Videos: Espada Doesn't Like Reporters Who Challenge Him

Hey, the new Senate Majority Leader doesn't like it when reporters ask him about his questionable dealings! Seriously, when will the press learn that queries about repeatedly late, incomplete campaign filings or undisclosed donations are totally off-base.

PolitickerNY's Azi Paybarah took these videos of WCBS 2's Marcia Kramer and the Daily News' Barbara Ross asking Senator Pedro Espada Jr. (D-Bronx)—who was outside City Hall to join the chorus against Mayor Bloomberg's bid for mayoral control of schools—about those pesky issues. Notably, Ross had a story published in today's News on how Espada's campaign finance reports mysteriously didn't mention that "fancy East Side bistro threw him a free fund-raising party in March" ("cost of food and drink is considered an in-kind contribution") and that some at least some party guests donated money to him.

Here's his exchange with Ross; Paybarah notes that Espada says, "You try to redefine me in the worst possible way. That is your job. Admit to that. Your job is to write bad stories about Pedro Espada every day of the week. That is your job, isn't it, Barbara Ross?"

Now, here's Kramer vs. Espada: Espada says, "It seems to me that you are more interested in filings than children and the quality of education that [NYC children] get," to which Kramer responds, "I’m interested in whether you’re being honest."