Last we checked in on deposed Bronxchester State Senator Pedro Espada Jr., he was using his downtime since being voted out of power to fight charges that he embezzled more than half a million dollars from Soundview Health Care, the Bronx nonprofit health care network he founded. Just under 200 patients, employees and Bronx residents staged a rally for Soundview on the border of Mt. Kisco and New Castle, a few miles from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's suburban home yesterday, but Espada was nowhere to be found (despite promises he would be there). However, his fingerprints are all over a new anti-"King Cuomo" attack ad Soundview released today.
From the rippled voice effect on Cuomo's "I am the government" audio snippet to the not-so-subtle chain link fence graphic, it's a pretty lo-fi ad. Espada has a long-standing hatred of Cuomo; during a press conference about Soundview last summer, Espada accused his nemesis of being consumed with a "personal obsession to take on and dominate my world and my manhood. He is as attorney general the prosecutor and accuser; as a governor he wants to be judge and jury." He previously called him "the Prince of Darkness" and a bully.
But there's a real point to what protesters argued, Espada's ramblings aside: as Soundview points out, the closings could affect 20,000 low-income patients in a Bronx community with high rates of diabetes, asthma and HIV.
Of course, the commercial puts it into much more forceful terms: "many will suffer...SOME WILL DIE." And based on his embezzlement lawsuit, Espada will be one of those who will suffer, as he will no longer be able to (allegedly!) use the centers as a personal piggy bank in order to pay for items such as a $125,000 Bentley, thousands of sushi dinners, and a lavish birthday party replete with petting zoo and pony rides.
