Gov. Cuomo is right that the enormous taxpayer-funded state pensions just granted to convicted felons Sheldon Silver and Dean Skelos “add insult to injury” — and also to point the finger of blame squarely at Silver’s successor, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie.
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli confirmed Wednesday that Silver will be getting a $79,222 annual pension despite his conviction on public-corruption charges. Skelos, the equally guilty Senate ex-leader, will rake in even more — $95,831 a year.
And they both have Heastie to thank for it.
That’s because the speaker and his fellow Democrats have refused for well over a year to pass a measure — already approved by the GOP-controlled Senate — to retroactively strip corrupt pols of their pensions.
Pols like Silver and Skelos.
Because pensions are constitutionally guaranteed, voters have to approve a constitutional amendment after two successive Legislatures pass it. It’s a long process — and Heastie’s stalling will make it years longer.
Yes, the Legislature already stripped pensions from officials elected after 2011. But the amendment’s needed to cover those who first took office earlier — i.e., most of the Legislature.
Meanwhile, Skelos and Silver will continue to collect their fat pensions.
Heastie — echoing complaints from government-workers unions — claims the GOP version is too broad and should be limited only to political officials.
Why? The amendment would strip the pension of anyone “convicted of a felony related to public office.” Any such person deserves to lose his or her pension — no matter how high or low their office.
Cuomo calls Heastie’s claims “insulting to the public” and is urging people to tell their legislators to “revoke the pension of any person convicted of a crime in office, period.”
Good idea. Because Albany will never end its inbred culture of corruption unless New Yorkers demand it.