Nice work if you can get it.
We’re talking about being a legislator in New York’s state Assembly.
According to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, the job apparently doesn’t require a great deal of heavy lifting. “Once the budget is enacted,” he says, “there isn’t a lot that would be considered between now and the end of the year.”
Silver spoke these words by way of explaining why he doesn’t think it’s urgent to hold special elections to fill the 11 seats that are now vacant — many thanks to scandals involving sex or corruption. Any elections, he points out, could not take place until after the annual battle over the state budget has been finished.
Silly us. We had been under the impression that the reason we elect people to send to Albany is to ensure that every citizen of this state is represented on the great issues before our legislative body. In addition, members also provide valuable constituent services to those they represent.
But now that we’ve had a chance to think about it, we’re thinking Shelly may be on to something here. In recent years, the Legislature has managed to meet its April 1 deadline for enacting a new budget. And given that all the real decisions in the Legislature are made by the leadership of both houses without much input or debate from below, maybe we don’t need all these elected politicians there after all.
Not to mention their salaries, their staffs and their lulus.
So why not cut their pay, have legislators get together for just a few weeks each to year to pass a budget — and then send them home, where they can do less mischief?