Democratic legislators had to choose between a favorite constituency and the voters who elected them. The voters lost.

BINGO! Exactly right… who is their favorite constituency, surely not the voters. Every time we hear them say constituents we need to remember who they are. The unions that do all their bidding, all their campaign work, all their literature drops and attend the fundraisers. The VOTERS, always loose haven’t we seen enough of that, this is part in part the major problem with government in New York. Especially right here in our own back yard, Erie County Government.

I hate to pop their happy balloon but they do not negotiate contracts. The County Executive does. Leave this job to the professionals. To me your involvement is a serious conflict of interest.

County lawmakers err
$600 bonuses impact talks, show need for control board

This is why Erie County needs adult supervision. With the County Legislature preparing to pay $600 bonuses to blue collar workers for no particular reason and with no apparent source for the money, it will be up to the county control board to restore order in the legislative playpen. It should refuse payment.

County Executive Chris Collins is trying to negotiate raises linked to money-saving concessions, but legislators stuck out a leg and upended the process. It was foolish, though apparently legal. The lawmakers relied on a state law that allows legislatures to offer a raise to settle an impasse. But this wasn’t done in the cause of good government, it was raw politics: Democratic legislators had to choose between a favorite constituency and the voters who elected them. The voters lost.

It’s not just the cost of the raises that is the problem, though an additional $817,000 isn’t exactly loose change. In fact, that may be the least of the problems of this maneuver. Worse than the one-time expense would be if it encouraged other unions to hold out for a similar deal. As control board Chairman Anthony Baynes pointed out, “To pay someone $600 to come to the table to talk is ludicrous.”

Indeed it is, and this is exactly why the county needs a control board. Because of this state law, Collins has no ability to veto the plan. Even if he did, the Legislature made the offer with a veto-proof majority. With this kind of Legislature running roughshod over the bargaining process, and failing to give the new county executive time to negotiate, taxpayers are fortunate to have the backstop of a control board.

Collins believes the control board will reject the offer, and even the union isn’t much interested in it. Baynes, for his part, says the board can’t comment until it sees the plan. He did observe, however, that the Legislature would at a minimum have to show the county had the money to afford the bonuses. So far, legislators are only citing last year’s increased sales tax revenue.

It doesn’t matter. This is a bad idea, and it falls within the control board’s authority to reject it. It should do so and let Collins continue the work of negotiating responsible raises with the union.

•••

And, speaking of bad ideas in the Legislature, lawmakers have refused to pay an additional $30,000 to allow Collins to hire Cheryl A. Green as county attorney. This is one place the county should spend more. The extra money would bring the salary to $124,000, in the range that previous county attorneys have been paid, and more competitive with the private sector.

Collins has, perhaps unwisely, made the issue one of sexism, suggesting that female applicants for county attorney are treated differently by the Legislature. We suspect this has more to do with politics than sexism, but either way, the Legislature is wrong.

No competent lawyer is going to work for the county for substantially less than she can make in the private sector. Pay her the money.

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