Diaz to Rally with Espada

These two amigos -- State Senator Ruben Diaz, Jr. and former State Senator and currently indicted Pedro Espada -- are definitely amigos for life or BFF. As Celeste Katz at the Daily News reports, Diaz will attend a rally with Espada tomorrow in support of the Soundview Health Care Center that coincidentally Espada is accused of looting.

Senate Democrats Face Stiff Staff Layoffs: But Klein Keeps Rolling

Chris Bragg at City Hall News reports on the upheaval in jobs facing Senate Democrats after losing the Senate. For example,State Sen. Shirley Huntley, of Queens lost 14 of her 23 staffers. That's correct, she had 23 staffers -- remember this is not a U.S. Senator but a NY State Senator! This is the same Shirley Huntley who steered $33,000 in pork to a not-for-profit run by her former chief of staff. Anyway, at least one Democrat has escaped the staff ax -- Jeff Klein of the Bronx -- his bi-weekly payroll has jumped by $1000 per month. Of course, it probably did not hurt that he formed a breakaway independent conference that has good relations with the Republicans.

Tracking the Pork

Celeste Katz at the Daily News puts a spotlight on the great work being done by the Empire Center for New York Policy to inform the public about how our elected officials spend our money. If you go to Empire Center's site -- http://www.seethroughny.net/ -- you can find details on how your state or city elected officials spent our tax dollars. You can also find out details about their payroll, expenditures and other financial information. All of the information found here and on other sites such as Councilpedia, have opened the doors to the kind of information that had been kept secret or hard to find for years. Now it's up to us to use it to evaluate whether our elected officials are doing a good job with our tax dollars.

Cash and Carry Larry Still Getting Paid

David Seifman of The New York Post reports today that indicted Bronx Councilman Larry Seabrook, aka "Cash and Carry Larry", is still collecting his $112,500 Council salary and is doing little to deserve it. Since being indicted last year for fraud and extortion (including requesting $177 reimbursement for a bagel), the out to lunch Councilman has not introduced one piece of legislation. Sadly, he continues to draw a good salary so the real question is why is it taking so long to bring this guy to trial?

Bronx Republican Boss is Well Fed

Believe it or not, there is a Republican Party boss in the Bronx, and it appears that he likes to eat. The New York Post reports that Jay Savino, the Republican Party Boss, spent $8300 on lunches and dinners last year. Given that there isn't a single Republican elected in the Bronx, I guess like the Maytag Man there is plenty of time to eat out.

Keep Track of Your Councilperson With New Service: Councilpedia

Citizens Union has come out with a very useful tool for tracking your Councilperson -- it's called Councilpedia. It's chock full of information about each Councilmember, including things like bills sponsored, campaign expenditures, member items, voting record, and contributions. This is the kind of information that used to be hidden in the basement of the board of elections, so it's great to have it all at your fingertips in one place. Now there is virtually no excuse for not knowing what your Councilperson is up to!

Getting Paid After Betraying the Public Trust

In the wake of the death of former State Senator Guy Velella, here is a very good editorial by Clyde Haberman of the NY Times about scores of elected officials who have been convicted of a crime but are still receiving huge pensions -- some while sitting in a jail cell. Even worse, most of these former elected officials were convicted of crimes relating to their office. There are some efforts to now close that loophole, but any change would not impact those already receiving their pensions -- so Alan Hevesi will continue to get $105,000 a year while Joe Bruno pulls down $96,000. In this era of "government reform" lets see how far this potential bill gets in Albany.