New York's MTA top earner made $344G in overtime last year: report

Andy Byford arrives at the Bowling Green Station to begin his first day as MTA New York City Transit President on Tue., January 16, 2018. Byford was only the 21st-highest earner in the MTA last year. (Marc A. Hermann / MTA New York City Transit)

Riders get slapped with fare hikes — while these guys ride the gravy train.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s top earner last year raked in a budget-busting $344,147 in overtime — on top of his $117,499 salary, according to data released Tuesday by the Empire Center fiscal-watchdog group.
While delays on the Long Island Rail Road hit a 19-year high in 2018, chief measurement operator Thomas Caputo brought home a fat $461,646 paycheck — more than anyone else at the agency, and $164,027 more than he earned the year before.
And yet the MTA couldn’t even explain how many hours Caputo worked last year, or what his overtime rate was.
“Looking into Caputo,” spokesman Shams Tarek told The Post Tuesday afternoon — then failed to respond to multiple follow-up queries.
After five hours, all he could explain is what a chief measurement operator does — claiming Caputo is “one of only a few people” who can operate an “advanced track-geometry car,” which examines the rails for defects.
Tarek said Caputo retired this month after 30 years on the job — and his hefty final pay year could give a boost to his pension.
The news comes right after the LIRR on Sunday hit riders with fare hikes of up to $15 on monthly tickets and $5.75 on weeklies. Customers say the ­humongous worker paychecks are a slap in the face.
“This is outrageous,” said Dini Morbillo, 56, a physician who spends $275 a month on her LIRR pass and gasped when she heard what Caputo took home.
“He is making more than me — who the hell is Thomas Caputo? Why isn’t there transparency?”
Overtime payments surged to more than $1.3 billion across the entire MTA last year, up from $1.2 billion the year before, according to Empire Center data.
Of that, the LIRR shelled out $224.6 million for overtime, up nearly $50 million from the previous year’s $175.4 million.
And yet that same year, the commuter rail line’s on-time performance dropped to its worst levels in nearly two decades.
Nine of the top 10 overtime earners in the MTA in 2018 worked for the LIRR.
They include surfacing foreman Dallas Bazemore III, who made $279,289 in overtime.
Track worker Marco Pazmino earned a regular salary of just under $55,000, but fattened his pay with another $256,177 in OT.
Meanwhile, New York City Transit chief Andy Byford — the man charged with fixing the Big Apple’s dilapidated subway system — was only the 21st highest earner in the MTA last year, taking home $313,468.
Even LIRR workers were outraged at what some of their colleagues are raking in.
“This guy is making almost $500,000?! Wow. I don’t even knowwh at a chief measurement operator is; all I know is I want in that,” said one customer-service worker, who wouldn’t give his name. “I’m in the wrong department.”
Tarek justified the megasized paychecks by saying the agency has been working on major upgrades recently, and claiming it is often cheaper to pay an existing employee overtime than to hire another person for the same work.
Caputo couldn’t be reached for comment.

Kamala Harris backtracks, now says criminals like Boston bomber ‘should be deprived’ of right to vote

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., is now backtracking after initially saying “we should have that conversation” about allowing criminals currently in prison -- such as the Boston Marathon bomber -- to vote.
Appearing at a televised town hall event following 2020 Democratic frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. -- who made headlines by advocating for voting rights for felons serving time. -- Harris was also asked to weigh in.
“I think we should have that conversation,” Harris told CNN anchor Don Lemon.
Well, that conversation appears to have ended.
Sanders had said that those convicted of sexual assault and of crimes like terrorism -- like Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev -- should be able to vote in order for the U.S. to sustain a “vibrant democracy” and to increase voter turnout.
But on Tuesday, while speaking to a press gaggle in New Hampshire, Harris expanded on her remarks at the CNN town hall and gave what her national press secretary Ian Sams called a “thoughtful answer.”
Harris called the issue of allowing felons to vote in prison “complex” and said she was going to “talk to experts” about the matter.
She added that there was “a lot of work to do” regarding 6 million people who are currently in prison without voting rights.
“Do I think that people who commit murder, people who are terrorists should be deprived of their rights? Yeah, I do. I’m a prosecutor,” Harris said. “There has to be serious consequences for the most extreme types of crimes.”
Also during Monday night’s town hall, Harris joined her colleague, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in calling for President Trump’s impeachment. She also vowed to take executive action on gun control if Congress doesn’t act in her first 100 days in office as president.

Rush Limbaugh: Joe Biden is Democrats' best chance in 2020 but has no chance in primary

Conservative talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh said Monday that former Vice President Joseph Biden is the Democrats' best chance to defeat President Trump in 2020 but has no chance to win the primary.
"Here's the thing: Joe Biden is probably the best chance they've got, and he doesn't have a chance. They're probably -- Joe Biden? And crazy Bernie [Sanders]? And mayor Pete [Buttigieg]? Three white guys, two of them are brontosauruses from 'Jurassic Park,' and that isn't going to sit well with the rest of this party, which has gone so far left," Limbaugh said on "The Story with Martha MacCallum."
Limbaugh also said Biden may not be fully committed to running in 2020.
"I don't think, Biden is putting off his announcement, I don't know how badly he really wants this, and you have to really want this if you are going to have any chance of winning it," Limbaugh said.
Fox News learned Tuesday that Biden's long-awaited 2020 presidential bid announcement has been pushed back from Wednesday to Thursday, with plans for the former vice president to follow up with an appearance in Pittsburgh next week.
The radio host also went after 2020 candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., criticizing her proposals including forgiving student loans.
"Pocahontas is not going to be the nominee. These Democrats are all in the process of trying to out-leftist or out-liberal each other, and they're in a contest of who can give away the most," Limbaugh said.
He continued, "None of this is real, none of this can happen. This is disinformation, and it is really, I think it is an indication of just how little they think of their own voters, that their own voters don't even want to work. They don't even want to achieve. They don't even want to pursue excellence. They just want to have their hands out and vote for whoever is going to give them the most. What a way to ruin a life."
Limbaugh took time to address Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report, defending Trump and accusing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of colluding with the Russians.
"Hillary Clinton and her pals in the Obama Department of Justice and the FBI, they are the ones who colluded with the Russians. They are the ones that gave us this entirely, totally bogus Steele dossier," Limbaugh said.
"Talk about irony, for Hillary Clinton to be talking about impeaching Donald Trump. Hillary Clinton needs to be investigated, she needs to be indicted, and she needs to be in jail -- and many of her co-conspirators in this whole sordid affair, which amounted to nothing more than a silent coup to overturn the election results in 2016."
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser, Nick Kalman and Martha MacCallum contributed to this report.

Gun Control Cartoons

Piers Morgan: Media and Democrats reaction to Mueller report 'a disgrace'

DailyMail.com editor-at-large and former CNN anchor Piers Morgan appeared on "Hannity" Monday night where he lambasted Democrats and the mainstream media for their reaction to the Mueller Report's release last week, calling it "a disgrace."
"Mueller was the savior, the man on the white horse riding into town to take down President Trump on collusion with Russia, he would be exposed as a traitor and this would be the end of his presidency. And then Mueller report comes out and it turns out it was all nonsense. It was to quote Donald Trump, it was 'fake news,'" Morgan told host Sean Hannity.
Last week, Attorney General William Barr released a redacted version of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report that revealed the Trump campaign did not collude with Russia.
Morgan criticized The New York Times, The Washington Post and cable news outlets for pushing the "obstruction of justice" narrative after the Mueller report did not result in charges against the president.
"We are supposed to believe now that Donald Trump committed repeated obstruction of justice over a crime that he now, as we all know, did not commit? He is trying to obstruct people from investigating something he says he said he didn't do and Special Counsel has confirmed he didn't do. It is ridiculous, it is a farce, it is making a mockery of America," Morgan said.
The British television presenter also mocked liberals unable to cope with the fact that Trump beat Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2016.
"The liberals here are refusing to accept results in 2016. 'But Hillary won the popular vote.' Who cares? It's not about the popular vote," Morgan said.
Morgan also went after his old employer CNN, saying he still had friends there but wondering aloud if they are continuing their coverage for monetary reasons.
"I don't know why they have done that other than it gives them a lot of money, I guess.  I think it damages their credibility and I wish they weren't doing it," Morgan said.
Morgan warned the media and Democrats that if they continue to cover President Trump in the same vein that they are essentially guaranteeing him a second term.
"If the Democrats, fueled by the media, try to continue to fight this, and I'm telling you what will happen, Donald Trump will get reelected and he will have four more years of this," Morgan said.

Kamala Harris pledges executive order on gun control if Congress doesn't act in her first 100 days

Democratic presidential Candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks at the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority South Central Regional Conference in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Sen. Kamala Harris on Monday night pledged that, if elected president, she will sign a series of executive orders on gun control if Congress fails to pass comprehensive legislation in her first 100 days in the Oval Office.
During a town hall hosted by CNN, Harris said that if a bill from Congress did not make it to her desk, she would unilaterally mandate background checks for customers purchasing a firearm from any dealer who sells more than five guns a year.
Dealers who violate the law, she said, would have their licenses revoked. The other executive orders would prohibit fugitives from purchasing a firearm or weapon, as well as close the loophole that allows some domestic abusers to purchase a firearm if their victim is an unwedded partner.
“There are people in Washington, D.C., supposed leaders,” Harris said, “who have failed to have the courage to reject a false choice which suggests you’re either in favor of the second amendment or you want to take everyone’s guns away.”
She continued, “we need reasonable gun safety laws in this country, starting with universal background checks and a renewal of the assault weapon ban, but they have failed to have the courage to act.”
The proposal is Harris’ second policy announcement since launching her presidential campaign, the New York Times reports. The former California attorney general previously proposed a federal increase in teacher pay.

Klobuchar has 'please clap' moment, says CNN's Chris Cuomo 'creeping' over shoulder during town hall

2020 presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., saw a couple of viral moments during a televised town hall on Monday night.
The first: what critics and analysts have called her “please clap” moment. Klobuchar was boasting that in each of her elections she won every congressional district in her state, including that of former Rep. Michele Bachmann, a Republican.
After the audience didn’t react to her victories, Klobuchar gave them permission to be excited.
“It’s when you guys are supposed to cheer, okay?” Klobuchar grinned, which prompted applause and some laughter.
Many on social media have drawn comparisons to former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who famously told a town hall crowd to “please clap” on the campaign trail during the 2016 election.
Later on, the Minnesota Democrat had an awkward encounter with CNN anchor and town hall moderator Chris Cuomo.
While discussing how to address climate change with rural voters, Klobuchar stressed how important it was and told Cuomo that she wanted to “finish” her thought before he interrupted.
She then, however, felt a little creeped out by Cuomo’s presence.
“I feel you creeping over my shoulder,” Klobuchar told the CNN anchor. She jokingly clarified, “not in a Trumpian manner.”
Klobuchar was referring to the second presidential debate in 2016. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton later accused then-candidate Donald Trump of being a “creep” for approaching behind her on the debate stage and claimed her “skin crawled” in her memoir, “What Happened.”

Dem leaders reject immediate impeachment proceedings in urgent conference call

Leaders of the House Democrats backed off the idea of immediately launching impeachment proceedings against President Trump in an urgent conference call Monday evening amid a growing rift among the party's rank-and-file members, presidential contenders and committee chairs on the contentious issue.
Fox News is told by two senior sources on the private conference call that even House Financial Services Committee Chair Maxine Waters, an anti-Trump firebrand, told fellow Democrats that while she personally favored going forward with impeachment proceedings, she was not pushing for other members to join her.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her leadership team were clear there were no immediate plans to move forward with impeachment, Fox News is also told. Well-placed sources said it was a spirited 87-minute call involving more than 170 Democrat members, including House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff and House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings.
"We have to save our democracy," Pelosi said, according to the sources. "This isn’t about Democrats or Republicans. It’s about saving our democracy. If it is what we need to do to honor our responsibility to the Constitution – if that’s the place the facts take us, that’s the place we have to go."
Pelosi asserted that more investigations were needed: "We don’t have to go to articles of impeachment to obtain the facts, the presentation of facts.”
Waters' hesitation and Pelosi's remarks signaled clearly that, for the time being, any impeachment effort would struggle to gain steam. Just last week, Waters, D-Calif., took a far more aggressive tone, charging that "Congress’ failure to impeach is complacency in the face of the erosion of our democracy and constitutional norms."

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said while she personally favored impeachment proceedings, she was not pushing for other lawmakers to join her. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

Waters also has called Attorney General Bill Barr a "lackey," saying he was not being "respectful" to Congress. Barr held a news conference presenting Special Counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions and has referred bluntly to the FBI surveillance of the Trump campaign as "spying," rankling Democrats even as he said the important issue was whether the spying was properly predicated.
But on the call Monday night, Waters took a more muted tone and said she was simply saying what she personally thought -- not demanding impeachment proceedings.
Congress is currently on a two-week recess, and representatives are scattered across the country.
The brewing fractures among Democrats were evident on the Sunday talk show circuit, as Schiff, D-Calif, told "Fox News Sunday" that the impeachment question presented a "very difficult decision" that would take "the next couple of weeks" to determine.
“I'm not there yet, but I can foresee that possibly coming,” Cummings, D-Md., said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats would be wise to instead focus on the upcoming presidential election.
“Obstruction of justice, if proven, would be impeachable,” New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” adding his committee would “see where the facts lead us.”
Nadler issued a subpoena on Monday for documents and testimony from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn, who resisted Trump's calls to fire Mueller, according to the special counsel's findings.
On the conference call, Nadler discussed the subpoena and announced that McGahn will be the first witness in a new series of public hearings based on the Mueller report and Democrats' other related document requests.
Nadler said the hearings will aim to provide the public with a robust understanding of what’s at stake in these matters and an opportunity to hear from the key witnesses who could speak directly to questions of obstruction, abuse of power and corruption that may have been committed by the president or his allies.
Meanwhile, prominent progressive freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president in 2020, wholeheartedly embraced the impeachment push.
Pelosi recognized the intra-party split in a letter to Democrats on Monday, ahead of the conference call.
“While our views range from proceeding to investigate the findings of the Mueller report or proceeding directly to impeachment, we all firmly agree that we should proceed down a path of finding the truth,” Pelosi wrote. “It is also important to know that the facts regarding holding the president accountable can be gained outside of impeachment hearings.”
Pelosi added: “Whether currently indictable or not, it is clear that the president has, at a minimum, engaged in highly unethical and unscrupulous behavior which does not bring honor to the office he holds."
During the call, Pelosi urged colleagues to read the letter carefully.
Mueller's 18-month-long probe found no evidence the Trump team conspired illegally with Russians, and debunked numerous conspiracy theories that mainstream media outlets had advanced on the topic. Democrats quickly pivoted to focus on whether the president had illegally obstructed the Russia investigation -- a question Mueller chose to allow Barr, the Justice Department, and Congress to address.
Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told "Fox News Sunday" that it was unfair for Democrats to expect that Mueller could ever "exonerate" Trump on obstruction.
"You do not apply a standard of exoneration to anyone," Giuliani told Chris Wallace after saying the standard was "warped" and that the Mueller report was full of "lies" told by disaffected Trump aides.
"Whether it’s a president, an impeachment," Giuliani said, "you can’t exonerate. Exoneration means proving a negative."
Fox News' Alex Pappas, Chad Pergram, Mike Emanuel and The Associated Press contributed to this report.