DAVID STOROBIN Says staffers merited hikes.
It pays to lose.
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.
Storobin lost a contentious campaign against Democrat Simcha Felder. Storobin served as a state senator for only six months after winning a special election in May to replace Carl Kruger, who was jailed after conviction in a corruption case.
Huntley was arrested on Aug. 27, charged with conspiracy, for funneling $30,000 in member items to an alleged sham charity she founded. She pleaded not guilty.
Storobin defended his raises, saying his office is operating with fewer people.
“I didn’t know who was good or bad. I fired some people,” he said, adding that the others took on more work. “With more significant assignments came a greater reward.”
Pinchas Ringel, his chief of staff, worked “ungodly hours” running the office, Storobin said. “This is not the role he used to play when he got started,” he added.
The lame duck said his office remains busy during his waning days in office because of Superstorm Sandy.
“There are days when we have 70, 80 people coming into the office,” he said.
Huntley’s office did not respond to a call for comment.