Robert Harding over at The Albany Project FOILed the travel reimbursement records for the State Legislature. The total pay-out for travel in 2007 was $3,267,903.94.
Harding writes "I filed a Freedom of Information request to obtain the New York State Legislature's travel expenditures for 2007. The exact request I filed was for "per diem payments, taxi fares, mileage, train tickets and any other expenses incurred for travel to Albany."
"The significance of this is the fact that the state legislators, earlier this year, were trying to justify a pay raise. Future arguments in favor of a legislative pay raise will be made - they seem to be made every year. What these expenditures show us is that the legislators do not have it that bad. On top of their $79,500 salary per year, they get reimbursed for travel to Albany (some more than others)."
The spreadsheet is linked here.
The totals for Nassau State Senators...
Hannon......... $20,971.87
Marcellino.......$18,218.75
Skelos ........... $18,012.08
Fuschillo.........$13,121.42
And our Democratic Senator?
Johnson ......... $9,603.64
Johnson was elected February 6, 2007. Even if he were in office the month of January, the travel reimbursement would still be the lowest.
What exactly is the over $7000 difference from Hannon to Fuschillo? Fuschillo travels from further out in Nassau than Hannon.
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2 comments:
The legislators with the highest overall expenses were Democrats.
Also, although it does not totally explain the difference, Craig Johnson probably has the shortest drive to Albany out of the Senators.
Maybe there were some trips up to Saratoga. Or perhaps they went up the Hudson by Yacht:-)
I'd like to recommend a site to the state legislature - www.paybackable.com. Maybe that would force someone to keep an eye on the expenses?
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