“On the campaign trail, I’ve been telling people that 90,000 bureaucrats in New York make over $100K,” Redlich said. “I was wrong.” He was basing that on old numbers from 2008. It turns out it’s a lot more.

Updated data on seethroughny.net for 2008 now shows over 99,000 public sector employees made over $100K. But the 2009 numbers show nearly 110,000 made six figures, with over 1400 bureaucrats making over $200,000.

Some examples on the 2009 list include:

Stephen Onesti, Downstate Medical Center – $958,047
Paul Le Clerc, New York Public Library – $688,777
Matthew Goldstein, CUNY – $546,112
Thomas Purtill, Clarkstown Police – $543,416
Brian Monahan, Haverstraw-Stony Point Central Schools – $485,274
Thomas Redmond, LIRR Conductor – $239,148

Le Clerc is an example of the data problems – his pay does not appear in the 2008 figures.

Redlich proposes a pay cap of $100K for public sector employees (with some limited exceptions) and a pension cap at $75K. On salaries alone the cap would save state and local governments over $2 billion in the first year, with additional savings in pension costs.

Andrew Cuomo, Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino, the Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor, have been silent on the pay cap idea. Redlich called on them today to take a public position on the issue of capping public sector pay.

“If we want to protect our teachers and our parks, we have to cut somewhere else,” Redlich insisted, “so let’s start at the top. I challenge Cuomo, Lazio and Paladino to tell the people what they’ll do about these outrageous payrolls.”

Below is an image of the top of the list of payrolls. Click on the image to see it in full size.

So, I have a special request.

Please make a contribution to the campaign.
The “donate” page is: wredlich.com/ny/donate/

You can contribute online, send us a check, and even buy t-shirts, hats, buttons or bumper stickers.

Checks, payable to Redlich for Governor, can be mailed to:

Redlich for Governor
255 Washington Ave. Ext.
Suite 108
Albany, NY 12205

The maximum contribution is $55,900. Andrew Cuomo has received 30 contributions of $50,000 or more.

Of course our expectations are much lower. The largest contribution so far was $1000, and we have received contributions as small as $10. Any contribution is appreciated.

Thank you!
Warren Redlich

Thanks to Susan Arbetter and her team for this.

Yesterday Warren drove out to speak at an event with the Greater Manlius Chamber of Commerce (south of Syracuse). It was a great event with over 100 people, and several candidates including a couple of other Governor candidates. They seemed to appreciate the Stop Wasting Money message.

Tuesday we filed 34,000 signatures. That was quite an accomplishment and we had help from many, many volunteers. After filing, Warren was interviewed on Capital Tonight:

Thanks to Liz Benjamin and Michael Johnson for doing this.

And Eric Sundwall’s great video about the Mosque is below:

Warren Redlich, the Libertarian candidate for Governor and a speaker at several Tea Party events, rejected Paladino’s latest proposal: “History has shown us what happens when people give power to bigoted strongmen with a disregard for the fundamental rules of government.”

Paladino previously disregarded the Tea Party movement’s opposition both to eminent domain abuse and reckless government spending by proposing a New York State taking of the area around the World Trade Center.

In addition, Paladino has personally benefited from “economic development” and openly advocates for it in his campaign. This corporate welfare, in the form of bailouts, was one of the biggest sparks in the explosion of the Tea Party movement.

And of course, Paladino gave $1000 to Senator Chuck Schumer’s campaign on June 30, 2009, five days after Schumer announced his plan for a “public option” in federal health insurance reform.

“Carl Paladino does not believe in the Tea Party movement,” Redlich said, “He and his consultants are merely using the movement to advance their own personal agendas.”

But the one that hit me tonight was NYSERDA, the New York State Energy and Research Development Authority. With 284 employees (assuming they’re not hiding anyone), total payroll was $19.2 Million in 2009. That averages out to $67K. The average employee makes $67K?

But that’s not the best part. This is – job titles.

Assistant Project Coordinators: 5
Assistant Project Managers: 25
Associate Project Managers: 19

25 letters left in the alphabet.

Directors: 14
Finance Aides: 5
Information Technology Administrators: 5
Office Administrators: 8
Office Managers: 9

This is where it starts to get interesting.

Program Managers: 23
Project Coordinators: 24
Project Managers: 40

40 project managers? This would be a cruel joke if we weren’t paying for it.

Senior Office Administrators: 9
Senior Project Managers: 37

I was blown away by the 40 project managers, and now it turns out there are 37 senior ones?

Of the NYSERDA employees, 150, or more than half, are project managers or coordinators. That doesn’t include the 55 directors, program managers, office managers and office administrators.

Who do all these people direct, manage and/or coordinate?

Here’s my favorite:

Receptionists: 1

I think I’ve found another agency we can eliminate from the state budget.

Ron Paul has been one of Warren’s favorite leaders for years. Warren mentioned Dr. Paul back in a 2006 radio interview – there’s a link to it on this page.

Warren supports Rand Paul too. Warren gave money to both of their campaigns. He has spoken out for both in the press and on blogs.

If you live in New York and want to support a Ron Paul candidate for Governor, Warren is it. Please browse this website and read more about Warren’s plan to shrink NY government.

The Redlich campaign today published a sample “Google Analytics” report of the campaign website’s traffic, available at http://wredlich.com/wr-an.pdf. Additional reports are available to media upon request.

The websites of Andrew Cuomo, Rick Lazio and Carl Paladino all have Google Analytics code allowing them to produce similar reports. Redlich asked: “What do they have to hide?”

According to Alexa.com, the Redlich campaign’s website is leading in web traffic.

WRedlich.com, has an Alexa rank of 700,000. Paladino’s site, paladinoforthepeople.com, is ranked 950,000, Cuomo’s, andrewcuomo.com, is at 1.17 million, and Lazio’s, lazio.com, is at 1.9 million. Lower numbers mean more more traffic.

Alexa (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo ) is the best known web tool for comparing website traffic.

Redlich criticized the other candidate websites. “Just like their campaigns, their websites lack substance. They’re thin on the issues.” Redlich did credit the Paladino website for one thing, “at least they list an e-mail address. What does it say about Lazio and Cuomo that they don’t even give people a way to e-mail them?”

Alexa links:

Lazio: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/lazio.com
Cuomo: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/andrewcuomo.com
Paladino: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/paladinoforthepeople.com
Redlich: http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/wredlich.com