Dear Leader: The Pedro Espada We Have Known
Now that the deal is done and Pedro Espada looks to be your new State Senate Majority Leader, get to know him as we at the Village Voice have:
2000: Espada indicted for illegally diverting funds from his Soundview health care company to his campaign. (He got off.) Tom Robbins reviews the tapes.
2002: Espada rolls with the Republicans in the State Senate, then runs for re-election as a Democrat. Wayne Barrett tracks his tergiversations.
August 2008: Espada vs. Efrain Gonzalez for the Democratic State Senate nomination. Mr. Robbins tries, fails to discern the "lesser of two evils."
August 2008: John DeSio finds Espada running Soundview "health fairs" that look suspiciously like campaign events.
August 2008: Espada tells the state Democrats "they don't have to worry about Pedro Espada."
September 2008: Espada staff roughs up a reporter.
November 2008: Now elected to the Senate, Espada tells El Diario he wants to be Majority Leader.
November 2008: The Daily News notices that Espada got bigger campaign contributions from Republicans than from Democrats.
And thereafter, of course, Espada joined the Gang and squeezed the Democrats who didn't have to worry about Pedro Espada, threatening to vote with the Republicans till they made him Majority Leader. It's a great country.
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