They all get FREE CARS, NOW THIS??? …Gant will be making $176,500 a year in state money, plus expenses. This is an outrage. How can Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo even talk about cleaning up Albany when stuff like this is going on? And they get FULL, LIFETIME healthcare…

David Gantt, other state lawmakers cash in

Eleven state lawmakers put in their retirement paperwork Dec. 1 to the state Comptroller’s Office so they can collect their pensions. They will technically retire at year’s end, then return to work Jan. 1 for their new two-year term and collect their salaries.
For Assemblyman David Gantt, D-Rochester, it means he will collect his $94,500 salary and be eligible for a roughly $82,000 pension for his more than 43 years of government service.
Assemblyman Clifford Crouch, R-Guilford, Chenango County, is poised to receive about a $45,000-a-year pension along with his $90,500 salary. Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun, R-Blooming Grove, Orange County, is in line for a roughly $60,000 pension, as well as her $97,500 salary.
The move is not illegal, and the group of lawmakers is doing what four Assembly members did two years ago after their election. The legislators defended the process, saying they are entitled to their pensions when they hit age 65 and are actually saving taxpayers money by not accruing more time in the system.
Gantt, 69, said he could have started collecting his pension years ago because he is maxed out in the system. He said that by putting it off, he saved taxpayers money.
“I’m going to be 70,” Gantt said. “I think now it’s time for me to collect.”

But critics said it’s unconscionable that lawmakers can collect their pensions and salaries while holding the same position, the so-called double dipping into public funds. Lawmakers receive a base salary of $79,500, but most receive stipends for sitting on legislative committees.

“New Yorkers for Growth,” a political action committee, said elected officials “should be ashamed of themselves for exploiting the system.”