GATEMOUTH (9/1010): As to the Post, it’s the Post.
The Post divines the conservative choice where it can, and otherwise complains about Obama. The implicit message is “it doesn’t matter, they’re all the same anyway.”
Can the NY Post really believe that Gustavo Rivera and Pedro Espada are moral equivalents requiring it to not endorse? Surely, if it could bring itself to endorse super-liberal Paul Newell against Shelly Silver, it could endorse dumping Espada.
The bad & the ugly (NY Post Editorial–September 12, 2010)
New York City’s icons of ethical impropriety — Rep. Charlie Rangel and state Sen. Pedro Espada — face primary voters come Tuesday. Alas, reform is unlikely.…
Then there’s Espada.
Already hit with a civil lawsuit from the Attorney General’s Office for allegedly cheating employees at his Soundview Health Network, Espada is also facing criminal probes by both the AG and the US Attorney’s Office.
Ripe for a challenge?
Well, opponent Gustavo Rivera turns out to be the handpicked choice of the Working Families Party — the union-driven entity that exists basically to perpetuate cash-driven Albany corruption.
This explains why no-name Rivera got high-profile endorsements from WFP spear carriers like city Comptroller John Liu and Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.
Espada is interested solely in himself.
Same for the Working Families Party and its masters, the public-sector unions.
So, no matter who wins this race, good government loses.
Thus Bronx voters face the same empty choice on Tuesday as do Harlem’s.
And New Yorkers collectively can but shake their heads.
So long, Pedro! (New York Post Editorial–September 15, 2010)
Pedro Espada is a goner. Finally.
Maybe the most egregious member of the most egregious legislative body in the land was called to account by his constituents last night — Espada was ousted by Gustavo Rivera in The Bronx.
And we helped.
"How in the world can we have a gubernatorial contest and I end up on the front page of the New York Post?" bellyached Espada.
Several times, actually, as The Post detailed his shady dealings — mostly involving the taxpayer-funded health clinic he runs. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo went on to accuse Espada and his pals of stealing some $14 million from the clinic — and the feds are probing him, too.
Meanwhile, who can forget his duplicitous role in holding the entire Senate ransom last year — first by switching to the Republican side and creating a deadlock and then switching back to the Dems, who paid him by making him "majority leader"?
Come Jan. 1, he'll be plain old Pedro — and soon after, perhaps, Convict Espada. The day can't come soon enough.
Of course, last night's winner, Rivera, was backed by the Working Families Party — itself a far-from-honest tool of the labor unions. But Rivera will have an opportunity to cleanse the stench from the seat Espada held by remembering that he represents voters, not labor bosses.
Can't you just smell the fresh air?