An incoming Bronx state senator failed to register a campaign committee with the state as required by law, the Daily News has learned.

The News recently reported that Senator-elect Pedro Espada Jr. had missed all five required financial disclosures for his campaign this year.

Yesterday, state Board of Elections spokesman Robert Brehm said Espada hasn’t even bothered to register his campaign committee.

By not registering and making the proper filings, it’s impossible to tell who financed his campaign and how the money was spent.

Making things more confusing is that the senator-elect has a registered political action committee called “Espada for the People” that can receive and make donations, but is prohibited from making direct expenditures for a campaign, Brehm said.

There is no paperwork filed to make it clear whether the PAC is tied to Espada’s Senate race, Brehm said.

Blair Horner, of the New York Public Interest Research Group, called the situation “mind-boggling,” particularly since Espada had been a senator in years past.

“It’s a mess,” Horner said. “The senator-elect should set the record straight immediately. There’s no defense in what he has done.”

Not having a campaign committee and missing required filings carries a maximum $500 per violation civil penalty.

A candidate who “knowingly and willfully” didn’t register could be charged with a misdemeanor, Brehm said.

Espada, who did not return a call for comment, won election in November after beating incumbent Sen. Efrain Gonzalez in the September primary.

He is one of three rogue Democrats who has flirted with Senate Republicans by withholding support for Malcolm Smith, the party’s choice for majority leader in January.

The News reported yesterday that Senate GOP Majority Leader Dean Skelos and two other Republicans donated $8,000 to Espada this fall, compared with just $1,500 from Senate Democrats.

Source: NY Daily News