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N.Y. judges sue state over back pay
BY RICHARD RICHTMYER The Associated Press

   New York’s judges have taken their longstanding battle for bigger paychecks into court, suing the state for higher salaries and back pay.
   The lawsuit filed Wednesday comes about two months after Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state lawmakers ended the legislative session at an impasse over legislative and judicial salaries.
   The suit could put some judges — who haven’t had a pay raise since 1999 — in the unusual position of presiding over a case that ultimately will affect them personally.
   George Bundy Smith, a former New York Court of Appeals associate judge and a partner in the law firm Chadbourne & Parke, and Thomas Bezanson, also a partner in the firm, are the lead attorneys.
   Their complaint highlights a political fight between Gov. Eliot Spitzer and state lawmakers that linked judicial salaries to legislative salaries. The complaint also argues that connecting the two violated the state constitution’s separation of powers doctrine. New York’s highest paid state judge makes $156,000 a year.
   It also argues that the governor and the Legislature have “unlawfully impounded” $69.5 million they allocated in the budget for judicial salary increases.
   “The concept of judicial independence goes back to the founding of our country,” Smith said in a prepared statement. “By connecting judicial salaries to legislators’ salaries and to political issues of the executive and legislative branches, the state undermines the independence of judges.”
   The lawsuit asks the court to order release of the money allocated for judicial pay raises as well as costof-living adjustments of 9 percent per year dating back to 2000.
   Christine Anderson, Spitzer’s spokeswoman, said Wednesday that the governor wants the state’s judges to get raises, but he doesn’t believe litigation is the way to get them.
   The governor has left it up to the Legislature to call itself back to Albany for a special session to deal with the matter, Anderson said.
   The governor and lawmakers sought a legislative solution, but they ended the session without one.
   Like the judges, lawmakers have not had pay raises since 1999. Spitzer and Legislative leaders reached a stalemate when the Legislature refused to deal with the judges’ pay separately from their own and Spitzer refused to go along with a pay raise for lawmakers unless they agreed to his demands for an overhaul of the state’s campaign finance law.
   In June, New York’s chief judge, Judith Kaye, threatened to sue over the issue, prompting Spitzer — a former prosecutor — to publicly advise New York’s judges not to take the matter to court, saying such a suit would be frivolous and unwinnable.
   Gary Spencer, a Court of Appeals spokesman, said Kaye is not involved in the lawsuit.
   “She still believes the best way to get fair salaries for judges is through the legislative process,” Spencer said.
   Four judges — three in New York city and one in Cattaraugus County — are named as plaintiff’s in the suit. The New York Law Journal reported on its Web site Wednesday that three other judges have fi led a similar suit in Albany County.
   It is unusual for judges to preside over cases that directly affect them, but this case is likely to be heard in a state court, according to lawyers with the New York State Bar Association. When it is impossible for another judge to hear a case, a so-called “rule of necessity” may be invoked.  

  
  
  

Gee, that's too bad Mr. and Ms. NYS Judge! Perhaps you all should join/form a union like the rest of the taxpaid, blood sucking state workers.

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Like the judges, lawmakers have not had pay raises since 1999. Spitzer and Legislative leaders reached a stalemate when the Legislature refused to deal with the judges’ pay separately from their own and Spitzer refused to go along with a pay raise for lawmakers unless they agreed to his demands for an overhaul of the state’s campaign finance law.

Good,,,,stop wasting our time with 'keeping us safe' with all the helmet/seatbelt/granny/sexoffender laws and dole out the punishment the law was made for.........geez......

put your raises into the jails.......and uphold......

the replacement of morality and conscience with law........where is the rational???

I don't deny these judges a raise. But I would first like to know how many hours/days/weeks per year they actually work and what, if any, additional bonuses/benefits they receive.

http://www.timesunion.com

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Court of last resort  
First published: Saturday, September 15, 2007

Even though they are underpaid, this is a good time to be a judge in New York state. At least the judges have someone who will listen to their pleas for a pay raise, and do something about it. If only average New Yorkers were lucky enough to have their complaints about Albany gridlock taken so seriously. Alas, they can complain all they want about the do-nothing state government, but, for the moment, that's about it.
It's different for judges because they are the ones who will decide on a lawsuit filed on their behalf by lawyers from a prestigious New York City firm seeking raises for judges on the grounds that their current salary schedule violates the state's constitution. And how might such a suit, filed in New York state Supreme Court, go over with the presiding judge? It's a rhetorical question, of course. Any judge is likely to see merit in the suit, and that will undoubtedly raise questions about a conflict of interest.

Nonetheless, the lawsuit is welcome, if for no other reason than the message it sends to the Legislature, which hasn't increased judicial pay since 1999, and failed to agree on a raise during this year's regular session. The reason is pure politics. Judges' pay has always been linked to that of legislators, to give the lawmakers political cover whenever they vote themselves a raise. This year, though, Gov. Spitzer proposed to raise judicial salaries, but only the Senate went along. The Assembly did not.

The lawsuit argues that New York's constitution states that judges' salaries cannot be cut during their terms, but that, in effect, they have been cut because of inflation and the rising cost of living. In other words, a de facto cut.

As regular readers of this page are aware, we have long supported a separate judicial pay raise. Unlike legislators, who work part time and can earn outside income, judges work full time, year-round, and their caseloads have increased since 1999. A raise based on cost-of-living increments since then is more than justified.

Meantime, there seems to be no relief -- in court or out -- for New Yorkers who must endure more Albany gridlock, as important state business is being held hostage to the ugly feud between Gov. Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, over the so-called Troopergate scandal. The Senate has yet to act on 75 nominations submitted by Mr. Spitzer, for example, and Mr. Bruno is preparing for a fight over the governor's recommendation that the New York Racing Association receive the franchise to run the state's three thoroughbred tracks for the next 30 years.

We wonder: Isn't there a constitutional scholar somewhere who can make the legal case that taxpayers should not have to pay for a do-nothing state government? And if the constitution is silent about that, what about a case based on the simple concept that if you don't work you don't get a check?

THE ISSUE: Top lawyers sue to win higher pay for state judges.

THE STAKES: The Legislature should view the lawsuit as a wake-up call.

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It's different for judges because they are the ones who will decide on a lawsuit filed on their behalf by lawyers from a prestigious New York City firm seeking raises for judges on the grounds that their current salary schedule violates the state's constitution

Mr.Silver?????

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Judge may file lawsuit over judicial pay raises
The Associated Press

    NEW YORK — The state’s chief judge says she may file a lawsuit next month if state lawmakers end a planned December session without voting to give raises to New York’s judges.
    Judge Judith Kaye said she expects lawmakers to return to Albany in mid-December. If they fail then to hike New York’s judicial salaries, which are the 48th lowest in the nation, the judge said she may sue the state.
    “I so don’t want to do that,” Kaye told The Associated Press. “I’ve been a lawyer for 45 years, and I know the pluses and minuses of litigation. To me it is a last resort, but I’ve come just about to the end of my patience.”
    “If they don’t do it now, they’ll come back in an election year, and nobody wants to talk about raises in an election year,” she added.
    The sticking point has been that legislators want a raise, too, their first since 1999. So they tied a raise for judges to a raise for themselves. But that proposal got hung up amid a dispute with Gov. Eliot Spitzer.
    Spitzer spokesman Errol Cockfield said, “The state’s judges are long overdue for a pay raise. We fully agree they deserve one, and the governor has introduced a bill that does not tie an increase to any other conditions.”
    At the very least, the judge said, she wants the current average salary of $136,700 raised to $165,200. As chief judge, Kaye earns $156,000 a year. She noted that first-year lawyers in some large Manhattan firms earn more than she does.
    Kaye said most law school deans and top assistant district attorneys — people who constitute a pool from which many new judges are expected to be drawn — would have to take a pay cut if they accepted a job on the bench.
    “I am ashamed to face colleagues in other states,” the judge said in reference to salaries for New York’s judges.
    Kaye said lawmakers’ failure to vote on a pay hike during the past nine years is effectively, given the rate of inflation, a pay cut and an intrusion on judicial independence, and therefore illegal.
    It is rare, but not unprecedented, for the state’s top judge to sue the state.

Go figure.  A judge stating that they want to add another case to the docket in the state due to the fact that they don't get paid enough because...there's already too many cases on the docket?  See something wrong here?  Maybe it's like the police forces around here, instead of giving raises to people who don't deserve them, more should be hired to fill the places at a lower cost.

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If they fail then to hike New York’s judicial salaries, which are the 48th lowest in the nation, the judge said she may sue the state.

Oh please let me get my kleenex and cry my eyes out since the poor judges in NYS are the 48th lowest in the country. I wonder if they know where NYS ranks in being the highest taxed in the country? Perhaps they may want to take that into consideration while they are suing for a raise that will in turn cost the taxpayers even more money!!! And I wonder what their benefit/retirement package consists of?  SELF SERVING JERKS!

I wonder what the benefits are,,,,,,did they forget they are in NYS......ya know free health insurance until you are pushing up daisies, nice retirement etc......they ARE part of the package too.......what do the other 47 states offer for benefits??????

I agree Bumble, I heard on the news today that our wonderful NYS is second to only Hawaii in total cost to live here. It includes taxes, rent/housing, food, fees, and all expenses that one has to pay to live here. Boy that's a nice record to hold, no wonder people can't afford to stay in NYS let alone attract any businesses.

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CAPITOL
State judges closer to long-sought raise
Bruno, Spitzer support bill; Silver unclear
BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter

    A pay raise for state judges took a big step closer to reality Tuesday, with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, supporting a bill that gives judges their money without linking the issue to legislators’ pay.
    Earlier this year, the Senate passed a bill sponsored by Sen. John DeFrancisco, R-Syracuse, that would give judges a raise and create a commission to propose increases in state legislators’ salaries. Neither judges nor legislators have gotten a raise since 1999, and their salaries have traditionally been addressed at the same time.
    This week, DeFrancisco introduced a new version of his bill, which now does not include the commission on legislative pay but concentrates solely on salaries for judges. Bruno spokesman Scott Reif said Tuesday that the Senate leader supports that bill.
    Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat who has been feuding with Bruno since summer, earlier this year proposed a bill to give judges raises without regard to legislative salaries.
    However, the position of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, is unclear. Silver is on record this year as supporting raises for both judges and legislators, his chief spokesman, Dan Weiller, confirmed Tuesday. But Weiller declined to say whether the speaker would support a bill giving the raises to judges without including legislators, too.
    Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari, D-Cohoes, said he personally would support a standalone bill to give raises to judges but did not know the speaker’s position.
    Weiller said Silver has “no plans” to bring the Assembly back into session this year, although he did not rule it out. Canestrari said he was “less and less optimistic” about the prospects for political agreements and legislation this year.
    The Senate is coming back into session on Thursday. Reif could not say whether it would take up the new bill on raises for the judiciary.
    Staffers for the governor and the legislative majority parties were negotiating on several issues, the most urgent of which is the future of thoroughbred horse racing. The franchise currently held by the New York Racing Association expires at the end of this year.
    Reif said the negotiations on racing are not connected to other issues and are going well. Racing is the Senate’s top priority at this time, Reif said, and “legislative raises are not something that we are pursuing.”
    Spitzer’s press secretary, Errol Cockfield, said, “The governor has always said he supports legislative pay raises in the context of real reform.” The raises, he said, would be “on the table” if the Legislature and governor agree on other issues, including campaign finance reform, capital spending and senior citizen property tax cuts, that they failed to agree on in July.
    The negotiations on racing, Cockfield confirmed, are being considered separately.
    Chief Judge Judith Kaye has been vehement in her advocacy for judicial raises and recently told The Associated Press that she may sue the state to force it to pay up if the Legislature fails to act this year. Her spokesman, Gary Spencer, declined to say on what grounds the chief judge is thinking of suing.
    Several judges have sued already, claiming among other things that the failure to pay them raises is a threat to the independence of the judiciary. That claim was allowed in a recent ruling on one of the lawsuits by Acting Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara in Saratoga Springs, although he dismissed other claims, according to the New York Law Journal. McNamara’s ruling could not be obtained Tuesday from his chambers. The judge is expected on Dec. 19 to set a trial date, the Law Journal said.
    Kaye submitted a budget request on Dec. 3 seeking $143 million for judicial raises retroactive to April 1, 2005. Under her proposal, the pay of Supreme Court judges would increase from $136,700 to $165,200 per year, and the salaries of other state judges would be increased proportionally.
    Those are the salary figures in the bills supported by Spitzer and Bruno.
    Legislators could pass a pay raise for themselves anytime, but for constitutional reasons could not start collecting the higher salaries until January 2009, after the 2008 elections. Their base pay is currently $79,500, but most get additional stipends for leadership roles. Perdiem expenses are paid to those who come to Albany from out of the area, and some use campaign funds to pay for meals and other costs.
    Many legislators, including Bruno and Silver, also have private-sector jobs.

Maybe our legislatures will take a cut in pay in order to come up with the money needed to give the judges a raise because the residents of NYS sure can't afford any more in tax increases.

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A pay raise for state judges took a big step closer to reality Tuesday, with Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Brunswick, supporting a bill that gives judges their money without linking the issue to legislators’ pay.

The judges give weight to the laws passed by the legislature......pay attention.....

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Go partway on judges’ raises

    Judges in New York state haven’t had a pay raise in nine years, which sounds pretty miserly on the state’s part until you consider that most of the judges were pretty well paid to begin with — earning from $109,000 to $156,000 for fulltime jobs. That’s a substantial amount of money for most parts of the state, and while any public employee is entitled to a raise once in a while, those at the highest rungs of the ladder — as judges surely are — don’t deserve the kinds of cost-of-living raises that rank-and-file workers typically get.
    COLAs are roughly what Chief Judge Judith Kaye has been pushing for ad nauseum, going so far as to threaten to sue the state if lawmakers don’t get off the dime. It’s also roughly what Gov. Eliot Spitzer and Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno have signed off on. But at a cost of $143 million for raises that would be retroactive to April 1, 2005, it hardly seems like something state taxpayers — whose per capita income averages slightly more than $40,000 — can afford.
    So far, there is no evidence to support Kaye’s contention that judges will be quitting in droves if they don’t get raises. These aren’t jobs that people who’ve been schooled in the law take in order to get rich; they’d join fancy law firms or chase ambulances if that’s what they wanted. In fact, a lot of judges are refugees from such highpaying jobs, and are less deterred by the relatively inferior pay as they are attracted by the idea of being a judge — such prestige! — and of serving the public. The value of both is something that is, well, priceless.
    Kaye’s stated goal of helping state supreme court justices achieve salary “parity” with federal court judges, while well-intended, is inflationary. There will always be some judge somewhere making more money than in New York; trying to match salaries in this fashion will make the state’s already precarious fiscal situation even worse.
    The logical compromise here would be to grant the judges their 20-plus percent raises, which over nine years would average out to about 2 percent, or slightly less than the cost of living. That would cost $37 million — preferable to the $143 million it would cost to make the raises retroactive to 2005.