State Sen. Adriano Espaillat — seeking to unseat veteran Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel — repeatedly voted down tough-on-crime legislation including legislation to stiffen criminal penalties against gang activity, records show.
Espaillat was one of only seven senators to vote against the Criminal Street Gang Act, which created a new class of felonies for gang-related crimes, including recruiting members into such a criminal enterprise.
The bill passed 56-7.
“That’s pretty sad. Thirty percent of crimes in New York City are gang-related. Even liberal constituents are fed up with gang violence,” said Brooklyn Sen. Martin Golden, an ex-cop who authored the bill. “If Espaillat was running a campaign in Attica or Rikers Island, he’d get 100 percent of the inmates vote.”
Espaillat, 59, represents northern Manhattan and Bronx neighborhoods not immune from gangs — Washington Heights/Inwood, Hamilton Heights, the Upper West Side and Riverdale and Marble Hill.
Espaillat’s office said he voted for other bills to deter violence, including a law years ago that stiffened penalties for crimes against livery drivers, but his voting record reveals that he opposed a series of other anti-crime measures.
He was one of only four senators who voted against a bill outlawing the hiring of convicts at child-care facilities. It passed 57-4.
And Espaillat was one five senators who voted against a bill that would designate public lewdness as a sex offense and require the perverts to register as sex offenders.
The anti-lewdness proposal passed 56-5.
Espaillat did however vote for another law that created the crime of public lewdness in the second degree, a Class A misdemeanor, his office said.
In an effort to crack down on quality-of-life crimes such as harassment, the Senate passed a bill to create a new felony penalty against “aggravated criminal assault,” a Class E felony, for a lawbreaker previously convicted of at least four misdemeanor crimes.
It passed, 47 to 15, with Espaillat joining the dissent.
Elsewhere, Espaillat voted against a bill to outlaw possession and sale of dangerous synthetic marijuana and bath salts. The bill passed 53-9.
Espaillat later voted for a similar law minus the tougher minimum sentences for defendants, a spokesman said.
Also, the Senate passed legislation to give cops access to photos on driver’s licenses to use during criminal investigations.
The bill passed, 53 to 9, with Espaillat dissenting.
A review of Senate transcripts showed Espaillat did not speak up to explain his votes for opposing the aforementioned measures.
“Senator Espaillat started his career fighting to take guns off the streets,
” said his campaign manager, Jesse Campoamor.