67.0°,
Mostly Cloudy McGrath, Kaminsky at odds over outside income
McGrath plans on continuing as lawyer if elected to State Senate
State Assemblyman Todd Kaminsky called out Republican opponent Chris McGrath last week for his support of lawmakers accepting outside income, as the race for the vacant 9th Senate District seat heads to the home stretch with three weeks before the special election on April 19.
McGrath, a lawyer who specializes in personal injury cases, has said he plans to continue his work if elected to the Senate. His firm in Garden City, Sullivan Papain Block McGrath and Cannavo P.C., at which he is a partner, has sued state agencies over which he would have oversight if he is elected, including the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the Long Island Power Authority, the New York Racing Association and the State University of New York System, according to Kaminsky. The assemblyman added that McGrath has sued state and local governments or public authorities 57 times.
“Chris McGrath wants to be on both sides of the law, just to fill his pockets,” Kaminsky said in a statement. “Earning income through lawsuits against the government, while McGrath is serving as an officer of the state, is a disgraceful form of corruption. Not only would McGrath blatantly abuse the taxpayers’ trust to stuff his wallet, he would drive up taxes on Long Island by costing taxpayers in the courts.”
McGrath campaign spokesman Marcus Povinelli said that McGrath would not represent any client whose matter conflicts with his office as a senator. He added that the Hewlett Harbor resident’s firm represented the Uniformed Firefighters Association, which represents FDNY firefighters, as well as first responders of 9/11 and their families for no fee.
Povinelli also said that Kaminsky supports* a pay raise for lawmakers, referring to the Ethics Reform Act of 2015, which the assemblyman co-sponsored. The bill, which was a full-scale ethics reform package, would have included an increase in the $79,500 legislative base salary to between $112,500 and $174,000 in exchange for a ban on outside income for elected officials, making legislators' positions full time.
