The news keeps getting worse for state Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza. Carrozza has moved back into her Bayside apartment, but the move may well be too little, too late.
The assemblywoman was already dealing with reports she and her family were living outside her district in a home she and her husband had purchased on Long Island. The Queens County Republican Party has called on the Queens district attorney and the state attorney general to investigate her living arrangements.
More than a year ago, Carrozza purchased the Long Island property. In December, her husband applied for a STAR exemption on the Glen Head property, but the couple also received an exemption that will save the couple $232 on their 2009-10 Queens tax bill.
Now comes news that Carrozza barely showed last year for her part-time job in the Assembly. Carrozza told the Daily News editorial board “personal issues” kept her from showing up for work in Albany. In fact, she was only there 36 percent of the time. She attended only 25 of 69 legislative session days this year.
Carrozza told the board her attendance was “abysmal,” and we could not agree more. She was paid a $79,500 annual base salary plus a $16,500 stipend as deputy majority whip for just 25 days of work at the capital. To be fair, she did provide constituent services from her Queens office. Nevertheless, being absent for two-thirds of legislative working days is unacceptable.
If you did not show up for work two out of every three days for more than a year, you would be fired. A similar fate should await Carrozza. Sixty-nine days of work is not asking a lot of anyone.
