ALBANY (AP) -- State Assembly members are sending $85 million in pork-barrel spending to more than 4,000 programs, agencies and charities in their home districts.
Lawmakers prefer to call them member items, or Community Project Funds. Grants are awarded based on the political clout of a lawmaker.
For example, members of the Assembly's Democratic majority get more grant money to disburse than the Republicans, and veteran Assembly members get more than those with less seniority.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, directed more than $8 million in grants, often with other lawmakers. The New York Public Interest Research Group says he spent $2.6 million on projects he selected independently.
Silver is sending millions to Jewish community, health and historical organizations. He's also sending funds to New York City-area public schools, battered women's shelters, and other groups.
The state Senate hasn't yet released how its members will spend their $85 million in pork. This year Gov. David Paterson declined the governor's usual cut of $30 million in grants.
Good-government advocates have criticized many of the grants as pork used by incumbents to win votes back home and by their leaders, who decide on allocations, to keep the rank-and-file in line. Lawmakers consider the grants a way to fund critical programs, often in health and education, by those who know best where the money is needed.
The grants are less than 1 percent of the $131.8 billion overall budget.
(Copyright ©2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
