Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada: I Was Corrupt Because I Was Almost Molested

Former NY state Sen. Pedro Espada faces a possible 43 year prison sentence on corruption charges. His lawyer has filed a plea for leniency that includes a claim that Espada was almost molested by a man when he was a child. Via Gothamist:

In a 21-page court filing relating to personal hardships that could be factored in to a more lenient sentence, his lawyer wrote, "He was the second of six children born to his parents and enjoyed a happy childhood until the age of 5, when he was the victim of an attempted sexual assault by a male relative. Mr. Espada is haunted to this day by the terrible memory." Espada told the Post that he was upset that this "revelation" came out. It's unclear what connection this almost-molestation has to stealing almost half a million dollars from tax-payers, but that's up to a judge now. He's set to be sentenced on June 14th, though Espada's been seeking a new trial, accusing the judge of "improperly pressuring the jury to reach its verdict."

RELATED: In a failed bid to be named Majority Leader of an evenly split state Senate, in 2009 Espada attempted to stage a coup and temporarily joined the GOP, effectively preventing a vote on marriage equality at that time. He is just one of six recently former members of the New York Senate who are in or on their way to prison.

NEW YORK: Former Sen. Pedro Espada Pleads Guilty To Tax Fraud

All that rosary-waving and Catholic voodoo failed former New York state Sen. Pedro Espada today when he finally pleaded guilty to multiple felony counts of tax fraud related to the government-funded health clinics his family operated. He faces over seven years in prison and is free until sentencing is finalized.

Espada was at the center of the two most tumultuous years in the history of the state Senate and had described the 2010 indictment by the U.S. attorney's office and then-state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as a political "witch hunt." The scandal cost him his Senate seat. Espada started Soundview in 1978 in the South Bronx, which is located in one of the poorest counties in the U.S. In the past three decades, the clinic grew to include four centers that provide health care and social services. "Instead of buying an MRI machine, he was going to Puerto Rico and raiding the mini-bar," U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch, Eastern District NY, said Friday.

(Tipped by JMG reader Mick)

RELATED: Espada is the third former New York Senator to be sentenced to prison this year. All three are Democrats. And all three played a role in the 2008 debacle that, for the time, had blocked same-sex marriage for New York state. (The remaining douchebag of that infamous quartet is Ruben Diaz.)  Still awaiting trial is another Democrat from the New York Senate, Shirley Huntley, who was arrested last month on corruption charges.  Huntley also originally voted against same-sex marriage and lost her Democratic primary in September.

Sen. Ruben Diaz: My Savior Jesus Christ Will Never Allow ME To Be Sent To Prison

City & State covers the never-ending scandal of the New York Senate:

The Four Amigos – the band of New York State Senate Democrats who were instrumental in handing control of the Senate to Republicans in a wild power grab in 2009 – are now just one. After a string of criminal prosecutions felled former Senators Carl Kruger, Hiram Monserrate and, Pedro Espada, Jr., who was convicted on four counts of fraud in Brooklyn federal court yesterday, the only member of the amigos still free from felony conviction, not to mention still in office, is Rubén Díaz, Sr., the Bronx preacher in the cowboy hat known for his outspokenness on same-sex marriage and really, anything else that springs to his mind.

Diaz says he’s not worried he will fall victim to the same fate as the others, and he faces no indictment or charges of wrongdoing. But Clement Gardner, the head of nonprofit agency Christian Community Benevolent Association, which Diaz founded, was indicted in March on a $75,000 embezzlement charge. “There’s been persecution of all of us since the coup,” said Diaz in a phone interview, when I told him about the jury verdict in Espada’s trial. “I never worry. I never worry. I am a pastor, I am a preacher, and my life is in the hands of my savior Jesus Christ,” he said.

Diaz added that his fate is "already written," so he doesn't worry about ever being the Fourth Amigo to wear prison stripes. (Tipped by JMG reader Duncan)

Disgraced Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada Found Guilty On Embezzlement Charges

Waving a rosary to ward off "evil spirits" proved useless for former New York Sen. Pedro Espada, who was today found guilty of embezzling over $500,000 from the Bronx health clinic he managed.

Espada sat stone-faced when he was found guilty of ripping off the clinic. His wife, Connie, looked stricken and appeared near tears. Before the verdict was read, Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Frederic Block warned everybody to behave. “I don’t want any ruckus or noise because they are not finished with their service," the judge said of the jury. Prosecutors, however, were giddy. And when they left for lunch, loud cheers could be heard coming from their elevator. But the government didn’t get everything it wanted. The jury, which struggled for 11 days before finally giving up, failed to reach a verdict on the fifth theft count against Espada for stealing nearly $80,000 from Soundview in 2009. Nor was it able to reach a verdict on the three conspiracy counts against Espada.

Espada is the third former New York Senator to be sentenced to prison in the last two months. All three are Democrats. And all three played a role in the 2008 debacle that, for the time, had blocked same-sex marriage for New York state. The remaining douchebag of that infamous quartet is Ruben Diaz.

Corrupt Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada Waves Rosary To Ward Off Evil Jurors

Former NY Sen. Pedro Espada, currently on trial for embezzling truckloads of money from a Bronx health clinic, appeared outside the courthouse yesterday to brandish a rosary in order to ward off the "evil spirits" that have overtaken the jurors in his case.

As jurors in the federal embezzlement trial of former State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. indicated Thursday that they might be close to a verdict after nine days of deliberations, Mr. Espada said he believed that an unusual force was at work: “evil spiritual powers.” Addressing a scrum of reporters outside Federal District Court in Brooklyn, Mr. Espada held up rosary beads and said, “We Catholics fight that off with this.” All of a sudden, evil spirits were lurking. Mr. Espada said a federal agent in the case was using her jewelry, attire and seating position to influence its outcome. If convicted on all counts, Mr. Espada and his son would face up to 10 years in prison for embezzlement and 5 years for conspiracy.

RELATED: In a failed bid to be named Majority Leader of an evenly split state Senate, in 2009 Espada attempted to stage a coup and temporarily joined the GOP, effectively preventing a vote on marriage equality at that time.

NY Sen. Pedro Espada OUSTED

New York Sen. Pedro Espada, who hijacked the state Senate last year to temporarily join the GOP with three other renegade Democrats, has lost his primary reelection bid to Gustavo Rivera, who obliterated Espada by more than two to one. Espada is under investigation by state and federal authorities for siphoning more than $14M from his Bronx health clinic for personal use.

RELATED: Espada's BFF, former Sen. Hiram "Wife Slasher" Monserrate has also lost his bid to take the state Assembly seat of the guy who replaced him after he was booted out of the Senate for being a domestic abuser.

NY Sen. Pedro Espada Charged With Embezzling $14M From Non-Profit

NY state Sen. Pedro Espada has been charged with embezzling $14M from a nonprofit he created. Last summer Espada upended state politics when he abruptly crossed the aisle and became a Republican in an outrageous bid to seize the Senate leadership post. According to the charges, Espada stole federal Medicaid funding meant to provide health care to the impoverished residents of the Bronx.

Embattled Bronx politico Pedro Espada Jr. looted a whopping $14 million over the past five years from a non-profit that he runs -- including giving himself a $9 million severance package, paying for family vacations to Puerto Rico and hefty bills at sushi restaurants, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office revealed today. In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, Cuomo claims Espada diverted charitable assets connected to the Bronx-based Soundview HealthCare Network and used the money for himself, his family and his political operation. Cuomo said Soundview, which relies heavily on Medicaid dollars with the aim of providing healthcare to poor Bronx residents, was Espada's personal and political piggy bank. “Taxpayer money was given to this not-for-profit to provide healthcare services to underprivileged patients, but our investigation has found the funds flowed into the pockets of Senator Espada and his supporters,” he said.

And that Bronx apartment that Espada claimed to live in so that he could be eligible in that Senate district? Paid for by his "non-profit." Espada actually lives in a luxurious mansion in Westchester County. (Espada eventually did vote for New York's failed marriage equality bill, a vote that was long delayed thanks to his month-long lockdown of the Senate.)

NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo Is Finally Coming After NY Sen. Pedro Espada

NY Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has filed court papers to force state Sen. Pedro Espada to comply with a five month old subpoena regarding his many, many violations of campaign election laws, non-profit rules, and state labor laws. You may remember Espada as one of last summer's Gang Of Three that upended the state Senate over a leadership battle peripherally tied to a proposed vote on marriage equality.

The investigation by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo is focused on Mr. Espada’s role as chief executive of the Soundview HealthCare Network, a Bronx-based group of tax-exempt health clinics. The court filing says that Soundview has a contract with a for-profit management company, Soundview Management Enterprises L.L.C., that is controlled by Mr. Espada, allowing him “effectively to siphon off and otherwise divert money from Soundview for Mr. Espada’s own personal and political benefit.” Evidence collected by Mr. Cuomo’s office, the filing says, suggests that money paid by Soundview to the management company was also used to “pay Mr. Espada’s campaign expenses, including printing, campaign office rent and personnel costs.” The court filing says that Soundview paid Mr. Espada’s campaign workers, either directly or through the management company.

Last summer Espada ditched the Democrats to become a Republican, only returning when he was promised the top job in the state Senate. Now he's the Senate Majority Leader but a change in the rules means that's no longer the top position. For years Espada has flouted election campaign laws, including the one requiring that he actually live in the district he represents. His "non-profit" Bronx health clinic appears to be nothing more than a way to employ Espada's family and friends, with the added benefit of skimming a boatload of state money. Yesterday's action by Andrew Cuomo is VERY long overdue.

The Homeless Mafia

Car-owning New Yorkers have been eternally hassled by homeless men who volunteer to "make sure" nothing happens to their parked car. Taking their cue from the mob, this service is offered for a tip, of course, with the thinly veiled threat that non-tippers will return to find their vehicles damaged. But the cops are backing off the issue after courts last year awarded over $300K to panhandlers, saying it was within their First Amendment rights to beg in such a manner. One man alone got $100K.

“For an area that’s being revitalized, this is not something we need,” said Greg Gonzalez, who runs a parking garage and claims hustlers on 189th Street between Park and Webster avenues cost him business. One day last week, a Post reporter saw hustlers approach 30 motorists. Drivers pay the hustlers a dollar or two, believing they’ll watch their cars and feed the parking meters. But Gonzalez says the hustlers don’t feed the meters and don’t do anything to protect cars from vandals. “People still get tickets,” he said. And the hustlers “stand around smoking weed.” “It’s a quality-of-life issue for the neighborhood,” Gonzalez said.“These guys are bad news.” “It’s an implied thing: ‘Pay me, and I’ll make sure your car is OK,’" said David Miller, 36, who owns a locksmith business on the Fordham Road commercial strip.

As noted above, the problem is especially bad in the Bronx, but the area's state senator, the mayhem-causing Democrat Pedro Espada, thinks the whole thing is a riot: "It’s pretty fucking funny, what these guys do here."

NY Sen. Pedro Espada: Triple Agent

Claiming to have a "handshake deal" to be named NY Senate majority leader, Sen. Pedro Espada told the NY Post today that he is flipping back to the Dem side of the aisle, once again giving the Democrats a 32-30 edge in the deadlocked chamber. How many "majority leaders" does that make for the NY Senate in the last two months? Three? Four? And will the Dems take him back anyway?

Several Democratic senators have repeatedly insisted they would not accept Espada's return to their Conference because of a series of allegations of improper or illegal activities that his political opponents have leveled against him. Espada has been described as an unpredictable ally by Republicans and Democrats and some of his statements in recent weeks, including his claim that as many as 20 Democrats were set to defect to the GOP, turned out to be false. The impact of Espada's decision on a new legal challenge brought by Senate Republicans to Paterson's appointment of Ravitch - which Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says is unconstitutional - could not be immediately determined.

Espada is under investigation for numerous ethical violations, including that he does not actually reside in his Bronx district, where neighbors report never seeing him in the building where he rents an apartment. Espada's primary residence appears to be in suburban Mamaroneck. The renegade Senator recently made a big show of displaying his clothes closet in the Bronx apartment as proof that he really lived there. Additionally, Espada has been fined over $60K for campaign finance violations and is under investigation for earmarking over $2M in state funds for health care centers that he co-founded. One of the organizations was created one week before Espada requested the funding.

But hey, Espada says he's for marriage equality, so it's all good as of today, right?

Skelos: NY Senate Will Vote On Marriage

One day after he was installed as Senate Majority Leader in a coup that Democrats attempted to end by turning off the lights in the Senate room, Sen. Dean Skelos is telling the press that he will bring marriage equality to a vote before the current session ends in less than ten days. New Senate President Pedro Espada agrees and the two are expecting to discuss timing later today.

The Empire State Pride Agenda is trying to stay above the partisan warfare.

“Our issues are not partisan issues,” Alan Van Capelle, the organization’s executive director, said on Tuesday. “They are about equal rights for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who are treated like second-class citizens. Our hope and expectation is that yesterday’s events will not derail efforts by our community to win the equality we so desperately need.”

Since yesterday's bloodbath, we've not yet heard from openly gay Sen. Thomas Duane, who has famously claimed that the necessary votes to approve same-sex marriage do exist.

Chaos In NY Senate As Renegade Dems Unseat Majority Leader Malcolm Smith

And here, my friends, is where I fear New York's quest for marriage equality may have ended for 2009.

New York's state Senators today convened an emergency meeting to name GOP Sen. Dean Skelos (left) as the new majority leader as "Gang Of Four" members and Democratic Senators Pedro Espada and Hiram Monserratte have crossed party lines in a 32-30 vote to unseat Democratic Sen. Malcolm Smith. Elizabeth Benjamin at NY Daily News reports:

An observer in the Senate chamber tells me Skelos was sitting in Smith's chair with a BIG smile on his face and Smith was nowhere to be seen. The chamber has now emptied out and Republicans are talking about electing themselves to committee chairmanships. I managed to get in touch with Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who said the following: "That's the rumor, but they haven't spoken to be about it," he said. "They're still amigos." Another rumor du jour is that Diaz, who is furious that the gay marriage bill he opposes appears to be gaining some traction in the Senate, would be angry enough with Smith if the measure comes up for a vote on the floor to join the Senate GOP.

I asked Diaz about that, and he said: "Today? No. Tomorrow? Who knows? Tomorrow is another day. It's always another day. You ask me do I plan to do that. I say, no. In the future, who knows what the future brings. The only thing I can tell you, and you can interpret this any which way you want: When I give my word, I keep my word. In order for me to break my word, you have to break yours first."

Here's how I interpret that: It's a (typically) cryptic way of Diaz Sr. confirming the worst fears of marriage advocates - that there was indeed a deal between himself and Smith that the gay marriage bill would not come to the floor in exchange for Diaz Sr.'s support of Smith for majority leader. And now, in Diaz Sr.'s mind, if Smith brings the bill to the floor, all bets are off.

Has our nemesis, the cartoonishly evil Sen. Ruben Diaz at last triumphed?

UPDATE: Whoa, this is messy. Sen. Malcolm Smith is now saying the the vote was "illegal" and that he is still the Senate Majority leader. From his spokesperson: "This was an illegal and unlawful attempt to gain control of the Senate and reverse the will of the people who voted for a Democratic majority. Nothing has changed...The real Senate majority is anxious to get back to governing, and will take immediate steps to get us back to work." Elizabeth Benjamin at NY Daily News: "I smell a lawsuit."

VIDEO: Espada and Skelos sworn in as new Senate leaders.

Gay City News On Senate Deal Collapse

Gay City News' Paul Schindler has written a great recap of this tumultuous week in the New York Senate. If you've been confused by the alliances, the deals, the un-deals, and where things stand at the moment - read the story. An excerpt:

[Sen. Malcolm] Smith has taken a gamble - he and his fellow Democrats may well be consigned to another two years in the minority. And whether in the minority or the majority, Smith has undoubtedly gotten at least some of his Senate colleagues wondering whether he is the Democrat best suited to lead the caucus. No sure-bet challengers have come forward or even come to mind for most political observers.

If the Democrats cannot hold onto the majority, marriage equality is effectively dead for two years - it was the intransigence of Skelos on that issue and others such as transgender rights that convinced the Pride Agenda that it needed to cast its lot fully and squarely against the Republicans this year. At the same time, Van Capelle is breathing a huge sigh of relief that the potential betrayal has been staved off.

"We applaud Senator Malcolm Smith's ongoing efforts to lead the new Senate majority that voters chose during the recent elections," he said in a written release. "By stating that reform in the Senate cannot include bargaining away civil rights, Senator Smith has once again demonstrated his commitment to standing up for all New Yorkers."

On an upbeat note, Van Capelle continued, "The Pride Agenda looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Smith when the legislative session starts." However, with a bow to the political reality that even if the Democrats run the Senate, GOP votes would be needed to get gay marriage over the goal line, he added, "In the meantime we will be working with legislative leaders - Democrats and Republicans... to earn the votes we need to bring the marriage equality bill to the floor of the Senate for passage."

Blame The Gays: New York Senate Deal Falling Apart DEAD, Anti-Gay Dems Cut Off

UPDATE: I'm moving this post back to the top because of a breaking development. NY state Sen. Malcolm Smith now says he's cut off negotiations with the anti-gay "Gang Of Three" because he'd "rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate" than kowtow to a trio anti-gay Democrats.

Sen. Malcolm Smith said today that he will cease negotiations on the reorganization of the Senate with the so-called “Gang of Three”. "We are suspending negotiations, effective immediately, because to do so otherwise would reduce our moral standing and the long-term Senate Democratic commitment to reform and change,” Smith said. “It became very clear to me, over time, that those negotiations started being more about self interest.”

Last week it was reported that Sen.-elect Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx, one of the dissident senators, would be the senate majority leader in January. Smith, if supported by the majority of senators, would lead the Senate as president pro tempore. On Monday, however, Espada told The New York Times that he was displeased that Smith would be reducing the power of majority leader, and will not be supporting Smith.

If the three dissident senators, Espada, Sen. Carl Kruger of Brooklyn and Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. of the Bronx, do not support Smith as the leader of the Senate, he may not be elected to the position. The decision to suspend talks with the three, which Smith said Gov. David A. Paterson supports, could drive them to the Republican side of the aisle, putting the Democrats back in the minority.

“Frankly, we would rather wait two more years to take charge of the Senate than to simply serve the interests of a few,” Smith said. He also said limiting civil rights of New Yorkers should not be part of the negotiations, but should be part of the legislative process. It was reported that Diaz would not support a Senate leader who would push a bill legalizing same-sex marriage.

The Empire State Pride Agenda reacts:

“We applaud Senator Malcolm Smith’s ongoing efforts to lead the new Senate Majority that voters chose during the recent elections. By stating that reform in the Senate cannot include bargaining away civil rights, Senator Smith has once again demonstrated his commitment to standing up for all New Yorkers. The Pride Agenda looks forward to continuing to work with Senator Smith when the legislative session starts. In the meantime we will be working with legislative leaders—Democrats and Republicans—and continuing to do what we’ve been doing all along: working with our community and our allies across New York, including those from communities of faith and organized labor, to earn the votes we need to bring the marriage equality bill to the floor of the Senate for passage.”

From earlier today:

Political columnists are saying that the Democrats' power-sharing deal for the "Gang Of Three" dissident New York state Senate Democrats is falling apart. You'll remember that last week a backroom deal was struck to put anti-gay Sen. Pedro Espada into the Majority Leader position.

Yesterday anti-gay Sen. Ruben Diaz, Jr. partially blamed the gays for the deal falling apart and made a bizarre vague threat:

"The gays are calling my office. They're jamming my phones. They're going to see what we can do. They've going to see exactly what we can do. Ed Koch is going to see what we can do. They're just going to see. That is what I'm telling you."

NY Daily News political columnist Elizabeth Benjamin: "I have no idea what he meant by any of this. But he's angry, and he insists there will be consequences. So, there you have it."

Via Daily News:

Malcolm Smith's deal with the Gang of Three is crashing down around his ears, and the renegade trio is accusing him of renegging on significant portions of the power-sharing agreement in the wake of displeasure from his members over how much he gave away to end the leadership stalemate.

Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist and blogger who is close to the Gang of Three ringleader Carl Kruger, (but, he says, not on the senator's payroll), accused Smith of trying to "slice-and-dice" the majority leader position that was supposed to be going to Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr.

Attorneys for the two sides have been negotiating back and forth throughout the day with little to show for it. There was supposed to be a big announcement tomorrow by Smith, but that appears to be off for the moment. Within the last hour, Espada told The Times he is "tremendously dismayed and disappointed" by reports in recent days that the majority leader's post will perhaps not have any real responsibilities attached to it, adding that this has led him to "suspend my support for Malcolm Smith as leader.” Espada has been the focus of intense scrutiny of late, too. So maybe that has something to do with Smith's sudden reluctance to put him in such a prominent role.

That "intense scrutiny" is about Espada's failing to file campaign papers properly and failing to pay $60K in fines related to his last campaign, something I mentioned here a month ago.

Where the fight for New York Senate Majority Leader now stands, nobody seems to know.

(Tipped by Famous Author Rob Brynes)

NY Senate: Backroom Deal To Install Anti-Gay Sen. Espada As Majority Leader, Gay Marriage Will Not Happen In 2009

In a backroom deal that Democrats are somehow hailing as a breakthrough, anti-gay Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. will become Majority Leader of the New York Senate. One of the "Gang Of Three" dissident Democrats that had threatened to hand the leadership over to the GOP, Espada opposes same-sex marriage and wants to the issue put to voters in a referendum.

Under the GOP, marriage equality was not allowed to come to a vote in the Senate. With Espada at the helm, even with the Democrats running the show, it is now definite that we will not see a vote on marriage equality in the next session.

A bill to legalize same-sex marriage will not be brought to the floor of the Senate for a vote this year. Malcolm Smith will announce that he does not believe the measure has sufficient votes to pass - a statement that is at this point undoubtedly true, [JMG: Not all agree.] although it's unclear how long that will last if, as Democrats are hoping, the prospect of being in the minority leads to mass GOP retirements.

Under the power-sharing terms of the deal, a planned change in the Senate rules will allow formerly presumptive majority leader Malcolm Smith (D) to be the Senate's president pro tempore, with Espada becoming Majority Leader and the most powerful Latino politician in the state. Under the GOP, both positions were held by the now-retired Sen. Joe Bruno. Reportedly, Espada will also become vice chairman of the Senate Rules Committee, the last stop for a bill before it is presented to the full Senate for a vote.

And it doesn't stop there. Anti-gay Sen. Carl Kruger, another of the "Gang", will get the plum position of chair of the Senate Finance Committee, a job the GOP had offered Kruger as enticement for him to switch parties. Kruger will get his own multimillion dollar budget and "increased autonomy" in the job. Yes, that's how we do things here in New York - you fuck us over and WE give a high profile job and a few million dollars to play with.

And thus ends our hope for marriage equality in New York in the near future. In 2010 there will be a redistricting in New York state, a process that the Democrats will at least now be able to control. Therein may lie our hope for marriage equality in 2011.

UPDATE: The Empire State Pride Agenda responds to the news:

This afternoon, additional rumors began circulating in the press regarding discussions about a timeline for marriage equality legislation during the State Senate leadership negotiations. We have been told several times by the Democratic Senate Leadership that marriage equality legislation will come to the Senate floor for a vote once we have enough votes to pass the bill. We have no reason to believe that this has changed.

In response to these recent rumors, we have released the statement below. We will continue to update you on this issue.

Pride Agenda Executive Director Alan Van Capelle in Response to Rumors About Marriage Equality and the Senate Leadership Deal

December 4, 2008 - “We are still awaiting the final details of the announced State Senate leadership deal. We would expect that any rumors that marriage equality was somehow a part of this deal are just that—rumors. Civil rights should never be a bargaining chip in any political leadership battle, and we would be outraged if the issue of marriage equality was even part of the discussions.”

NY Senate: Democratic Infighting Imperils Marriage Equality Vote

The infighting continues among Democrats over the selection of a new Majority Leader, the critical step to bringing marriage equality to a vote in New York. Things have gotten so bad that state GOP leader Sen. Dean Skelos (left) has declared that they will end up retaining the majority.

In some of his most detailed remarks since the Republican Party's historic defeat in statewide elections last week, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos denied the Democrats won control of the 62-seat chamber.

The state's top Republican said he hoped to cut a deal with three rogue Democrats and preserve GOP control of the Senate - the party's last toehold on statewide power. "It ain't over 'til it's over, as Yogi used to say," Skelos told Post State Editor Fredric U. Dicker on Dicker's Albany Talk 1300 radio show. "The way I see it, it's 30 Republicans, 29 Democrats and three outstanding."

Losses by longtime Republican Sens. Serphin Maltese and Caesar Trunzo last week gave the Democrats a 32-30 majority in the chamber. But three Democrats have withheld support from party leader Malcolm Smith in hopes of securing a share of the power next year. Each of the "Gang of Three" - Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr., Carl Kruger and Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. - has benefited from Republican ties in the past. In the days since the election, Skelos has tried to woo the three into a coalition.

The Renegade Three Democrats are all from NYC:

-Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. is a Pentacostal minister representing the Bronx.
-Sen. Carl Kruger is Russian-language newspaper publisher representing the Russian section of Brooklyn.
-Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. represents the South Bronx, although his challenger brought charges that his Bronx apartment is a sham residence and that Espada actually lives in tony Westchester County. Espada owes over $60K in state penalties for refusing to submit campaign finance disclosure forms.

All three oppose same-sex marriage, but if a Democrat is made Majority Leader, it is hoped that enough votes would come from the Republican side for the measure to be approved. If the Republicans maintain the majority, that vote will never come. Kruger said earlier this week that he wants to put the issue before the voters as a ballot measure. A poll of New York voters taken in June indicated that only 42% would support marriage equality. It's unknown how the California debacle may have influenced New Yorkers' opinions since then.

New Yorkers should keep these three asshat Democrats in their minds and in their chants at Saturday's protest rally at City Hall.