Republicans in the state Legislature on average are more financially secure ”“ with twice as much in reported assets ”“ as their Democratic colleagues in Albany. But a Westchester County Democrat, Assemblywoman Amy R. Paulin, led all lawmakers in household income in 2012 and was second highest in household net worth.
Those were among the findings of a recent analysis of New York lawmakers”™ personal financial interests by two government watchdog groups, Common Cause New York and the New York Public Interest Research Group. Their analysis was based on financial information legislators were required to file with two state ethics commissions for the first time this year and was compiled in collaboration with The New York World, an online public-interest publication of the Columbia Journalism School.
The 24 lawmakers representing the seven-county Mid-Hudson region, which includes Westchester County, reported the highest average household income in 2012, based on the dollar-figure ranges that legislators were allowed in their disclosures. The average household income for this region”™s legislators and their spouses ranged from $290,029 to $376,029.
Western New York lawmakers had the second highest average household income last year, ranging from $242,567 to $299,744.
Paulin, the Scarsdale Democrat representing the 88th Assembly district, reported household income in 2012 ranging from $2,224,000 to $2,582,000. She and Assemblywoman Jane L. Corwin, a Republican from Erie County, were the only state legislators whose household income topped $2 million last year.
Unlike Corwin, though, Paulin had no personal outside income in addition to her $79,500 Assembly salary and $12,500 stipend in 2012 as chairwoman of the Assembly Committee on Children and Families. Most of her reported income came from the salary and real estate interests and stock and bond market investments of her husband, Ira Schuman, a prominent Manhattan real estate broker and executive vice president in the New York office of Studley Inc.
Corwin and Paulin swapped the top two rankings for lawmakers reporting the highest net household assets in 2012. Corwin reported assets ranging from $40,127,000 to $74,626,000. Paulin reported net assets that ranged from $18,696,663 to a maximum of $34,771,030 as calculated by analysts.
Analysts noted that lawmakers were not required to include their houses as assets, “so the reported assets are almost certainly lower than the true totals.”
Also from the Mid-Hudson region, state Sen. John J. Bonacic, a Republican representing a four-county area in the Catskills, ranked fifth in highest net worth last year. Bonacic reported $5,010,000 to $6,726,000 from investments and a 50 percent ownership share of a New Hampton commercial building.
Two Westchester Democrats, Assemblyman Steven Otis and Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, ranked 11th and 12th respectively among the 213-member Legislature in household income in 2012.
The bulk of Otis”™ reported household income of $350,000 to $500,000 came from his wife”™s salary at Hachette Book Group. The lawmaker from Rye reported no outside income.
Stewart-Cousins, leader of the Senate Democratic Conference, reported household income ranging from $349,000 to $464,000. That included $5,000 to $20,000 income on a rental property in Yonkers and $250,000 to $350,000 from a legal settlement with Prime Care L.L.C.
Senate Republicans reported the highest household income by legislative conference, averaging $201,817 to $289,332. The four members of the Senate Independent Conference declared the lowest average household income in 2012, ranging from $125,000 to $148,800.
Analysts noted that Republican lawmakers and their spouses on average have twice as much in reported assets as Democrats in Albany.
Of the 174 legislators that held office in both 2012 and 2013, 115, or two-thirds of the Senate and Assembly, reported income from at least one outside source. They received an average of between $69,387 and $116,378 in addition to their legislative salaries, according to analysts.
Investments were the leading source of outside income, totaling $2,307,027 to $3,752,000 in legislators”™ financial disclosures.
Law practices earned legislators a total of $2,091,000 to $3,356,000 in 2012. That outside income source was followed by real estate holdings, which accounted for $525,000 to $1,363,000 of lawmakers”™ reported income last year.
Thirty-six legislators reported either no savings or more debt and liabilities than savings in 2012, according to analysts.
They include Sen. Greg Ball, the Putnam County Republican who reported negative net assets of $70,000 to $125,000, and Sen. George S. Latimer, the Westchester Democrat who reported negative net assets of $92,000 to $115,000 as a result of Senate campaign debt amounting to $100,000 to $150,000.
