New York Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie on Monday shot down the notion, pushed by Gov. Cuomo, that State lawmakers should adopt Term Limits.
Heastie (D-Bronx) said it remains possible the Legislature will reconvene before the end of the year to vote on salary increases for lawmakers but stressed the pay issue should not be linked to any items on Cuomo’s agenda, including Term Limits.
“Term limits is not something that the conference supports,” said Heasite (D-Bronx), referring to the Assembly’s Democratic majority. “We're not trading,” Heastie said. “We're not doing something that's going to be harmful to the members of the Assembly or things that we don't like in exchange for a pay raise. That's just not what we are going to do.”
Heastie spoke to reporters after a nearly two-hour closed-door meeting of Assembly Democrats in which members vented their frustration with Cuomo for thwarting efforts to grant State lawmakers their first raise in 17 years.
Cuomo has signaled he would not support “significant” raises for lawmakers unless they take action on several issues, including term limits and other ethics reforms. “These are all new things that he's put on the table and if you do that he'll want more anyway,” said Assemblyman Joe Lentol (D-Brooklyn).
Other options were a large raise if lawmakers dropped outside income and became full-time lawmakers.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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