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 State 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, are now posted 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.
Locally, Sen. Cathy Young’s spending was slightly above average Republican senators. According to SeeThroughNY.net, from October 2009 to March 2010, Young spent $385,816. Her spending was up 18.1 percent from the previous six months. From April to September 2009, Young spent $315,674…
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