Pedro Espada

Guy Velella, 1944-2011, State Senator, Rascal, Stand-up Guy

Shiho Fukada/VV​It is October 14, 2000, and Guy Velella -- the ex-state senator and convicted felon who died yesterday at 66 -- is in his home base in the north Bronx practicing the fine art of retail politics. Nobody does this better, and the tell-tale silver-streak in his careful pompadour i ... More >>

Democratic Rebels Stage New State Senate Breakaway

​ The new Albany legislative session opens this morning with yet another rebellion in the ranks. This one comes from a quartet of Democratic state senators who announced this morning, with plenty of tough words, that they're moving away from their party's minority to form an "independent caucu ... More >>

A Thanksgiving Honor Roll for 2010

Al Sharpton and the 'Times' Endorse Eric Schneiderman: You Gotta Be Kidding

​Can I start with the final straw and work my way backwards? While I was away on vacation last week, Al Sharpton, one of the worst tax scofflaws in New York, endorsed Eric Schneiderman for the state's top law enforcement office. No big deal. Any one of the four other Democrats running for att ... More >>

Why is Eric Schneiderman Using Eric Espada's Fixer?

Schneiderman​The current attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, is throwing allegations by the boxload at the man who thinks state government is his personal hostage, Senator Pedro Espada, while one of the AG candidates who wants to replace Cuomo, Senator Eric Schneiderman, hired Espada's right-hand ... More >>

Pedro Espada Does His Part to Get Andrew Cuomo Elected Governor

​Pedro Espada's mad-hat denunciations of Andrew Cuomo as "the prince of darkness" are made-to-order commercials for the Cuomo gubernatorial campaign. In a year when anti-incumbent and anti-Albany feelings poll so high, Espada's very personal outrage at Cuomo over the lawsuit that the Attorne ... More >>

Who Knew? Pedro Espada a Sushi Fiend, Cuomo Lawsuit Says

We'll sort out the politics and the numbers later, but for starters, the best sound-bite in this afternoon's tele-presser by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo about his new civil lawsuit against that rascally state senator from the Bronx, Pedro Espada, was the back and forth between Cuomo and an old fri ... More >>

Espada intimidates some Soundview Healthcare employees

​Pedro Espada sent letters to workers at his perenially-investigated Soundview Healthcare Network in October instructing them to "immediately" contact Soundview lawyers Hafetz & Necheles if they're contacted by law enforcement in any form. Espada claims he was just letting his employees know ... More >>

Barrett: My Favorite Nugget from Last Night's Debate

​My favorite nugget from last night's mayoral debate was Mike Bloomberg's smug smile as he pronounced Joe Bruno a better majority leader of the state senate than Pedro Espada. Democrat Bill Thompson had already picked the-sometime Democrat Espada as the better of the two. By 3:12 a.m., the Po ... More >>

Barrett: My Favorite Nugget from Last Night's Debate

​My favorite nugget from last night's mayoral debate was Mike Bloomberg's smug smile as he pronounced Joe Bruno a better majority leader of the state senate than Pedro Espada. Democrat Bill Thompson had already picked the-sometime Democrat Espada as the better of the two. By 3:12 a.m., the Po ... More >>

Pedro Espada Plays Moneyball

The new Senate majority leader heads straight for the bank

Judge Postpones Decision on Legality of Ravitch's Lt. Gov Appointment

For those of you who were wondering how the judge would rule today on Governor Paterson's appointment of Richard Ravitch to Lieutenant Governor -- congratulations! You are an informed, aware citizen! Now to your news: the judge postponed his decision and did not say when he'd give it. State Supreme ... More >>

Paterson, The Governor Who Forgot To Get Mad

Do something, Dave, will ya?

Siena Poll: Worst "Wrong Direction New York" Number Ever; Paterson Surges to 31% Approval

There's a new Siena Poll, and guess what? Respondents say New York is headed in the wrong direction "by the largest margin ever," 63-24. It is thought the Albany Coup has thus decreased their confidence, as 84 percent think the catastrophe "will make it harder to pass important legislation," and the ... More >>

The Taking of the State Senate 1 2 3

For Espada and Monserrate, the future is all used up

This Week in the Voice

Maybe you've heard of "snowflake babies" but never really known what they were. They're not really babies -- just frozen embryos about the size of a comma. But because they can be implanted in women and gestated into children, conservative Christians say the frosted 'flakes are people. And they're r ... More >>

Monserrate Flips, Dems Allegedly Have 31-31 Split in Senate

Yeah, by now we're not sure what it means anymore either, but Hiram Monserrate tells the Daily News "I'm coming home" to the Democratic Party. Both he and Albany coup leader Pedro Espada Jr. have been saying they're still loyal Dems since this whole thing started last Monday, but Monserrate means h ... More >>

Coup in Review: Judge to Rule Monday, Dems Haggle with Monserrate, Espada Burglarized

We have to wait till Monday to see what John Law has to say about the Albany coup: in state supreme court this morning, Judge Thomas McNamara said the legal dispute between insurgent Republicans, who say they took power legally, and displaced Democrats, who contend otherwise and wish to block them, ... More >>

Barrett: Did Paterson Really Call And Congratulate Espada On His Coup?

In the madhouse of Albany these days, David Paterson, predictably, has been behaving unpredictably. Press reports noted that he telephoned Senator Pedro Espada, the Democrat-turned-Republican who is leading the two-man rebellion. Espada's spokesman told the Albany Times Union that Paterson, the Demo ... More >>

Latest Bronx Schemer of the Week Entry: Larry Seabrook

Proving that it is always too early to predict who should win the Bronx Schemer of the Week Award, the Times today produces a strong bid for City Councilman Larry Seabrook.The veteran pol, reports Ray Rivera and Russ Buettner, somehow managed to parlay a nondescript, one-story office building on Whi ... More >>

Albany Coup Update: Duane "Flirting" With GOP for Gay Marriage?

They're still swinging in Albany, where the New Model Republican Majority is locked out of the state senate chamber. Democratic cavaliers are leaning on Hiram Monserrate, with operatives availing a robocall that claims Monserrate has "abandoned Barack Obama and everything we believe in" with his apo ... More >>

Coup de Villains: The Albany Takeover So Far

Dear Leader: misty watercolor memories of Pedro Espada Jr. here. Malcolm Smith says he's still in charge, but he hasn't been able to achieve much over the past five months of Democratic rule in the state senate, and we doubt he has the resources to overturn the overthrow of his leadership today. ... More >>

Bronx Pol Espada Tracked to Actual Non-Bronx Home

There's a special election for Bronx Borough President today, and Ruben Diaz Jr., son of the colorful anti-gay state senator, will certainly win against his "token opposition," Anthony J. Ribustello, an actor from The Sopranos. But there are more entertaining examples of the Bronx's hopeless politic ... More >>

Vanguard of the Senate Revolution

When no one else will, Kruger and Espada battle on behalf of the people

This Week in the Voice

Remember the epidemic years of AIDS, when infected New Yorkers fought to get into untested drug trials? People fought to get infected babies into those trials, too. Some of them, because of the nature of the trials, were given placebo drugs. Some made it, some didn't. Not much has been written abo ... More >>

Espada Won't Pay Rent to GOP Mayor Hopeful

It's a lovely thing when two of the Voice's favorite people lock horns. State senator Pedro Espada, whose political career both on the hustings and under investigation we have much covered, is complaining that he can hardly make a living in his job outside the political arena -- head of the Soundvie ... More >>

Padavan, Squadron Back New Rent Laws -- But What Will Espada Do?

Local pols are getting on the pro-tenant bandwagon. New state senator Daniel Squadron did a press conference in front of the Economakis residence on East 3rd Street, site of "owner-occupancy" evictions, which has been the subject of protests and a Voice story last year. The Assembly has passed a b ... More >>

Year of the Tenant? Don't Bet Your Rent On It.

Assembly controller Shelly Silver declared this week that 2009 would be "the year of the tenant" Silver's proclamations aside, there's a lot state government can do to help the rent-paying classes downstate. On top of the list, says David King in a Gotham Gazette piece, would be to pass a bill that ... More >>

Espada, Hailed as "Mi Hermano" by Malcolm Smith, Swears Into Senate

Homophobe Ruben Diaz, l., gives gavel to Pedro Espada. Photos by John DeSio. Fresh from their behind-closed-doors victory over Malcolm Smith and the new Democratic majority in the State Senate, the so-called "Gang of Three" held what amounted to a victory party last night in the concert hall of Le ... More >>

Habemus Corruptio! Senates Dems' Deal Settled

We know we've said this before, but it looks as if, on the morning of the actual vote, the Democrats of the state senate have pulled together a deal that will get everyone, including the rebellious Gang of Three, on board for Malcolm Smith to be elected to majority leader. The New York Times break ... More >>

Tenants Jeer for New Housing Chair Espada

The first reviews are in for Pedro Espada, the Bronx Democratic renegade whose hardball negotiations with new majority leader Malcolm Smith won him the post of  state Senate housing committee chair. They're not good: It's "an unhappy development for tenants," said veteran housing advocate Michael ... More >>

Espada Still Owes $61K for Violations, Says Court

Our hero Pedro Espada, incoming state senator and linchpin of the Gang of Three blocking Malcolm Smith's dream of power, said his unpaid campaign violation fines were a "clerical error" that would be cleared up in court. An appellate court has indeed cleared it up, but not in Espada's favor. The cou ... More >>

How the 'Gang of Three' Ties Up Senate Dems

Memo Allegedly Details Espada & Co.'s Power, Payoff Demands

Smith Won't Drop Gay Marriage -- Deal with Dissidents Off

Espada Explains $60K in Unpaid Fines with Godfather Quote

Pedro Espada's 'Clerical Error'

Dems Deal -- Espada to Majority Leader?

Dear Leader: The Pedro Espada We Have Known

Campaign Scofflaw Pedro Espada Wants to Be Majority Leader

Diaz Splits, and Now It's a "Gang of 2" in State Senate (Updated)

"Trying To Teach You Some Manners": Did Espadistas Swat Gadfly?

Espada: Now That There's No Downside, A Loyal Democrat

Bronx Taste Test: Efrain Gonzalez Jr. or Pedro Espada Jr.?

A lesser-of-two-evils primary plagues Democrats

Troubled Bronx Pol Turns Health Fair into Campaign Event

A Paucity of Choices

Few Challengers, and Fewer Issues, in Council Races

A Murray Murray Christmas!

Senate for Sale

GOP Uses Public Pots of Gold to Entice Converts

Law and Favors in the Bronx

Secret Tapes Catch Pols Speaking Their Minds

Bronx Tales of the Tape

State Senator Velella Bugged by Bronx Pol