Right choice on no raise

Good for a state commission for declining to support a pay raise for state lawmakers.

Legislators don’t want to find themselves in the sticky situation of approving their own pay raise. Instead, they created the Commission on Legislative, Judicial and Executive Compensation in 2015 to take action on the issue — possibly without any input from the taxpayers footing the bill.

According to a recent Buffalo News report, commission members couldn’t agree if legislators deserved a pay raise. Some members said they would be willing to reconvene before the end of the year if state legislators also reconvened to approve tougher ethics reform legislation. It’s strangely funny that members of the commission couldn’t decide if lawmakers actually deserved a pay raise on their merits but were willing to use a pay raise as an incentive for lawmakers to do their jobs. The process stunk from the get-go and ended up reaching an appropriate end.

We also find it funny that, at a time when it is difficult to get bipartisan approval on things like ethics reform or regional high schools, Democrat and Republican leadership in the state Legislature could come together on the all-important issue of pay raises for legislators. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Brooklyn Democrat, and Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, a Syracuse-area Republican, came together to express their disappointment with the commission’s inaction.

Boo hoo.

Take note that state Sen. Catharine Young, R-Olean, and state Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, are not among those beating the drum for a legislative pay raise. The base salary of $79,500 is just fine in our part of the state, and we note legislators can earn more money by serving as chairpersons of legislative committees. Legislators who feel the need to do so can also have jobs outside of the state Legislature.

If other legislators feel they deserve a raise, they should do what millions of New Yorkers have to do every year — ask for one. Propose legislation to increase your pay. Debate it publicly. Let residents across the state see and hear the discussion. If your constituents decide you’ve earned a pay raise, they’ll tell you. If not, do a better job.