And we are supposed to trust Spitzer with campaign finance? Two staffers for Mrs Spitzer get paid a total of $171,600 salary for doing what? Trying to figure out why young people are leaving Upstate NY… OMG, just ask, we have repeated the same reasons for years. Just goes to show us they are simply NOT listening.

Then Spitzer having a birthday party and they plan on raising $2.5 million for access to the governor. Contact Sam Hoyt, he will have access to him by giving the gov $25,000……as a Patron supporter. I wonder two things… Will Sam ask the governor to get rid of the tolls since he will have access to His Highness and the other is, who’s money is Hoyt using to buy access to the gov, his own or his campaign contributors? Just curious.

Big raise helps ease struggle of city life
What a difference a year makes, especially when you get a $40,000 raise.

On a May 18, 2006, TV show, Uri Perin told WABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York City, “I make close to six figures and I’m finding it hard to survive in New York.”

Perrin said she was moving to more affordable Minneapolis because “over the years the quality of life has become much more important to me,” and New York City had become “a struggle to the point of whether you wonder if it’s worth it.”

Now, though, Perrin, 36, is making $120,800 a year as one of two state staffers for Silda Wall Spitzer, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s wife.

Perrin and Chrissy Stevens, 22, making $50,800, are helping Wall Spitzer with her First Lady duties, including trying to figure out why young upstaters are leaving New York, and how to reverse the trend.

Perrin wouldn’t take press calls to discuss her situation.

As former development director of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, she was the top paid officer there at $83,750, according to the Better Business Bureau.

She did move to Minnesota for six months, before getting an “exciting opportunity” with the Spitzer administration, said Jennifer Givner, a Spitzer spokesperson. Asked how she learned of the opening back in New York, Givner said: “She had a lot of connections.” A $2.5 million present The governor’s campaign stands to make more than $2.5 million at another party for his 48th birthday, and donors include a number of lobbyists and at least one would-be casino developer.

The June 7 shindig is at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City, and follows other high-priced Spitzer fundraisers.

In his continuing strategy of encouraging bundling, the governor asks for up to $100,000 from “chairs” of the get-together. If they make their quota, they’ll get a VIP reception, four seats at a private dinner with Spitzer and a program listing. Vice chairs must raise $50,000; patrons $25,000; and sponsors $10,000, with declining levels of perks.

Based on a count of chairs, vice chairs, patrons and sponsors in the program, Spitzer stands to take in at least $2.5 million. Tickets start at $1,000.

Several lobbyists and special interests are on the list of big donors: Alan Lubin of New York State United Teachers; Kelli Conlin of NARAL Pro-Choice; Gavin Donohue of Independent Power Producers; Suzy Ballantyne of the AFL-CIO.

Rochester-based shopping center developer Tom Wilmot is among the patrons. He’s looking to build a casino in central New York for the Seneca-Cayuga Tribe of Oklahoma. Mall magnate Robert Congel is also on the list of those bundling $25,000. He’s trying to create the biggest retail paradise in North America in Syracuse.

Former Assemblyman Ryan Karben is a sponsor, so he doesn’t get a seat near Spitzer, although current Assemblyman Sam Hoyt, a patron, does.

They’ll all get to listen to Wynton Marsalis. Contributor: Capitol bureau reporter James M. Odato. Got a tip? Call 454-5083 or e-mail jodato@timesunion.com.