Senate bonus babies

The sexual harassment scandal that has consumed the state Senate over the past several months has been bad news for Beacon Hill. But it was unexpectedly good news for those individual senators who saw their stock rise with the abrupt change in leadership.

Yes, for the newest members of the new Senate president’s leadership team, last year’s big legislative pay heist — er, pay hike — is the gift that keeps on giving.

As the Herald reported yesterday, several senators will see their pay jump after being tapped by Senate President Harriette Chandler to join her leadership team. In all, Chandler’s lieutenants will pocket a combined $220,000 in new leadership pay.

There should be little direct impact on the budget; ousted president Stan Rosenberg’s stipend is redirected to Chandler, for example.

But the really galling part of all this is that there are barely five months left in formal legislative sessions this year. With the exception of the state budget — and because of the leadership issues in the Senate — most of the heavy lifting in this two-year session is likely in the rear view mirror.

But of course the newly anointed members of top Senate leadership will collect their hefty pay raises for the entire year — including several months when they’re off on vacation or campaigning for re-election (formal sessions end July 31).

Meanwhile yesterday’s report got us thinking about how many senators are now earning six figures. After the Legislature hustled through a pay raise package in early 2017, it appears fully two-thirds of the 40-member Senate exceeded the $100,000 mark.

The year before, the number was . . . one (Rosenberg).

The strange twist here is that Rosenberg, who helped engineer the pay raises, will now earn the bare minimum for a senator in base salary and expenses after his demotion from the Senate presidency. That’s $82,572. We suspect few taxpayers will be crying salty tears over that turn of events.