In last week’s Observer, a longtime Bronx operative told me of Pedro Espada Jr.’s Senate district: “You got to remember, this is a poor district, and they feel victimized. … Part of his district is one of the poorest in any urban area. They’re looking for heroes.”
So Esapada’s campaign is trying to give Read More
With fears of a government shutdown next week looming larger by the day, Governor Paterson threw some bombs this morning at Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr., the Democrats’ chief dissident on budget matters.
Speaking on The Brian Lehrer Show, Paterson responded to Espada’s statements that he would not vote for cuts that are slipped Read More
A year after he joined briefly forces with Republicans, leading to a total paralysis of the Legislature, Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. wants new reforms.
Espada, honoring the anniversary of the coup, issued a statement this afternoon that trumpeted the effects of what he simply described as “Albany reform.”
“The so-called coup is greatly Read More
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo would like to see more of Pedro Espada Jr.’s records.
This afternoon, Mr. Cuomo subpoenaed the State Senate for records of 10 employees who worked for Mr. Espada’s office.
“We want to know where these people worked and when. We also want to know why they were hired and under what Read More
Andrew Cuomo held a press conference–in person!–to discuss the raid on Pedro Espada’s office this morning by agents from the AG’s office, the I.R.S. and the F.B.I.
Cuomo, speaking inside the lobby of 120 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, declined to say if Espada should step down, and brushed aside Espada’s comments yesterday that this probe Read More
ALBANY—John Sampson thinks, not unreasonably, that the State Senate needs a new look.
“We need to come out of the box in January and start to really pass some progressive and positive legislation because people have one characterization of us,” Sampson, the leader of the chamber’s Democratic conference, told reporters during an informal chat in Read More
ALBANY—The State Senate’s four amigos will meet for lunch today, to discuss anything and everything.
“We’re going to be discussing everything. Everything! The agenda for next year.” Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. told me by phone this morning, after his office put out an advisory that the meal would be taking place–at the Nautilus Read More
ALBANY—Malcolm Smith is supposed to leave the top post in the State Senate with the New Year. But nothing in the chamber is ever that easy.
Smith, a Queens Democrat who was
“He’s like an ambassador for the State Senate,” said his spokesman, Austin Shafran. He added that Smith and Sampson “have an outstanding Read More
ALBANY—State Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. has a message for Assemblyman Jose Peralta: “There’s a saying in Puerto Rico: if you have glass windows, don’t throw stones.”
I called Diaz to ask him about a column this morning by Juan Gonzalez which said Peralta had steered over $500,000 to a dubious non-profit organization with Read More
ALBANY—State Senator John Sampson got to do most of the back room negotiating over the deficit package. Senator Malcolm Smith gets to go to California.
Smith, a Queens Democrat, will leave tomorrow for a three-day forum of the National Conference of State Legislators in San Diego, his spokesman Austin Shafran said. Smith Read More
