Hit the road Hiram!
Members of the New York State Senate voted 53 to 8 to expel Hiram Monserrate from the Senate.
“This clearly is a much bigger issue than just me,” Monserrate said on the floor of the Senate late Tuesday night, February 9, before he cast his vote against his own expulsion. “I really hope that no one in this chamber in their life or career finds themselves in my position. That one evening something becomes awry, and they find themselves at the mercy of some colleagues with a political agenda. If it’s Hiram Monserrate today, it could definitely be you tomorrow.”
After the Senate’s vote, the Democrats now have an even slimmer majority of 31 to 30 over the Republicans. The immediate impact will most likely affect the state’s budget negotiations in March. After the expulsion vote, Governor David Paterson called a special election to take place on Tuesday, March 16.
The vote came after the State Democratic Conference’s almost six-hour closed-door session. Monserrate had been asked to leave the room for part of the session while the Conference discussed its options.
However, when Lieutenant Governor Richard Ravitch resumed the state’s business, only Bronx Senators Ruben Diaz and Pedro Espada Jr., two of the “four amigos” that led the Albany coup last June along with Monserrate, explained their “No” vote on the resolution.
“Go ahead and get even, go ahead enjoy,” Diaz sarcastically told the senators, and added that the vote had been racially motivated. “Go ahead, enjoy your victory, you got it.”
The other five voting against the resolution were Senators Eric Adams, Martin Dilan, Carl Kruger, Kevin Parker and John Sampson, all from Brooklyn.
One senator, Republican Tom Morahan from the mid-Hudson Valley region, was excused for medical reasons and did not vote.
The Senate committee’s report recommending that Monserrate be expelled was released on Thursday, January 14.
A Queens judge had found Monserrate guilty of a misdemeanor assault charge for forcibly dragging girlfriend Karla Giraldo out of his apartment building in December 2008, but the judge cleared him of the felony assault charges for slashing her in the face with a broken glass.
Monserrate and his lawyers have maintained from the beginning that the vote in the Senate violated the State Constitution, and they plan to challenge the Senate’s actions. Some senators, however, raised the fact that the nine-member bipartisan State Senate Committee included skilled and shrewd lawyers, like committee chair Senator Eric Schneiderman.
The committee report also suggested censure as a second option, but the resolution to expel Monserrate was the one brought before the entire Senate. Had Monserrate been found guilty of the felony, he would have been automatically expelled.
“He was invited to testify or submit written testimony, and in fact he did his best to stonewall the committee,” said Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who had served on the State Senate Committee.
Stavisky said she was very disappointed with the comments of Diaz and Monserrate and said the vote had nothing to do with race.
“All it was, was a vote to condemn domestic violence,” Stavisky said. “It’s something that you wish had never occurred,” Stavisky said about the incident itself. “But, I do believe that justice was served,” with the vote.
Monserrate represented the parts of Jackson Heights, Corona, Elmhurst, East Elmhurst and Lefrak City in Queens. He would have faced a September 2010 primary challenge from Assemblymember Jose Peralta, who has the backing of the Queens Democratic Party, and will be seen as the favorite in the Special Election.
“Today’s decision regarding Hiram Monserrate’s expulsion is a victory for all New Yorkers,” Peralta said. “I applaud the Senate on their vote to expel Monserrate, a convicted domestic abuser who has proven unfit to serve in elected office. It is time to move beyond this sad chapter.”
– Additional reporting by Pete Davis and Victor G. Mimoni
