Some Democratic state senators stood on the steps of City Hall and trashed Michael Bloomberg and Joel Klein for a full 30 minutes over their position on mayoral control of schools. And then things got interesting. One of the senators, Pedro Espada, blew up at reporters who asked him about fund-raising activity that was not listed in his campaign finance records.
Marcia Kramer of CBS2 and Barbara Ross of the Daily News bore the brunt of the criticisms from Espada.(Jimmy Vielkind has been following the issue also.)
As Espada was trashing the “ambush” and “yellow journalism” he said he was a victim of, staffers from City Hall News approached him and asked for him to pose for a photo reading the paper.
Espada happily obliged.
Here’s a sample of the dialogue:
Espada [to Kramer]: You are not dealing with the facts.
Kramer: I am dealing with the facts. You’re not dealing with the facts.
Espada: I know you like to see yourself on TV surprising legislators with misinformation. The fact of the matter is we’re timely. We have totally submitted all the required reports. Are they perfect? Perhaps not. But they’re filed.
It didn’t get better.
Kramer: Did you have the fund-raiser? You’re denying the fund-raisers?
Espada: Are you trying to continue your attempt to distract from the most important issue of New York City and New York State?
Kramer: No. I’m trying to get you to answer the question.
Espada: It seems to me that you are more interested in filings than children and the quality of education that they get.
Kramer: I’m interested in whether you’re being honest.
