ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Reform advocates, most voters and Governor Andrew Cuomo want to help clean up scandal-scarred Albany by prohibiting the state's 213 legislators from making serious money on the side. But the most recent financial filings show most lawmakers already get by without substantial outside income.
In fact, a majority reported no earnings from sideline work. Those with other jobs included a pharmacist, a veterinarian and an insurance agency owner.
Financial disclosures filed last year show 24 lawmakers, mostly lawyers, were making about as much or more in outside income as their $79,500 base annual pay from the state.
Assemblyman Steve Hawley, a Batavia Republican who reported $450,000 income from his insurance business, says hard-working citizen-legislators could finish state work in 60 days and take a public pay cut.