Lawmakers’ pay-hike chutzpah

Here’s another lawsuit over the legislative pay hike that slipped through last year — a suit with a huge dose of chutzpah.

Two Upstate Democrats, Phil Steck and John McDonald, filed a federal case last week challenging just one part of the pay-hike package: the ban on outside income.

That is, they’re not seeking to stop the jump in base pay from $79,500 last year to $110,000 now, and up to $130,000 by 2021 — an eventual 64% increase.

No: It’s only the limit on what they can earn for other work that has them steamed. The suit claims it violates the legislators’ rights to free speech, due process and equal protection.

The chutzpah is bipartisan: GOP legislators filed a similar state suit in March.

We’re on the record as seeing the whole package as unconstitutional, as it effectively turned serving in the Legislature into a full-time job, which ought to require amending New York’s Constitution.

But it’s impossible to see much principle when lawmakers look to keep the raise without the attached strings.

Click Here: cheap kanken backpack