Wheeling and dealing on the backs of the taxpayers for a raise. The way I see it they care so much about the childrens education that they just may vote for what Pataki wants if their own pockets are lined with a pay raise? Most dysfunctional legislature in the country and they want more for their lousy, irresponsible decisions..

Pataki leaves door slightly ajar for legislative pay raises - Newsday.com
ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. George Pataki said Thursday that while he continues to oppose a pay raise for state lawmakers, “I’ve never drawn a line in the sand.”

Pataki leaving the door slightly ajar comes as lawmakers prepare to return to the state Capitol next week for a special session ordered by the lame-duck governor. Pataki wants lawmakers to approve a measure that would allow the state to keep potentially violent sex offenders locked up in psychiatric facilities after their prison sentences are served.

Eyeing a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, Pataki is also looking for an expansion of charter schools in New York and legislative approval of a plan to close seven hospitals across the state, among other things.

For lawmakers, next week may be their last chance to get a pay raise before January 2009. If a pay raise is approved before the end of the year, it could take effect Jan. 1. Failing that, it could not take effect before Jan. 1, 2009.

Lawmakers, whose base pay is $79,500 a year, last got a raise on Jan. 1, 1999. Most also receive extra pay for committee work or holding leadership positions.

Pressure from rank-and-file lawmakers on state Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, a Rensselaer County Republican, has increased in recent months for a pay raise. Last month, the 51-member New York City Council voted to increase yearly salaries for its members to $112,500, up from $90,000.

Aides to both Bruno and Silver said Thursday that pay raises were not under discussion with Pataki. Silver has said he felt lawmakers deserved a pay raise.

Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat, has said he opposes pay raises for state legislators at this time.