Espada: leader or lout? or both?

Now that the state Senate appears to be functioning again with a 32-member Democratic quorum, we can get a better sense of Pedro Espada–the central figure in the month-long standoff.

Love him or hate him, he has controlled New York State government for the past 31 days. And now that he’s Senate majority leader (the title he demanded for returning to the Democratic fold), he’ll probably remain one of the most powerful men in Albany.

He’s been indicted in the past and is now the subject of new investigations into the financing of his non-profit health care centers and his election campaign. Opponents and critics have called him just about every name in the book.

But there he was Thursday, hailing himself as a reformer. Saying the standstill in the Senate was an important and valuable phase that lawmakers (and the rest of us) had to endure in order to become better, more productive and inclusive.

In this, Espada demonstrated a kind of damn-the-torpedoes leadership. And he revealed how that quality is lacking in Governor Paterson and former majority leaders Malcolm Smith and Dean Skelos.

The problem, of course, is those torpedoes that Espada was damning aren’t inconsequential. His naked power grab–and let’s be honest, that’s what it was–cost us millions of dollars and who knows how many jobs. And it created a blueprint that any Democratic Senator can follow.

Which means the Senate can be confounded by any lawmaker who wants a longer title and the money that comes with it.

This is the legacy of Espada’s adventure into leadership.

Before the upheaval in the Senate on June 8th, the Governor and several lawmakers warned that New York State was headed for an abyss. They said the state is losing money, talent and status.

If they’re right, the only thing Espada and the Senate accomplished over the past 31 days was to make that abyss a little bit bigger.