The price we pay

At least Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie showed up. That’s apparently what counts for courage these days.

Of course, it was all downhill once he opened his mouth Friday before the special committee mulling raises for lawmakers: Rather than promising change to the way business is done in Albany in exchange for a raise, Heastie said pretty please, fatten our paychecks — while punting worse than the Jets on two reforms necessary to clean up the Capitol’s cesspool.

One, an end to corrupting outside income. Two, an end to the lulu payments that give legislative leaders undue leverage.

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins didn’t show at all. Which means these two leaders have utterly failed the first big test of the state’s new Democratic-run Legislature.

In light of the craven performance, the committee, made up of state Controller Tom DiNapoli, city Controller Scott Stringer and former state and city Controllers Carl McCall and Bill Thompson, has only two choices.

Go for no raise at all, keeping pay at $79,500, where it’s been frozen for 20 years.

Or hike pay to the far more respectable neighborhood of $148,000, on par with the City Council — making that hike contingent on the two anti-corruption fixes.

The four committee members are supposed to care not only about what’s best for the pols, but about what’s best for the state.

If Tom, Scott, Carl and Bill reward legislators after this show of arrogance, all hope is lost. We will not forget.