Democrat’s outside income argument falls flat in rural NY
Democrat’s outside income argument falls flat in rural NY
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It's pretty funny that it's a Democrat who is now taking aim at repealing the state's outside income limits for state lawmakers.
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel makes many of the same arguments that Republicans made in opposition to the $35,000 outside income cap before the state Legislature approved them in 2022. Vanel, D-Queens City, argued in the legislative justification for A.11733 that the outside income cap wouldn't have prevented any of the laundry list malfeasance involving the New York's legislators in the 2000s. He also argues that the very costs that the state has struggled to contain for everyone else – uninsured medical costs, legal judgments and child care among them – could keep potential legislators from running for office because the state's $177,000 top base salary for the Assembly and Senate isn't enough.
We weren't a big fan of outside income limits for the state Legislature four years ago, and we aren't a big fan now. We agree with Vanel that the outside income limits likely won't do much to prevent legislators from behaving badly. But it's going to be a tough sell job to anyone who doesn't live in New York City that $177,000 a year isn't enough to live on. Many New Yorkers deal with the very issues Vanel says state legislators can't afford on $177,000 – more if you're a committee chairperson or are involved in legislative leadership positions, by the way – on a heck of a lot less money. If Vanel and other Democrats are struggling to afford child care, what do they think is happening in the rest of the state? If medical debt is a problem for Vanel, how do they think the state's senior citizens or those earning Chautauqua County's median household income of $58,531 a year are faring in the mess Democrats have made of New York state?
Frankly, what Vanel should be arguing for isn't a change in the household income state lawmakers should be bringing home. He should be arguing against just about every Democratic Party approved policy passed over the past 15 years or so that have so drastically increased the cost of living across the state. New Yorkers are struggling with the cumulative weight of the regulations, requirements and sheer stupidity of policies Democrats have enacted over the opposition of Republicans for more than a decade.
Why are there child care deserts? Why is medical debt so expensive? Why is health care so expensive? Why is home care for sick loved ones so expensive? Why is housing so expensive? Albany policies have helped drive the cost higher in almost every situation.
We credit Vanel for wanting to have the ability to do what so many New Yorkers have had to do in recent years and get a second, or maybe even a third, job to balance his household budget. But maybe if Vanel and his colleagues in Albany had thought more about the effect of the bills they were passing, second and third jobs wouldn't be necessary for so many in New York state.