BENCH $UPPORT LACKING

BENCH $UPPORT LACKING
The New York Post by BRENDAN SCOTT

May 20, 2008 -- ALBANY - The verdict is in: New York's judges haven't made the case for a wage hike.
More than half of registered voters oppose raising the salaries of the state's 1,300 jurists, according to a Siena College poll released yesterday. The poll found 55 percent against the judges' long-sought wage boost, compared with 39 percent in favor of it. Six percent were undecided in the statewide poll, which had a 4 percentage-point margin of error. The findings come despite the judges' full-court press on the issue in recent weeks, including an unprecedented lawsuit against the Legislature by Chief Judge Judith Kaye and a controversial effort - reported recently in The Post - by some judges to slowdown cases brought by law firms tied to legislators.

In fact, more voters - 45 percent in favor, 49 percent against - backed raises for the very lawmakers whom the judges blame for blocking the raise. Lawmakers, led by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan), have refused to approve a salary bump for judges until they get one, too. Lawmakers collect a base salary of $79,500 a year. Judges make $139,000 annually, which they argue has increasingly driven perspective jurists toward more lucrative careers in private practice since the salary was set in 1999. "In the voters' minds, the more you make, the less you need a raise," Siena spokesman Steven Greenberg said. "The judges have not made the case." Sixty-five percent opposed a pay raise for the governor, who makes $179,000 a year. brendan.scott@nypost.com