Article snippet: When State Senator Bill Perkins won a special election last week for an empty seat on the New York City Council, he became the first in a wave of state legislators who are expected to ask voters this year to help them make a similar jump — and in the process gain a hefty pay raise. “Sounds like I’m in the vanguard,” Mr. Perkins said the day after winning the Feb. 14 special election. State lawmakers — both senators and Assembly members — have not received a raise since 1999. Legislators, who receive a base salary of $79,500, had their hopes for a raise dashed in November when a commission formed to evaluate lawmaker salaries failed to agree on a recommendation. By contrast, the City Council last year voted itself a handsome salary increase to $148,500, from $112,500. The increase caused some consternation, in part because the raise was $10,185 greater than the one recommended by an advisory panel, an upward departure the Council justified because it also approved a series of ethics rules, including a ban on many forms of outside income. Now close to a half-dozen state lawmakers, all Democrats, appear to be contemplating a run for the Council this year. Mr. Perkins, however, said the salary increase was not why he ran for the Council. “I’m not running for a higher pay per se,” Mr. Perkins, a Democrat, said before adding a caveat: “I’m not ignorant of it, and my wife isn’t ignorant of it either.” Mr. Perkins had previously held the same Council seat, in a district ... Link to the full article to read more