This is the time of year for the formal, though not required, swearing-in ceremonies of elected officials in their home districts. They are usually for rookie legislators, like the one on Saturday night at the stately Gould Memorial Hall at Bronx Community College for newly minted State Senator Gustavo Rivera, a newcomer politician who is no newcomer to politics, having worked on the staff of other legislators — including Kirsten Gillibrand and Andrea Stewart-Cousins — and on the 2008 Obama campaign in Florida.

If 2010 was a terrible year for Pedro Espada, Jr., the soon-to-be former state senator, then 2011 could be even worse. In April, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed a civil suit, charging that Espada had used Soundview HealthCare Network, the nonprofit he founded and runs, as a “personal piggy bank.” He stole $14 million, the suit alleges, spending it on family trips, restaurant bills and, famously, take-out sushi delivered to Espada’s Westchester home.

Gustavo Rivera, an adjunct politics professor and former political aide, took the Bronx political scene by storm this year when he defeated State Sen. Pedro Espada, Jr., for his seat in the 33rd District in the northwest Bronx. Rivera, a 34-year-old Kingsbridge Heights resident and former aide to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, beat out a number of other primary contenders in what quickly became one of the most watched and dramatic races in the state.