Norwood News

It would be nice if we had a powerful and principled state senator representing all of our communities. But it seems we only have the former.

Pedro Espada, Jr., who has been in office representing the 33rd Senate District for only five months, has  already managed to catapult himself  to leadership  positions on both sides of the aisle of the state Senate by capitalizing on the razor-thin majority Democrats gained for the first time in 40 years.

On Monday, he abandoned the Democrats for the Republicans, and in so doing, shook up city and state politics in a way that makes Eliot Spitzer’s resignation look like a minor gossip-page item in comparison.

Now that Espada has essentially thrown power in the Senate to the GOP, thus bringing New Yorkers divided government once again, every single issue the state legislature was moving toward resolving this session is in jeopardy — gay marriage, mayoral control of the city’s school  system, rent laws, ethics reform, etc. 

Aside from the chaos, putting Espada in the driver’s seat of state government (and next in line to succeed Governor Paterson should he be incapacitated) is sending shudders through the body politic.
Espada has never been convicted of a crime, but a litany of ethical transgressions defines his life in public service.

He has refused to register his campaign committee from the last election, so there has not been a full reporting of his campaign contributions.

Three of the executives at his health center pleaded guilty to diverting $30,000 from family care and AIDS treatment programs to Espada’s 2001 bid for Bronx borough president.

He lives in Mamaroneck. He bought a co-op in Bedford Park last summer but few of his neighbors have ever seen him there.

He doesn’t have a district office, or even a local phone number, despite the listing of a Fordham Road address on his Web site.

You’d think the media glare on Espada’s power plays and his ethical lapses would have him lying low and putting his best — or least worst — foot forward.

Instead, Espada set up shell nonprofits with no discernable public purpose to receive member item money, according to The New York Times. Thankfully, State Senate officials refused to OK the allocation, which is said to be one of the reasons Espada defected.

In a district with over 101,000 registered Democratic voters , Espada won the Democratic primary last September (tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic borough) with only 4,988 votes.  That’s five percent of registered Democrats who pulled the lever for Espada. That kind of turnout is a recipe for a lack of accountability. Of course, local voters had the unenviable choice of voting for Espada, or the incumbent, Efrain Gonzalez, who was under indictment at the time.

Now we have another 15 months or so before the next Senate election. We can only hope that there are some good people in the 33rd District who are already plotting their candidacies.

Though his actions tell us he’s not much interested in hearing from his constituents, we all must hold Senator Espada accountable any way we can in the meantime. The phone number for his Albany office is (518) 455-3395 and we’ll get you the address for his district office — if he ever opens one.