By Mark Scott
Buffalo, NY – Republican County Legislator Barry Weinstein is critical of the Legislature's Democratic majority for not providing funds to hire staff. So, Weinstein is seeking volunteers to assist Republican legislators.
Legislator Weinstein, who holds the title of minority leader of the Legislature's three Republicans, says they haven't had any central staff members since last May. And that, he says, is creating a hardship. Weinstein says he has no staff support for analyzing budgets or writing legislation.
"We've been negotiating with (the Democrats) all year for a minor presence downtown, in order to afford our constitutional obligations of being the loyal opposition," Weinstein said. "After months and months of dickering around, we became frustrated and decided to go public and ask for volunteers."
Weinstein says they're looking for volunteers with financial and accounting skills. He says they even need someone who knows how to fix a copy machine. But Legislature Chair Lynn Marinelli says majority Democrats are being unfairly criticized.
"When they claim they have not had any central staff members, they do have a minority counsel," Marinelli said. "In fact, we utilize him, too, during the sessions to act as the Legislature's parliamentarian."
Marinelli says an amendment was introduced for minority Republicans to hire central staff -- about $45,000 -- but that Weinstein did not move forward with it. She also says the Democrats offered to share a budget analyst with the Republicans but that was rejected.