Saturday's New Yost Post editorial quoting Mayor Bloomberg, in defending his decision to approve the City Council raises, as saying –
"All legislative bodies at the federal, state and city levels have a similar situation [with lulus]. It is the ways that the head of the legislative body . . . [controls] the members, pulling them together, getting them to vote as a bloc so you don't have chaos."
One problem.
That's just not true.
Congress does not give extra pay to Committee Chairs. And neither do the legislatures of the 2 biggest states – California & Texas. I didn't check the other 47 states or the thousands of other City Councils but somehow I doubt that Idaho or Duluth are paying lulus to Committee chairs.