Where Do NY Lawmakers Get Their Money From, Anyway?
By David Freedlander January 28, 2011 3:30 pm
reprints
…Like most prominent New Yorkers, they get it from real estate, apparently.
At least that is what a new study released by NYPIRG reveals–that 47 of Albany’s 211 legislators list their outside source of income on disclosure forms as “realtors/landlords.”
The figure is significant, since there is a reform effort underway to force those lawmakers who are lawyers on the side to reveal their client list. Good government groups have said that doing so would clean up Albany significantly, since the fear is that law firms will hire lawmakers just to have a voice in state government.
But as this report makes clear, forcing lawmaking lawyers to reveal their client list would not solve all of Albany problems–only 45 of them, which is how many attorneys there are in both chambers.
Another interesting tidbit from the data is that a majority of Democratic Senators and most Democrats in the Assembly list no outside income, while real estate and the law are the two most popular professions for Republicans.
Also, does anyone know who the lifeguard is in the Assembly Democratic conference? And who won the lottery? And why if you win the lottery do you continue to make the trip to Albany every week?
Update: Bill Mahoney, NYPIRG number-cruncher, reminds me that Queens Assemblyman Jeff Aubry reported lottery winnings, and Long Beach (of course!) Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg is the lifeguard
