ALBANY — Indicted former Bronx pol Pedro Espada was very generous with his state Senate staff.
Espada spent more state taxpayer cash on his employees in the last three months of 2010 — an as tounding $749,803 — than any other senator spent over the entire six-month reporting period, from October 2010 through March 2011, Senate records released yesterday show.
The second top spender in the Senate, Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), who faces criminal charges of his own, doled out $558,840 to his staff for six months of work.
Espada, who engineered a 2009 coup that paralyzed state government and briefly gave Republicans control of the Senate, spent the cash knowing he was on his way out.
Espada and his lawyer did not return calls yesterday. A spokesman for Senate Minority Leader John Sampson (D-Brooklyn) declined comment.
“Why didn’t Senator Sampson or any other Senate Democrats put their foot down and demand that Espada stop the spending?” asked Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif.
Espada lost his bid for re-election and faces federal charges that he embezzled more than $500,000 from his Soundview Healthcare Network.