Even the conservative-leaning New York Post didn't sugarcoat the backgrounds of the two Democratic New York state senators who changed parties Monday night and helped the GOP return to power.
The headline for the Post's story, Turncoats are revolting, wasn't just referring to the mini-revolution.
"Meet the two Democratic turncoats who handed control of the state Senate back to the Republicans: One's been charged with slashing his girlfriend, while the other is being probed in a funding scam," Carl Campanile begins his story.
Pedro Espada Jr., who represents The Bronx but actually lives in tony Mamaroneck -- is a serial party-switcher who's implicated in state-funding shenanigans involving his nonprofit health-care company.
Hiram Monserrate of Queens was indicted for allegedly slashing his girlfriend in the face with a broken glass.
Espada has a long history of being a renegade and displaying party disloyalty. Three workers at a firm he runs, the Soundview Health Care Network, pleaded guilty in 2005 to diverting $30,000 from programs for family care and AIDS treatment to his political campaign. He was not charged.
Earlier, Espada was caught red-handed attempting to steer $745,000 in grants to his outfit.
The New York Times reports, "After seizing control of the New York State Senate on Monday afternoon, Republicans enacted a series of rules changes, including six-year term limits for the president and majority leader, steps to equalize the budgets of the majority and minority parties and mandating that pork barrel projects would be distributed equally among members of both parties."
The New York Daily News reports that court challenges are expected to declare the coup illegal.
More details on the alleged attack by Monserrate on his girlfriend were reported in the Daily News last week.
Monserrate was indicted March 23 on three counts of felony assault on girlfriend Karla Giraldo and three counts of misdemeanor assault.
Prosecutors say he slashed Giraldo with a broken glass in a fight in his apartment Dec. 19. They say Monserrate was jealous because he found another man's business card in her purse. She needed 20 stitches to close the gash over her left eye.
Though Giraldo first told hospital officials Monserrate hit her, she later said it was an accident.
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Prosecutors don't believe it was an accident - judging by a "violent" surveillance video from inside Monserrate's building. They say the video shows him dumping the offending business card into the trash chute, then later yanking a wounded Giraldo to the door as she screamed for help.
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