Gadfly blogger Rafael Martinez-Alequin posted this priceless video of his interview with the owner of a two Westchester County sushi restaurants where Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. is alleged to have dropped $20,000 on meals that he billed to his Bronx nonprofit.

The owner of Red Plum and Toyo Sushi, Peter Chen, said Espada was one of his best customers, calling him a “classy guy,” “a gentleman” and a “moderate” tipper.

Chen also went out of his way to stress that he doesn’t have a personal relationship with the embattled lawmaker – other than to provide him with his regular sushi fix. He said he expects all the coverage of the Espada mess to be good for business.

Chen said the meals delivered to the Mamaroneck home were generally for two – the senator and his wife – which lends further credence to AG Andrew Cuomo’s suggestion that Espada does not, in fact, live in his Bronx district (no matter what the court might have said about that in the past).

The residency question is a particularly touchy one for Espada – so much so that he walked off the set last week when grilled by Ch. 2′s Marcia Kramer, who has done quite a bit of work on the subject of where the senator actually hangs his hat.

An extra wrinkle in connection with this video: Alequin used to work for the man Espada ousted in the 2008 primary, former Sen. Efrain Gonzalez (who has himself been convicted on corruption charges), and is embroiled in a legal fight with Espada’s son, Alejandro, who is accused of pushing the elderly blogger and breaking his camera during a campaign rally.

Share|