New York legislature gives itself $32,000 raise, and seven Democrats defect on vote

Tori Richards

December 22, 05:54 PM December 22, 05:54 PM

The New York legislature voted to give itself a $32,000 pay raise, becoming lawmakers with the highest salary in the nation.

The companion Senate and Assembly bills will now make their way to Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has said she supports the hefty hike that raises salaries to $142,000 per year. Democrats have a supermajority in the legislature.

“We’re just going to work hard and about to come back into session in January to continue trying to do the best we can for families in New York,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said after the vote Thursday.

The Senate voted 33 to 23 with the Assembly 81 to 52, giving the salary boost effective Jan. 1, 2023. Republicans vigorously opposed the bills, saying the state has been shedding jobs and businesses while crime and the cost of living are skyrocketing.

Seven "marginal" Senate Democrats who lost or barely squeaked by in the midterm elections sided with Republicans and voted no, said Republican state Sen. Anthony Palumbo.

This included John Mannion, who won by 10 votes, he said.

The legislature, which meets just six months a year, called a special session to vote on the measure. The bills were hastily drafted after new members were sworn in during the midterm elections and went live Tuesday, said state Sen. Rob Ortt, Republican leader.

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“Today’s ‘Special Session’ was called for the solitary purpose of making New York lawmakers the highest paid state legislators in the nation,” Palumbo said.

“This is at a time when families and businesses are struggling to make ends meet due to historic inflation and high food and energy costs. Instead of pay raises, lawmakers’ focus should have been on reducing these burdens and making needed changes to our broken criminal justice system,” Palumbo said.

Palumbo said the Democrats' timing of the bill was intentional.

“They were thinking, ‘It’s not going to be well received, want to time it around Christmas so it will be drowned out with other negative news over a congressional spending bill,'" he added.

Residents began fleeing blue states during the pandemic, settling in the more open southern red states. And New York lost 319,020, more people than any other state from April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2021, MarketWatch reported.

WATCH: Obama turns to TikTok to get out vote for midterm elections

Jenny Goldsberry

November 02, 06:46 PM November 02, 06:46 PM

Former President Barack Obama made a cameo appearance in a TikTok video on Tuesday to encourage voters ahead of the midterm elections.

Obama appeared in the video from an account called "Under the Desk News," which features a host, Vitus Spehar, who reports the news from the floor under a desk. The account has over 2.7 million followers, with Obama's cameo garnering over 1.4 million views and 500,000 likes.

"Here's the thing: You can stay [under the desk] for now, but when it comes time for voting, you're going to have to get up," Obama said. "You got climate change legislation on the ballot, you got gun safety. And, when we can elect more pro-choice members of Congress, we can reinstitute Roe v. Wade as the law of the land. So, you can't stay here. You're going to have to take a little bit of time to vote."

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"In 2008 I voted the way my Dad did," Spehar captioned the video, referring to his vote for John McCain. "I’m grateful for the work President Obama did to secure marriage equality and will be voting this term to protect these hard earned rights."

Spehar added a link to his TikTok bio that includes a link to register to vote. Obama would also appear in another TikTok with another influencer to the tune of 8 million views.

"Obama has officially joined in the Democrats’ new fool-proof plan for whenever they need to push an agenda," Twitter account Libs of TikTok tweeted. "Collaborating with TikTokers."

"So a former sitting president is encouraging Americans to use a platform that both sides of the political aisle agree is a ChiCom surveillance tool," former radio host John Cardillo tweeted.

The former president was recently at a rally in Georgia where he encouraged voters to "put down your phone and give TikTok a rest and VOTE.”

Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Brendan Carr was quoted in a Tuesday interview as calling for a complete ban on the social media platform.