State Senate Democratic leader John Sampson’s conference — now rele gated back to minority status after two tumultuous years atop Albany’s smash-and-grab heap — is pushing for another payday.
Losing power scaled back the Dems’ access to the public purse dramatically — so the newly minted minority is scurrying to claw back some cash.
Current rules give the majority party 65 percent of the chamber’s funding for staff — with the remainder going to the minority party.
And the Dems were perfectly thrilled with that when they controlled the Senate.
Now, suddenly, the portions are unfair: The Dems say the funding should be doled out in proportion to the number of seats a party holds.
That would make it nearly a 50-50 split, with the Senate divided 32-30.
Actually, they may have a point: The Dems’ horrific performance over the past two years — when they finally took control of the Senate after years in the wilderness — suggests that starving a minority’s staff renders it ill-prepared should it suddenly ascend to power.
Then again, rewarding the Dems’ incompetence with more cash is just a tad, well . . . insane.
Democrats used their tenure to launch a wild hiring and spending binge, busting their own $29 million budget by at least $11 million.
Now — gasp! — they don’t have enough money to pay their swollen staff.
Now — surprise! — they still can’t get their payroll in control or under budget.
The upshot: This week, about 200 Democratic hands lost their jobs as money dried up.
Then the leaders had the nerve to try to turn their failures into a badge of honor: Democrats are “a victim of our own generosity,” said Sampson.
His own greed, is more like it.
No doubt Sampson & Co. want to change the funding formula because they can’t kick their addiction to spending.
Maybe they should get more money one day. But first, they need to get their house in order — to say nothing of accounting for the missing $11 million.
If they can.