Bill Thompson To Lead NY Judicial Compensation Panel

Bill Thompson To Lead Judicial Compensation Panel
www.CapitalTonight.com by Nick Reisman  -  June 9, 2011

Former New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson will lead the panel charged with determining whether the state’s judges deserve a pay raise, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this afternoon.  Rick Cotton, an executive with NBC Univerisal, was also named to the board, as was financier Bill Mulrow.  Thompson, who was the Democratic candidate for mayor in New York in 2009, is currently the chief administrative officer/senior managing director at Siebert Brandford Shank & Co. In addition, he is chairman of the Battery Park City Authority.  Mulrow was Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s original pick to become comptroller in 2007 following the resignation of Alan Hevesi. Though he’s considered well-respected in Democratic circles, the Legislature ultimately chose one of their own, the well-like Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli.  The Judicial Compensation Board was established in 2010 during the Paterson administration to study the best pay rate for state judges. Pay increases for the judiciary has been a major goal of former Chief Judge Judith Kaye and her successor, Judge Jonathan Lippman.  Judges, whose pay increases have usually been tied to salary hikes for the Legislature (a deeply, insanely unpopular move these days) have not received a pay bump since 1999.