Politics on the Hudson

In case you missed it, attorney general Andrew Cuomo filed a second lawsuit against state Sen. Pedro Espada over fraud allegations concerning his for not-for-profit.

There’s already been plenty of chatter about Espada allegedly spending $20,000 of the charity’s money on sushi or New Rochelle councilman Richard St. Paul working for him.

St. Paul provides legal work for both Espada’s Senate office and personal management company. What you might not know is Cuomo filed his first major inquiry into Espada’s charity activities back in January, a time when Senate payroll records indicate St. Paul was making $55,000 as Espada’s senate lawyer.

Shortly after the the January inquiry was filed, records indicate St. Paul started making $79,000 — a $24,000 raise. St. Paul said to the Journal News in the past that Espada’s investigation has nothing to do with him, but Cuomo doesn’t think so. He has subpoenaed pay information for St. Paul and nine other of Espada’s employees.

More than 8,000 pieces apparently.

So by now you know about state Sen. Pedro Espada being accused of stealing $14 million from his charity health clinic, buying things such as $20,000 worth of sushi. Today I was curious to figure out how much sushi that theoretically is. Let’s do the math kids.

The attorney general’s office said Espada allegedly spent $20,000 on 200 meals from at the Mamaroneck restaurants Red Plum and Toyo Sushi, both owned by Peter Chen. Last week Chen told me Espada and his wife typically spent around $70-80 bucks each time. He said that’s an average, so lets assume there were times they paid more or less than that amount.

Now this is speculative, but lets pretend each time Espada and his wife ordered ordered the restaurant’s Sushi Combo for 2 and a bottle of wine. The combo gives you 40 pieces of Sushi ($40) and a cheap bottle of wine there costs around $20-30. Add tax and a tip and that falls somewhat in line with the $70-80 Chen estimated.

If Espada and his wife ordered the Sushi Combo and wine each time for those 200 meals, that’s over 8,000 pieces of sushi and 200 bottles of wine.

(The total actually comes out to $16,000 but again lets assume there were times Espada spent more or less than $70-80 bucks).

And this is top of the line sushi, not the cheap stuff you can pick up at Stop and Shop. At most places, 9-12 pieces of sushi could be considered a hearty meal. So what the Espadas allegedly spent on themselves, theoretically, could have fed around 650-900 people. After all, it was charity money he was allegedly using.

As you know by now, state Sen. Pedro Espada is being accused of “looting” $14 million from his charity including spending $20,000 on sushi orders at Mamaroneck restaurants.

One thing you might not know is New Rochelle Republican Councilman Richard St. Paul works for Pedro Espada. As a matter of fact, he was standing behind Espada during the senator’s Albany press conference on Tuesday (see photo below, he’s standing on the left).

St. Paul provides is legal counsel in Espada’s senate office and records indicate he also provides legal counsel to the senator’s personal management company. According to state legislative payroll records, St. Paul made about $55,000 last year working in Espada’s senate office.

To be fair, St. Paul hasn’t been implicated in any wrongdoing in the state Attorney General’s inquiry into Espada’s possible wrongdoings, something St. Paul emphasized when I talked to him. But to also be fair, considering St. Paul is also an elected official up for re-election next year, his connection to Espada is likely to be brought into question.

Looks like we made an oopsie.

After we reported Larchmont executive and Army officer Mark Rosen will not challenge U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey this fall, our paper’s editorial page ran a letter from a Mount Kisco resident in support of Rosen.

Rosen “gives me real hope for America’s future,” the resident said as he praised Rosen for his candidacy.

Who is this lovely gentleman saying such nice words about Rosen? William O’Reilly, Rosen’s campaign strategist.

Oops.

Now there is nothing wrong with a campaign strategist writing a letter in support of one of his clients, but it looks like we goofed up in not disclosing that in the letter. All I can say is, I didn’t do it :)

Economist David Malpass will formally announce his Republican challenge to U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand Wednesday with a campaign stop at Harbor Island Park in Mamaroneck.

Malpass will first announce his run at City Hall in Manhattan Wednesday morning and is scheduled to come to Mamaroneck at 1 p.m. He is a columnist for Forbes Magazine and op-ed contributor to the Wall Street Journal. His public service experience includes several posts in both Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush’s administrations.

Oh, and he was a chief economist at Bear Stearns. Yep, that Bear Stearns.

Scarsdale real estate executive Bob Cohen is launching a Republican challenge to Suzi Oppenheimer, the Democratic senator seeking her 14th term in the state’s 37th district.

Cohen, 55, runs a real estate and construction company in Manhattan and has been a volunteer in the Scarsdale fire department for 17 years. The state’s 37th senate district covers parts of New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye, Harrison, White Plains, Scarsdale, Ossining, New Castle and North Castle.

Cohen is going to kick off his campaign at 11:15 a.m. Saturday at the Scarsdale Public Library. More info about him is available on his campaign Web site.

Larchmont Business executive and Army officer Mark Rosen has dropped out in the race against Rep. Nita Lowey after learning he’ll be deployed for overseas combat early next year.

“Obviously that impacts my ability to serve as a Congress person if I were honored and lucky enough to do that,” he said today. “It was an impossible choice and I have to serve in the Army. I love the Army and it’s the right thing to do.”

Lowey, 72, was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1988 and is one of the House’s most powerful Democrats. She serves the 18th Congressional district, which covers most of Westchester County and parts of Rockland County.

Rosen, 48, is a Larchmont resident and a senior vice president at Adecco, one of the world’s largest job recruiting firms. The married father of five has spent more than 15 years in the Army and is serving as a lieutenant colonel and an executive officer.

As several polls suggest a growing anti-incumbent mood in the country, Lowey’s re-election bid this year was widely seen as being tougher for her than past election cycles where she often won by whopping margins. Rosen had hired some of the same strategists Rob Astorino used last year to upset Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, another longtime incumbent.

Larchmont resident Mark Rosen is challenging U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey this fall for the state’s 18th congressional district, which covers most of Westchester County and parts of Rockland County.

“If America is going to re-grow its economy and job base, it must begin reducing taxes and the size of government,” Rosen said in a release. “The policies of Nita Lowey and this Congress are driving a stake into the heart of future job creation in this country.  The debt that Ms. Lowey and her colleagues are accumulating for future generations is unpardonable.  This Congress must be replaced before it does additional harm.”

Rosen, 48, spent 15 years in the army and is currently a senior vice president at the human resources group Addecco. He will be formally announcing his campaign bid on April 15.

Lowey has been in office for 22 years and has already filed paperwork for the 2010 elections. Her latest election filing reports her having almost $950,000 cash in hand.

To run his campaign, Rosen has hired local strategist Bill O’Reilly, who was one of the guns behind Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino’s successful campaign last fall.

After deciding not to challenge U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this month, Larchmont mayor Liz Feld said today the Democratic senator is “beatable” in November’s election.

Feld appeared on Journal News columnist Phil Reisman’s radio show today and said the climate is right for someone to unseat Gillibrand, pointing to Scott Brown’s GOP Senate win this week in a traditionally liberal Massachusetts.

Feld said on the show she decided not to run against Gillibrand for personal reasons. Raising children and being married to a husband that commutes often to Boston would be a strain in addition to raising $25-30 million she estimated she’d need for a U.S. Senate campaign.

“Ultimately I had to walk away because the timing isn’t right for me,”?Feld said. “I think the political climate is right and my message is right for New York but I just don’t have the time.”

I asked her before the show if she will run for Larchmont mayor on March 16 considering party caucuses are on Jan. 26. Her lips were sealed.

“There are so few things in life that are a surprise anymore and there’s no suspense in politics that I’m not going to say anything until the caucus,” Feld said.

The Democratic and Republican nominating caucuses take place at 8 p.m. on Jan. 26 in Larchmont’s village hall.

Larchmont’s Republican and Democratic nominating caucuses for the spring village election are at the end of the month and the big question will be if Liz Feld will run for a third term as mayor.

Feld told me this week she won’t comment on her plans yet but she will make them known closer to the caucuses, which will take place on Jan. 26.

Feld, a Republican, ran an unsuccessful state senate race against Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, in 2008 and is consistently getting high praise from GOP officials all over the state. She’s also made no secret she’s floating around the idea of running for the U.S. Senate seat against Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, this fall.

Also up for re-election is Democratic trustee Marlene Kolbert. Democratic trustee Josh Mandell will have to run for his first term after being appointed to the position last year after Jim Millstein stepped down.

Both the Republican and Democratic caucuses will take place at 8 p.m. on Jan. 26 in Larchmont’s village hall.