Espada: Bane Of Senators, Cash Cow For Lawyers

As the State Senate heads towards a special session, all eyes are on dissident democrat State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., who claims he is the rightful Senate president pro tempore and the "acting lieutenant governor." Besides State Senator Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) announcing that she "cannot support" Espada, Senator Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) told WCBS 2, "The only thing I can say is Pedro Espada plays by Pedro Espada's rules. The rest of us are here to do the people's business." And why did he say that? Well, it turns out that Espada's planned district office is actually in Klein's district! The Wall Street Journal's Law Blog opines, "Espada’s also funneled a good amount of work to the state’s judicial branch. He holds the distinction of being sued more than most legislators, though so far he’s managed to prevail every time," and runs down his legal troubles. Speaking of, the Daily News reports that Espada finally turned over some information to the Election Board after stalling for months, "Disputed state Senate President Pedro Espada forked over campaign financial forms two days after state election officials threatened to have him criminally prosecuted."