committees or serve in leadership posts. 

Yes, I know they do some work in their districts but this base salary works out to nearly $1300 a day of the legislative session. Plus, they get a $165 per diem for every day of the legislative session they are in Albany (or, apparently, even if they’re not).

If the state is only run by three people -- the Assembly speaker, the Senate majority leader and governor -- as many rank-and-file legislators complain, then why do we need the other 210 legislators at $1465 a day per member?

But apparently $1465 a day isn't enough. These part-timers want a pay raise.

Random thoughts

PRIORITIES
The American people had no problem with kidnapping random and sundry foreigners on foreign soil, guilty or not, and “renditioning” them to torturous regimes under the pretext of national security. We had no problem with funding such tortuous regimes with oodles of your tax money (but God forbid we help working Americans get health care). We had no problem with our agents doing the torturing themselves. We had no problem with the horrors revealed in Wikileaks’ Afghan and Iraq war logs (sorry I can’t link to them as Wikileaks’ site curiously appears to be down). Heck, we had little problem with the insane and counterproductive aggression against Iraq in the first place, even after the WMD fairy refused to show us where those weapons were. But we draw the line at airport pat downs and body scanners?

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NATIONAL 'DON'T USE YOUR BRAIN' DAY
First, there was a national “Don’t Buy Gas” Day protest. Now, there’s a “Buy Nothing” Day. Do people realize how stupid and pointless these one day protests are? Do you seriously think you’re sending a warning to the consumerist economy by refusing to spend a dime on useless crap today but then going out and buying useless crap tomorrow? Is the self-indulgence of empty symbolism really that powerful? If you really want to send a message, don’t change your day. Change your dang lifestyle.

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ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ONE, ACCOUNTABILITY FOR ALL
If teachers should be held “accountable” via their students’ test scores, shouldn’t corrections officers be similarly held “accountable” via their released prisoners’ recidivism rates?

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THE JUDICIARY HIJACKED BY THE MOB
So Mike Huckabee is gloating that he and his fellow theocrats helped oust several Iowa Supreme Court justices who ruled in favor of equal protection of the law for gay citizens. He claimed that the ruling sent a message.

It sent a message indeed: beyond a certain level, we shouldn't have elected judges.

The system here in New York is fine. Trial court judges are elected. But appellate court judges, those who set precedents, are appointed by the governor and approved by the legislature but to a limited term of office. This gives them a certain degree of accountability but shields them to a certain extent from mob fury.

The judiciary is not supposed represent the "will of the people." It's supposed to uphold constitutions, including minority rights protections, regardless of what the hysteria or scapegoat of the day happens to be.

And it sent another message about why electing judges is dangerous: it lends itself to the same corruption of outside money as the election of politicians.


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OXYMORON OF THE DAY
New York’s governor-elect wants the judiciary to intervene in a few close election recounts to ensure that we have a “functioning Senate” in January. It’s amusing that he thinks the courts can impose this. Between being run by boobs and criminals (convicted, indicted and not-yet-indicted), NYS hasn’t had a functioning Senate in several years.

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MONEY WELL SPENT?
The US alone has spent $56 billion on “Afghanistan reconstruction.” For reference, if the US had instead divvied up that money equally and directly given it to the people, that would have put $2000 in the hands of every single Afghan.

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FORTUNATELY NO ONE EXPECTS COHERENCE FROM SPORTS ANNOUNCERS
Soccer commentators should be thrashed for improper use of the word 'unlucky.' Hitting a shot 15 feet over the cross bar or, worse, out for a throw in is NOT unlucky; it's incompetent. Unlucky is the FC Dallas player who scored the own goal on Sunday night.

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RADIATING FURY
Last month, Hundreds of gallons of radioactive water from a cleanup at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory spilled from a drainage pipe into the Mohawk River in NY’s Capital District, according to an article in the Albany Times Union. A failed sump pump system caused about 630 gallons of tainted water -- containing Cesium-137, Strontium-90, uranium and plutonium -- to overflow into a culvert draining directly into the river, [the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation] reported.

The T-U described these as ‘known carcinogens.’

I can’t imagine why there’s public reticence about the expansion of nuclear power as an energy source.

Bits and pieces

LA VICTIMA DE DELITO HABLA ESPANOL
A few towns in rural Washington County, NY recently passed laws mandating English as the sole official language of government communication; though to his credit, the Green mayor of village of Greenwich, David Doonan, categorically refused to entertain such a proposition.

Recently, police in Saratoga Springs responded to a stabbing near the city's famous racetrack. But officers who responded to the scene could not communicate with the victim or any of the witnesses, because they spoke only Spanish. The track attracts a lot short-term workers during the summer, many from Latin American countries.

In response, the city's police department is implementing Spanish-language training for its force and is contemplating giving preference to bilingual officers in future hiring.

It's a good thing for the safety of city residents that the Saratoga Springs PD isn't hampered by an English-only law preventing them from effectively investigating crimes.

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LEGISLATORS ON VACATION FROM THEIR NON-WORK
In my last post, I lamented the poor state legislators who, unpaid due to the unfinished budget, have to survive on a meager $171 a day per diem. I guess some of them are managing to survive.

Gov. Paterson called a special session of the legislature yesterday and the Senate merely gaveled in and out rather than do its job and work on a budget. The majority Democrats complained that the governor called the session when several of them were on vacation and thus wouldn't have the votes to pass anything anyway. Of course, if they'd passed the budget when it was due on April 1, or any time since, there wouldn't be an issue. The idea that they felt they had done anything to earn a vacation is, in and of itself, appalling.

The outspoken social conservative Democrat Sen. Ruben Diaz blasted the governor for wasting time and money. In other words, he said it's the governor's fault the he and his colleagues refuse to do their jobs.


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SPEAKING OF USELESS POLITICIANS...
Given the morass in the legislature, it's not surprising little talent is seeking the governor's mansion. Democratic attorney general Andrew Cuomo, the consummate insider, is running as a fake agent of change. I think his campaign handlers have banned him to not mention one single specific or proposition of something, limiting him to mealy-mouthed vague platitudes. His Republican opponents, Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino, are even emptier suits. They've chosen the demagogue route.

Far behind Cuomo in the polls, they have seized on attempts by a moderate Muslim group to build a mosque and community center near Ground Zero in a pathetic attempt to get someone to pay attention to them. They've both expressed support of using eminent domain to block the construction. It's bad enough they're focusing on this issue rather than the state's fiscal mess or corruption in Albany. But now we have the spectacle of so-called conservatives and opponents of big government launching an assault not only on freedom of religion but also on private property rights.

At least the Greens are offering a serious candidate for governor worth your attention, Howie Hawkins, as well as a number of other good candidates for statewide and local office. I've heard Hawkins speak several times and was impressed. He's not nearly as eloquent as the aforementioned empty suits but he's not afraid to get specific and offer concrete ideas, not just empty mom-and-apple-pie platitudes. The current governor is doing a decent job, considering the entrenched opposition. His successor needs both a brain and a spine and Hawkins is, to my knowledge, the only candidate with both.


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OIL COMPANIES HAVE RUINED AFRICA TOO
The catastrophic spill in the Gulf of Mexico has made Americans aware of the environmental and economic devastation caused by reckless practices of petroleum multinationals. People of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria are far too aware of this, as the public radio show The Story recently explored.


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40 YEARS OF EARTH DAY
On a more upbeat environmental note, Adirondack Almanack's John Warren has a good piece on the profound legacy of Earth Day, which was first celebrated in 1970.

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WASTE LOCALLY
The Post-Star has a good editorial (hey it happens! law of averages) on Saturday about the state's now-defunct Empire Zone program, which was a slush fund for businesses. The current head of the Empire State Development Corporation told the daily's editorial board that out of the more than 8,500 companies that had received financial benefits under the old Empire Zone program, two-thirds of them probably would have done what they did anyway - without receiving any benefits at all. We would have gotten all the same economic benefits - jobs, local investment, tax revenue - without a single penny of taxpayer money.

The paper rightly bemoaned this huge waste of tax dollars for little appreciable benefit.

But there's even more waste than just that: the various quasi-public agencies.

The city of Glens Falls alone has: local development corporation, an industrial development agency, a tourism office and an urban renewal agency.

And yet it 'needs' to pay staff and fund these agencies even though they largely duplicate the work of the Warren County economic development corporation, the Warren County tourism office and the bi-county industrial development agency.

I'd urge Post-Star to continue its opposition to waste and do an investigation into the city EDC, IDA and tourism offices to see a) if their existences really justify what we're spending on them and b) if that benefit is really greater than what we'd get simply by using the parallel county agencies.

Dear Congressman Scott Murphy

Dear Congressman Scott Murphy,

Your alleged efforts to reduce federal spending might have more credibility if you didn't waste money to send me two identical glossy mailers pamphlets bragging about it... especially when I'm on your email list.

Sincerely,
Me

'Economic development' entities: useful tools or patronage factories?

I'd love to know why the city of Glens Falls (GF) spends so much money on so many different "economic development"-type entities. In addition to the Urban Renewal Agency (which may have a distinct purpose), the city also has:

-The Greater GF Local Development Corporation
-The GF Industrial Development Agency

... which largely duplicate the following county-level organizations...

-The Warren County Economic Development Corporation
-The Warren/Washington County Industrial Development Agency

... in addition to several economic development related positions inside City Hall itself...

-An economic/community development director (held by former mayor Ed Bartholomew)
-An economic development consultant (was Ken Green until he resigned following to DWI charges)

The city used to have a tourism coordinator (which itself mimicked the county tourism office) and a downtown events' coordinator as well, though I'm not sure if those positions are still filled.

Is all the money being spent by taxpayers of this small city on this plethora of unelected, unaccountable agencies, directors, consultants and coordinators really recouped by the work they do? Why can't all the City Hall functions be consolidated into a single position and the quasi-public agencies folded into their county counterparts? Do any business owners know what these entities are doing to validate their existence? In the midst of this economic tumult in a city with already high property taxes, I'd love to see hard economic numbers justifying all this apparent duplication.

Spending cutter heal thyself (corrected and updated)

Within the last week, I received two different taxpayer funded mailers from local Congressman Scott Murphy. They were the typical mindless color-by-numbers nonsense, making sure to mouth every bullet point that he thinks might resonate with North Country voters... which they might if the venture capitalist weren't so transparently the archetype of an empty, stick-his-finger-in-the-wind politician.

(passages in bold are his emphases)

"Congressman Murphy is making sure Congress handles money responsibly because he believes the money is yours."

"Congressman Murphy knows that taxes are a heavy burden on Upstate New York families."

"Congressman Murphy co-sponsored legislation to provide property tax relief." (though without saying what a federal legislator can do about property taxes which are almost exclusively beholden to state, county and municipal budgets)

"Protecting your tax dollars is part of my job, because my job is to represent you."

Although the last one is about is empty-headed as you can get, my personal favorite is this one:

"Every month, in our small businesses and around our kitchen tables, we prove that fiscal responsibility works. It's time Washington learned how."

Apparently he's unaware of credit cards, mortgages, car loans, college loans, small business loans and bankruptcy filings used by many of the non-millionaires of society.

Not only did he send an expensive, taxpayer funded glossy mailer to share these pearls of Socratic wisdom and Churchillian leadership, even though he has my email address and could easily have propagandized more cheaply this way, but he sent me two identical expensive, taxpayer funded glossy mailers lecturing me on the need for Congressional spending restraint.

He also sent duplicates of the other mailer, which touted his opposition to decent health care for all Americans*.

(*-see correction below)

When Murphy campaigned on a promise to create jobs, as though this is something a Congressman can have much impact on, I think the people who believed him assumed it would be more than in just the expensive glossy mailer publishing industry.

Update: Bob over at Planet Albany isn't impressed either.

*-Correction: The mailer touting his opposition to decent health care was actually received a few weeks ago. The other taxpayer funded mailer received last week bragged about how he was single-handedly saving us from the tax demon... even though it repeated much of what he said in the other mailer sent almost at the same time.

"No one needs to remind you of the pressure taxes put on Upstate New York's families," he chest-thumped.

So why spend an expensive TAXPAYER FUNDED mailer saying this?

I do apologize for not being able to keep track of all the taxpayer funded mailers sent by the Congressman talking about the need for restraint in public spending.

Screw the pedestrians!

I've written before about problems with the president's 'Stimulus' package, particularly its emphasis on wasting the $800,000,000,000 on what can be done quickly rather than doing things right or doing what's needed.

I wrote: This crystallized for me some months ago when I heard New York Gov. David Paterson's remarks while inaugurating some road project in the Albany suburbs. He was asked by a reporter why the road did not include a bike path. You have to remember this is Stimulus money, the governor insisted. It's Stimulus money. It's Stimulus money.

[...]

Basically, Paterson said that because the project was being paid for with Stimulus money, the most important thing was that it be done quickly -- not that it be done well, not that it be done efficiently or in a beneficial way, but that it be done as fast as possible.

So paying for some suburban road project that will only stimulate more traffic congestion is an acceptable use of funds, but building a sidewalk so schoolchildren don't have walk along the shoulder of a major state highway was denied.

I know public policy in this country is generally hell-bent on subsidizing the least efficient, most environmentally damaging form of transportation, the private, single-person automobile. But with $800,000,000,000 floating around, you'd think they'd at least be able to throw the occasional bone to bicyclists and schoolchildren.

Stimulating waste

I've never been a big fan of the so-called Stimulus Package proposed by Pres. Obama and passed by the Democratic Congress. I don't object to spending money, even a lot of money, if it's on projects or ideas that are targeted and well thought out. The Stimulus Package, by contrast, is not thought out at all.

It simply takes close to $800,000,000,000, throws it up in the air and hopes something good happens with some of residue. That may have worked in the Great Depression, and there's quite a bit of historical debate on whether it actually did, but needless to say we are not today in a depression, great or small.

This crystallized for me some months ago when I heard New York Gov. David Paterson's remarks while inaugurating some road project in the Albany suburbs. He was asked by a reporter why the road did not include a bike path. You have to remember this is Stimulus money, the governor insisted. It's Stimulus money. It's Stimulus money.

It was on the radio so I could not tell if he clicked his heels three times.

Basically, Paterson said that because the project was being paid for with Stimulus money, the most important thing was that it be done quickly -- not that it be done well, not that it be done efficiently or in a beneficial way, but that it be done as fast as possible.

The insanity of all was brought him in today's issue The Post-Star.

The paper editorialized against the purchase of a $550,000 hybrid bus by the local public transit company. The editorial pointed out that the transit company didn't even want a hybrid bus until it realized that there was Stimulus money available for it.

For the record, I'm a very strong advocate of public transit. I think the local system should be expanded so that actually using it is more viable for more people. I use buses but would use it much more if its limited runs weren't so inconvenient for my work schedule. But the new hybrid bus is not being used to expand service in any case.

By contrast, a report on last night's Glens Falls Common Council meeting noted: [NY] State Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Alexander Grannis recently notified the city in a letter that no funding is available for dam refurbishment projects under the federal stimulus program.

Glens Falls is under orders from the state to make something like $13 million in repairs to the city's dams.

So Stimulus money is available for buses that are not needed and will not be used to expand service or create jobs, but not a dime of it is available for mandated repairs to critical infrastructure.

Vice-President Biden was in the region last week on his The Stimulus is Wonderful national tour. Too bad he couldn't have been asked why GF can get money for a luxury but not a necessity.

The non-political entry

TRIPPING
I was just tabbing up my bike usage and I've biked 1553 (excluding the last two days) in the last almost 13 months. That works out to about 5 miles a day which actually seems low but then you figure that it takes into account the several months of winter during which even when I do bike, it's minimal. During the good weather season, it works out to 7-8 miles a day typically.

Perhaps more interestingly is that I've biked during 311 of the last 384 days. The 73 non-biking days (about 19 percent) is pretty good considering that it takes into account both the notoriously harsh upstate NY winters and rainy days.

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NO WONDER THE FORESTS ARE DISAPPEARING
I work at a media company. There is so much paper wasted, it's unreal. A sports channel will basically waste 300 pages of paper and countless printer ink to say what I can summarize in one sentence: "Will air our sports news program every half hour all summer."

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STEVE JOBS CAN LICK MY APPLES
I no longer have an iPhone. I was talking with a colleague of mine about my intention to get the new 3G iPhone when it came out. Not necessarily the instant it came out but shortly thereafter. He said he'd buy the old one off me.

There was a catch.

The new iPhone came out last Friday. He went on vacation last Wednesday. He badly wanted the iPhone to bring with him on his trip. He proposed lending me his girlfriend's phone for the few days until I got the new iPhone. Against my better judgment, I accepted. I had a gut feeling that it wasn't a good idea. Maybe I should've listened.

I got to the AT&T store at 9:30 on Friday. The place opened at 8:00 but I figured the line would be shorter at 9:30. By 10:00, they were sold out of their stock. The best part is that they had no idea when they were going to get more.

On Sunday, I went there again to try to see if they had a better idea of what was going on. They said the store would probably get another shipment "at some point" this week. But they added that they didn't think they'd last very long given all the phone calls they'd received about it.

They said if I wanted, I could special order one. This would guarantee me an iPhone... but it would take 3 weeks to fulfill... and I couldn't cancel the special order if a sufficient regular shipment came into the store.

In other circumstances, this would be a minor annoyance, not a big problem. Normally, I could just wait the few weeks. I'm not one of those guys who HAS to have every new toy the second it comes out.

But I'm using a borrowed cell phone. I'm sure my friend's girlfriend would want it back when they got back from vacation, not at some indeterminate point in the future.

The other, more serious problem is that, for whatever reason, I can't access my contacts or my calendar on it. I'd have to re-input them all on to the phone, which I'm loathe to do since it's a borrowed cell phone.

This is even more problematic since, again, I have absolutely no clue when I'd be able to get a new iPhone.

In fact, I even called every single AT&T store within a 50 mile radius on Friday afternoon and they were all out. The only exception was the Apple store in a mall in Albany but by Saturday morning (the earliest I could've gotten down there), they too were out. Again, none of them had a definitive idea when they were going to get more... or how many.

I decided to say screw it and ordered another phone instead.

It doesn't have the "cool" factor of the iPhone but it does most of the key stuff I need it and some other things I want that the iPhone doesn't. I would've preferred to stay with the iPhone but I was so pissed off at Apple and I didn't want to remain in limbo for who knows how long.

I love Apple as a concept. I love the edginess and their think outside the box mentality. But they also have a tendency to do so real dumbass things... things that make me think thrice about getting an Apple computer. And their idea of customer service makes the airlines look like paradise.

Apple is so maniacally proprietary that they often ending up shooting themselves in the foot. Their refusal to let anyone else work with the operating system is what led to the vastly inferior Microsoft Windows/PC model to become the dominant player in the computing arena and really made Apple almost irrelevant until the release of the iPod.

On a smaller level, the headphone jack for the original iPhone was slightly different than a regular jack, such that regular headphones would not work in it without an adapter.

Apple released the iPhone is something like 77 countries around the world at the same time AND released a major update for existing iPhone users... and were shocked (SHOCKED) that the iTunes server crashed almost immediately.

That combined with ridiculously low stocks for a product they had hyped massively and knew was going to be ridiculously popular is yet another example of piss poor planning on Apple's part.

And it cost them at least one customer.

Though I'm sure their too cool to care.