ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York Chief Judge Judith Kaye, pressing ahead in her battle to win pay raises for state judges, offered up a new report Tuesday saying some of her colleagues are increasingly going into debt.
'Prior to 2005, it was rare for judges to borrow against their state pensions,' said the 52-page report from the National Center for State Courts. 'Only 28 judges had outstanding pension loans at the end of 2004. That number doubled within a year, and has more than quadrupled in two years.'
'As of March 2007, there are 117 judges -- about 10 percent of the entire (state) Judiciary -- who have outstanding pension loans,' the report noted.
New York's judges haven't had a pay raise since 1999 and the report, requested earlier this year by Kaye, was the chief judge's latest salvo in her attempt to win judicial pay raises before the Legislature adjourns in late June.
Thus far, leaders of the state Legislature have refused to agree to pay raises for judges unless there are also raises for state lawmakers, who also haven't had one since 1999. But, Gov. Eliot Spitzer has said he won't approve pay raises for lawmakers until they agree to some of his demands for reforming state government, including reduced limits on the size of campaign contributions.
'What a pity, what a shame, what an embarrassment,' Kaye said Tuesday of the stalemate.
The report, calling for New York to provide the judicial pay raises demanded by Kaye, said the state's judges rank 48th in the nation when salaries are adjusted to account for New York's cost of living.
The report noted the pay for senior partners at New York law firms with 10 or more lawyers averaged $350,000 a year. Kaye, New York's highest paid state judge, makes $156,000 a year.
For her news conference, held at the state Bar Association's posh headquarters just across the street from the Kaye-led state Court of Appeals in Albany, the chief judge trotted out a host of judicial and legal heavyweights.
Referring to the pay raise showdown at the Capitol as 'this salary scandal,' Michael Cardozo, New York City's corporation lawyer, said he was 'speaking not just for myself, but on behalf of Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg.'
'I say this: Legislators, stop fooling around with judicial salaries. Governor Spitzer, stop fooling around with judicial salaries. Enact the judicial salary increase and enact it now.'
Kaye has threatened to possibly sue Spitzer and the Legislature if they don't raise judges' pay.
The chief judge refused to discuss the results of a statewide poll out Tuesday from Siena College that found 62 percent of New York voters were opposed to pay raises for state lawmakers, findings that could complicate her efforts. The poll did not ask voters for their feelings on judicial pay raises.
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