| Assemblyman Mark Schroeder was right when he called Senator Pedro Espada Jr. a "thug" and said Espada should resign for his actions.
Apparently, one of Espada's colleagues disagrees.
Senator John Sampson came to Espada's defense today, saying that Sampson "overstepped his bounds."
State Senator John Sampson, the Democratic conference leader, said a Buffalo-area assemblyman "overstepped his bounds" when he called State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. a "thug" and said he should resign.
"I think Mark Schroeder overstepped his bounds. Irrespective of what you think, Senator Espada is a colleague and I do not support anybody calling any one of my members a thug," Sampson told me in Brooklyn. "Because we are not thugs."
(Espada was given the title of majority leader after defecting to Republicans, and then re-defecting to the Democrats. Early on during the month-long stalemate this prompted, a Democratic spokesman referred to Espada as a "thief" and another defector, Senator Hiram Monserrate, as a "thug.")
When I asked Sampson if there was any merit to calls for Espada's resignation, given Espada's wont to run afoul of ethical guidelines on a regular basis, he said he was "responsible to his constituents. He's not responsible to Mark Schroeder."
I am really curious at to what the Senate Democrats are thinking. I wouldn't touch anything having to do with Pedro Espada. You already dropped the ball by caving to the power hunger and bringing Espada back into the fold. Now you are going to defend him when someone criticizes his behavior and calls for his resignation?
Sorry, but Espada doesn't deserve any support. He is a crook. There are investigations into his business dealings. He isn't someone we, as Democrats, should be aligning with.
But all that matters to Sampson is that he has a leadership position. (I guess that's all that matters in Albany.) |
