Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada (D-Bronx), spent $880,201 on his legislative office operations and staff in the most recent six-month period reported by the Legislature -- nearly $273,000 more than former Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R-Brunswick) spent during a comparable period in 2008. 

Espada’s office expenditures and those of other Senators and Assembly members for the six months ending March 31, 2010, was posted today as part of a searchable database on the Empire Center’s government transparency website, SeeThroughNY.net.

The data show that the Legislature spent nearly $114 million during the period.  Senate Democrats, who took control of the majority in January 2009, allocated an average of $419,745 per member, while the minority Republican Senators received an average of $353,974 per member -- a $65,771 difference.  Other highlights:

• Senate Democrats’ spending per member office increased by $25,986, a seven percent increase over the average of $393,759 during the previous six months.
• Senate Republicans per-member office spending increased by  $33,747, an 11 percent increase over the previous report’s $320,227 average. 
• Democratic members of the Assembly majority averaged $190,782 per member in spending, a decrease of two percent, while Republican minority spending was $137,956 per member, a one percent decrease.

Assemblyman Richard Gottfried (D-Manhattan) spent $465,926 on staff, rent, travel, telephone service, office supplies and other expenditures during the six-month period, making him the highest spender among the 150 members of his house.  The Assembly’s next highest spenders were:  Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn), $358,895; Catherine Nolan (D-Queens),  $323,003; Robin Schimminger (D-Erie County), $320,223; and Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) at $319,804 for his expenditures as an Assembly member.  That does not include Silver’s expenditures as Assembly Speaker.

After Espada, the Senate’s next highest spenders were: Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn), $788,834; John Sampson (D-Brooklyn), $724,547; Jeffrey Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester), $683,170; and Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), $538,979.

Users of SeeThroughNY.net can download all data from the site in spreadsheet form for further analysis.   A copy of the expenditure rankings for the six-month period is attached.  Not included in the expenditure reports are member items, or pork barrel projects, which also can be viewed under “Expenditures” on SeeThroughNY.net.

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