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Before Defecting, Espada Sought $2 Million for Bronx Groups
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Candidate
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| Contributor | RP |
| Last Edited | RP Jun 09, 2009 11:14am |
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| Category | General |
| News Date | Tuesday, June 9, 2009 04:20:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. requested more than $2 million dollars in Senate earmarks this year for two groups with links to the health care organization that he founded and which appeared to have been created in part to receive such grants, according to several Democratic officials and aides with knowledge of the requests.
But Senate Democrats rejected the grant requests in early April because they could not confirm that the groups were legitimate nonprofit organizations. Around the same time, Mr. Espada began discussions with Senate Republicans to leave the Democratic caucus, ending with the Republicans’ surprise takeover of the Senate on Monday.
At the end of March, Mr. Espada requested $1,348,000 in grants for the Bronx Human Services Council Inc., an organization that registered with the state as a nonprofit organization on March 26, roughly a week before the state budget deal under which the Senate and Assembly were allocated about $170 million in pork-barrel spending, known as member items.
State records indicate that the council is headquartered at the same Bronx address as a clinic that is part of the Soundview HealthCare Network, which Mr. Espada founded. The chairman of the board of Soundview, John A. Feliciano, Jr., is also listed as a special assistant on Mr. Espada’s Senate staff, according to Senate records. |
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