Looks like Bronx state Sen. Ruben (The Rev) Diaz Sr. is now – or soon will be – the last Amigo standing.
The original Four Amigos (we’d call them Banditos) used their swing votes in the closely divided chamber in 2009 to reap plum titles, committee chairmanships and other largess.
But Brooklyn‘s Carl Kruger was indicted last week by the feds for bribe receiving; Pedro Espada was recently indicted for milking his nonprofit health clinic, and Queens’ Hiram Monserrate was kicked out after a conviction for roughing up a girlfriend.
“You don’t kick people when they are down,” Diaz said of his fallen comrades, noting that “personal issues of the amigos destroyed what we did in the senate.”
He noted that his amigos DID “open the door for Jeff Klein and those new amigos [the four-member rebel Independent Democratic Conference].”
Meanwhile, Diaz has built political clout in his Soundview, Castle Hill, Parkchester district, wresting the district leader’s job in the 76th Assembly District in Parkchester, as well as protecting 85thAD Assemblyman Marcos Crespo in the last election.
Oh, and son Ruben Jr. is borough president – though there’s a very interesting dynamic there.
And if rumors are true about this being Parkchester Assemblyman Peter Rivera’s last hurrah (see next item), The Rev could create a headache for Dem Party Boss Carl Heastie by pushing Luis Sepulveda to succeed Peter.
Yuh big tease!
Assemblyman Peter Rivera phoned us last week to – as he put it – “both confirm AND deny” the latest rumors.
That includes telling friends this will be his last term representing Parkchester/Castle Hill; putting his chief of staff, Danny Figueroa, up for his seat, and receiving a number of attractive job offers.
Turf war
A turf war over control of a South Bronx apartment building for seniors has the smell of a potential political scandal.
A Manhattan nonprofit got the city nod to take over and fix up Borinquen Court, but not before a lotta questionable political pressure on behalf of a Bronx outfit.
The cast of characters includes Councilwoman Maria del Carmen Arroyo; former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, now regional director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; business consultant and Adolfo’s longtime friend Fernando Brinn; Eduardo LaGuerre of the Neighborhood Association for Intercultural Affairs, and Shelly Fox of Foxy Management Ltd.
Bronx BP Ruben Diaz is supporting the tenants, who support the Manhattan-based West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing.
Reporter Daniel Massey broke the story in Crain’s New York last week, and we’d bet this one’s not going away anytime soon. Stay tuned.
No badge battle here
We’re told the Battle of the Badges went out the window at last Saturday’s horrific bus accident on I-95 that killed 15 people.
Protocol normally calls for an overall supervisor at disaster scenes, but firefighters and Emergency Service cops went right to work side by side without worrying about who was in charge.
“Time was of the essence. … Nobody was tripping over anybody,” said one ESU supervisor.
And as one NYPD chief joked: “It was so early in the morning, there were no bosses on the scene yet.”
Given leaking gas fumes and a live wire, we’d say the heroics go to all involved.
Erin go Bronx
Wonderful turnout, wonderful weather and just enough sprinkled boos at Mayor Bloomberg to make last Sunday’s Bronx St. Patrick’s Day in Throgs Neck great.
On Wednesday, BP Ruben Diaz Jr. will honor these Bronxites at Woodlawn’s Rambling House as part of Irish Heritage and Culture Month: former N.Y.C. Commissioner of Records Brian Andersson, and wife Marianne, administrator of Pelham Bay Park; 80th Assembly District Democratic State Committeeman Joe McManus and Margaret Walsh, board president of Parkchester South Condominiums.
BY BOB KAPPSTATTER
DAILY NEWS