An anonymous whistleblower is dishing more dirt on Senator Pedro Espada's non-profit Soundview health clinics, which are at the center of two lawsuits by the Attorney General, as well as investigations by the FBI and IRS. What this former Soundview employee tells CBS2 won't come as much surprise if you've been following along with the Espada scandal, but it's always nice to hear more about Espada's shady underbelly. "He thinks the money that is brought in at Soundview, whether it is by grant or donation, belong to him," says the informant, who goes on to explain how Espada (allegedly) illegally uses Soundview as a front for his political campaigns:
I was at Soundview on the second floor. Far end, there's another area where it's hidden from the public. That was where the [campaign] phone calls were being made. I was stuffing envelopes. I went to a polling place to pass flyers in the community so that people would vote for him... He had Soundview employees go to polling sites during the election and they would have to be doing that kind of work as opposed to be working at Soundview.
There's the threat that if we don't do what we tell you we can easily replace you. For every person there there's 100 people wanting their job. They were very much manipulated, intimidated and they had fear that if they didn't do what they were told to do they could lose their jobs.
Meanwhile, a major Democratic donor, Bill Samuels, has pledged a minimum of $250,000 to a campaign to try and oust Espada in the next election. "Pedro Espada represents all that is wrong with state government today," Samuels said in a statement. "He’s a wealthy guy from one of the wealthiest parts of Westchester who lines his pockets with taxpayer money yet fails to address the real needs of his district — in which he doesn’t even live."
