Gov. Paterson Gives Huge Raises to His Staffers

Nobody has come closer to President Obama’s predictions of doom and economic catastrophe than New York Governor David Paterson. He’s been travelling around the state, warning New Yorkers about the mother of all budget deficits and how we’re all going to have to suffer. He’s proposed tax hikes on everything from soda to haircuts.

It looks like Gov. Paterson will have to close the budget gap without the help of a soda tax. He admitted that plan was a flop. He probably figures that the porkulus bill President Obama will sign in Denver tomorrow will be enough to fill the budget gap and he and the state legislature can continue their spending spree.

Aren’t you people in Alaska and Oklahoma thrilled to be sending money to states like New York and California that have been on a decades’ long spending orgy? Despite his promises to cut spending, Governor Paterson secretly bestowed hefty raises upon members of his own staff.

Paterson’s top aide, William Cunningham, a one-time law partner of the governor’s father, Basil, saw his pay jump 5 percent to $178,500 – just $500 less than Paterson himself – from $170,000 on Nov. 7, after he was promoted from a temporary “acting” secretary to permanent.

Charlotte Hitchcock, one of Cunningham’s deputies and a personal friend of the governor’s, received an $18,000, or 11.25 percent, raise on Dec. 22. While a press release said she was promoted from deputy secretary to “chief of staff” and “director of financial regulation,” it made no mention of a higher salary.

Cassie Prugh, a confidential assistant, was given a 46 percent pay hike in late November, raising her annual salary to $125,000 from $85,721, while Gaurav Vasisht, an assistant counsel, received a 6 percent, $7,427 increase in December, bringing his salary to $130,279.

Brendan Fitzgerald, a special office assistant, received a 21 percent, or $15,737, pay hike only last month, bringing his salary to $90,000, while Michael Deloach, another confidential assistant, saw his pay leap 29 percent, or $18,200, to $80,000 in August.

Lauren Passalacqua, a confidential secretary, saw her salary jump $12,000, or 31.5 percent, to $50,000, while the salary of another confidential aide, Chardee Mendoza, was hiked $10,000, or 28.5 percent, to $45,000.

Apparently, the governor only expects some New Yorkers to share in the pain of the recession. This is just another example of the typical liberal, enriching friends and cronies while promising tax hikes on the rest of us.