For Group of Breakaway Democrats in New York, It Pays to Be No. 2
Stipends are specifically earmarked for Senate committee chairmen. But in three recent instances, the payment for the committee leader has been paid to the second-in-command, giving the I.D.C. members thousands of dollars in payments not explicitly outlined in state law. And in each case, state payroll records show that the I.D.C. members were paid as the leaders of their committees.
Legislative Law 5-a lays out in specific dollar amounts what lawmakers receive as allowances, and nothing there says specifically that committee chairmen can funnel their stipends to other lawmakers; likewise, the law does not expressly prohibit it.
There are no payments laid out in the law for Senate committee vice-chairmen. But the I.D.C. argues that such payments are justified by the law’s preamble, which says that lawmakers serving in a special capacity in the Senate — or “directly connected therewith” — shall be paid an allowance, and then lays out a specific schedule of payments with no mention of vice-chairmen.
“Those three words are the legal authority for the chairman or anyone connected therewith to receive the allowance set in the schedule,” Candice Giove, a spokeswoman for the I.D.C., said.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/09/nyregion/new-york-independent-democratic-conference-republicans.html?ref=politics