Anyone following New York politics this week knows that the news was in the Bronx.
Not to be outdone by Charlie Rangel or David Paterson, State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., made the front page of city dailies all week as the latest New York Democrat to be accused of misusing his power for personal gain.
This should not come as a surprise to followers of this blog, as we noted Espada’s predisposition for misconduct in the February post about the Bronx Democratic Family Tree. At issue is how Espada spent $14 million in funds funneled from taxpayers through his Soundview Health Clinic on sushi and trips to Puerto Rico. His trouble’s culminated in a civil suit brought on by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, and a raid on the health clinic’s offices this week.
Deseree Pilgrim-Hunter, a community organizer in the South Bronx is campaigning for Espada’s seat in Albany. Espada is a popular figure in the area, but his legal troubles should make it easier for Pilgrim-Hunter to win. In 2007, Jose E. Serrano honored Pilgrim-Hunter’s leadership at a Black History Month event.
Crookedness from civic leaders is nothing new in the South Bronx. It is a tradition that goes back to the late Ramon Velez, a former City Councilman who’s Hunts Point Multi Service Center provided much-needed health and social services to poor residents in the 1970s. Meanwhile Velez used it as a front to funnel federal dollars into dummy corporations he set up. These days, Espada is joined by the Arroyos – a mother and daughter Assemblywoman and City Councilwoman duo. They are under investigation for using their South Bronx Community Corporation as a slush fund with the classic Bronx pol business model.
But not every leader north of 125th Street is a criminal.
Jose E. Serrano appears to have some of the cleanest hands in the Bronx. The Congressman has lived in the area since he was seven years old – so he must have grown up around the same culture of corruption. Yet, for some reason – perhaps the fact that he really is dedicated to making the Bronx better for his constituents – Jose E. Serrano has not opened up a non-profit of his own to exploit. In 2007, Serrano honored Pilgrim-Hunter’s leadership at a Black History Month event.