Pedro Espada Jr.'s Son Resigns From $120K Senate Job

Pedro G. Espada's short reign as the new "deputy director of intergovernmental affairs" came to an end yesterday, when his dad, Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. said his son would resign the $120,000 position. The senior Espada told the Daily News, "We don't want to get off to this kind of start and certainly my son does not want it for himself... To remove any suggestion that this was a result of my influence, rather than him earning his way on to the position, he will withdraw. It's a new day in the Senate, new leadership, reforms are in place. My son never sought this. He had a better paying job, but he wanted to come back into public service."

The hubbub started when New York found out that Pedro G. Espada was installed in the newly created, six-figure job, immediately raising question about whether his dad had anything to do with it. While the Majority Leader said that Pedro G. "was hired by the Senate—not by me—on his own merits, qualifications, experience and background as a former public servant and successful entrepreneur," however, unnamed sources have been suggesting that he did try to hire his son.

The NY Times reports that, according to an unnamed Senate official, "Senator Espada had first sought to hire his son for his own staff before being told that would be illegal. The central staff job, the official said, was created as an alternative, in the belief that it would not run afoul of the anti-nepotism law." Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is reportedly investigating; an unnamed source "close to Cuomo" asks the Post, "Does anyone believe that the Senate Democrats hired Espada's son without any input, direct or indirect, from his father the senator? And if there was input, the law may well have been broken."

Oh, and about Pedro G.'s "better paying job"—he was working for Soundview HealthCare Network, the non-profit his dad founded... the same non-profit that paid his dad over $400,000 in 2007. Lately, the senior Espada told the Times that "he has taken a pay cut to the 'low 200,000s' because he is no longer working in his health care centers '100 percent.'" Before he was Senate Majority Leader, the state pulled $3 million directed towards Soundview because Espada misrepresented the organization's "chronic tax delinquency." Don't worry—Espada still got $2 million in other pork.

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By Jen Chung in News on August 13, 2009 12:35 AM

Comments [rss]

Sketto

The world is unjust. THIS guy is the one who should've been kidnapped and held in a basement for 18 years.

abcohen

one down...

suepart

ditto for george w, ditto for hilary clinton, and the list goes on. nepotism is putrid.

Bubba

wickersee:

You don't need to move to Pedro's district. He doesn't live there either...

Toby von Meistersinger

How can you have new leadership and reform with the same people?

wickershee

Wait - he had to be to told that hiring his son would be illegal? And he's the Senate Majority Leader? I have been threatening to move to his district in the Bronx just to have the pleasure of voting against him, this only puts me one step closer.

blondeinthecity

yeah, this doesn't make them look corrupt at all... nice job, boys.

books

..and we laugh at Mexico

Mr Mel

The job was a payoff for causing cessation of the state government a few months ago. They made more enemies than friends and nobody has any use for them.

nicemarmot

He wanted to come back into public service? Doesn't that imply that he would actually be, like, SERVING the public, and not stealing from them?

rosweed

And we laugh at Jersey?

Mike B.

We also laugh at Florida, Alaska, South Carolina, Illinois, and California. They aren't any less fucked up, but we at least get New York out of the deal.

Jen Chung

A friend in Chicago said about this, "Wow, this could have happened here!"

thelexiphane

Look, if you're embarrassed about bald-faced corruption in municipal politics, you're not gonna get very far in municipal politics--especially as an Espada

Think2wice

Pedro knows that he can get away with murder in Albany, so he assumes he can pull that same shit on us. Glad he didn't get away with it this time.

ides_of_march

Nepotism, how do you think Bobby Kennedy got his job as Attorney General? And he gets a major NYC bridge named after him.

Spirit of 76

The difference is that RFK was qualified for the position. Check out his pre-AG career. If it was really just nepotism, Congress could have just as easily not confirmed him. Espada just made a job for his son, who's probably not qualified to be a dog catcher.