Dec
06
They say that in Albany, everything is decided by “three men in a room” - the governor, the State Assembly speaker and the State Senate majority leader.
But Pedro Espada Jr., who is slated to become the senate majority leader, and the state’s most prominent Hispanic official, insists those days are over.
“Well, I am going to be in the room,” said Espada in his Soundview, Bronx office.
Espada is on his way to becoming the number two leader in the State Senate. He’s a member of the so-called “Gang of Three,” three Democrats who at first refused to back Democratic Senate leader Malcolm Smith and tip control towards the Republicans.
A deal brokered with Governor David Paterson and Smith now means the Democrats are taking over.
The lack of Hispanics in positions of power had been one of the chief complaints of the “Gang of Three.” Read more..
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Dec
05
ALBANY — Pedro Espada Jr. who is expected to become the majority leader of the State Senate in January, owes more than $60,000 in fines to New York City’s Campaign Finance Board, dating to his 2001 run for Bronx borough president. He has appealed the fines in state court.
In addition, state elections officials in Albany say that Mr. Espada did not register his campaign for Senate this year; and he could face more than $6,000 in fines. It is not the first time he has run afoul of the State Board of Elections: His 2000 Senate campaign was fined for failing to submit finance reports.
In 2005, three employees of a Bronx nonprofit health care company run by Mr. Espada, the Soundview HealthCare Network, pleaded guilty to diverting $30,000 from programs for family care and AIDS treatment to one of his campaigns. Mr. Espada was never charged.
In an interview on Friday, Mr. Espada said he had made mistakes in some cases and had been unfairly accused in others. The scrutiny, he added, is part of politics. Read more..
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Nov
19
ALBANY - An incoming Bronx state senator failed to register a campaign committee with the state as required by law, the Daily News has learned.
The News recently reported that Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. had missed all five required financial disclosures for his campaign this year.
Yesterday, state Board of Elections spokesman Robert Brehm said Espada hasn’t even bothered to register his campaign committee.
By not registering and making the proper filings, it’s impossible to tell who financed his campaign and how the money was spent.
Making things more confusing is that the senator-elect has a registered political action committee called “Espada for the People” that can receive and make donations, but is prohibited from making direct expenditures for a campaign, Brehm said.
There is no paperwork filed to make it clear whether the PAC is tied to Espada’s Senate race, Brehm said. Read more..
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