Doesn't want $82,789 a year just to read books

A woman, looking to do more than sit and read books at her $82,789-a-year job with the State Liquor Authority, has settled her federal court lawsuit against the state and will move to a new job with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Patricia Freund, a 25-year state employee, had said her superiors at the SLA sent her to a back room and gave her nothing to do for the past three years after she questioned the practice of state employees attending Gov. George Pataki's annual prayer breakfast. "While no settlement can ever make Ms. Freund whole in that she had to endure years of being harassed solely for exercising her right under the Constitution to speak freely, we are pleased at the settlement that has been reached," said her lawyer. Freund said she was stripped of her duties after she began making official inquiries about state workers attending Pataki's annual, non-denominational prayer breakfast. Freund, who is Jewish, said she went to the breakfast in 2000 at the urging of her boss and later complained to co-workers about the event. She was relegated to a back office where she spent her time reading books she brought from home. Heck, I'd do it for $25,000 a year.