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| Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it (461672) | |
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Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 00:47:22 2009 Full story from NYT here.excerpt: June 13, 2009 At Center of Maelstrom, a Senator Used to Chaos By RAY RIVERA and DANNY HAKIM He is under indictment on charges of assaulting his companion. A nonprofit group he underwrote with city funds is under investigation. And his political ascent came after he retired from the New York Police Department on the ground that a psychological disability prevented him from doing the job. Yet through it all, State Senator Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat, has maintained a durable popularity in the Corona and Elmhurst neighborhoods he represents, in part because of his attention to issues like immigration and tenants’ rights and in part because he retains an image as an independent outsider. The woman he is accused of slashing with a drinking glass told the police it was an accident, though a judge who viewed video purporting to show Mr. Monserrate dragging her from the apartment said it caused “the blood to boil.” Mr. Monserrate calls the prosecution a political witch hunt. He has portrayed his troubles with the Police Department as a civil rights issue caused in part by its scorn for his work as a leader of the Latino Officers Association. Ultimately, his popularity with voters in a largely Hispanic district was such that, even though he had often needled Queens Democratic leaders, they jettisoned one of their own to support him for a Senate seat. Now, in a moment that might happen only in Albany, Mr. Monserrate is the man of the hour, courted both by Republicans who once blasted him and by Democrats who question his motives as they fight for control of the Senate. .... [T]he fragile new coalition government’s efforts to restart the legislative session have been thwarted by Mr. Monserrate, who says he wants more time to lure more Democrats. “I am not a Republican, I am a Democrat,” he said, in a brief appearance in the Senate chamber on Thursday. “For us to be an effective bipartisan body, we need cooperation from both sides.” Since Democrats have largely given up on bringing back Mr. Espada, Mr. Monserrate has become the most important lawmaker in Albany, a situation confused by his mercurial style and infrequent pronouncements. State government will remain paralyzed until at least Monday, when a hearing may resume on a legal challenge filed by Democrats to block the Republican effort to wrest control. On Friday, a State Supreme Court justice told the parties to try to resolve their dispute over the weekend. The chaos is not unfamiliar territory to Mr. Monserrate, whose career has marched forward undeterred by the dustups that frequently swirl around him. .... Mr. Monserrate, 41, was already a political brawler when he ran for City Council in 2001, a Marine reservist whose district had seen influxes of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Ecuador and Colombia. Of Puerto Rican heritage, he appealed to the new landscape, and had a compelling back story, as the youngest of three children of a maintenance worker and a home health aide. As a police officer, Mr. Monserrate successfully sued the department, claiming it had created a hostile work environment for minority officers. He left the department after 12 years in 2000 on a psychological disability after filing a doctor’s report that said he suffered from anxiety and depression and post- traumatic stress disorder. On the Council, he was co-chairman of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus and chairman of the Veterans Committee. A 2001 voters’ guide listed him as a Persian Gulf war veteran, though military records indicate he never left the United States. An adviser said his service during the Persian Gulf war, when he was on active duty for 90 days, qualified him to use the designation. .... Investigators are now looking at how he and other council members doled out their discretionary money to nonprofit agencies, among them a Monserrate-financed group that, in a separate investigation, is also being looked at on allegations that it used city money to campaign for him, a charge he denies. Last year, city examiners were unable to audit the group because its books had disappeared. Mr. Monserrate was also, by many accounts, an effective Council member. In 2003, for example, he secured a compromise from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to maintain a longstanding policy prohibiting city employees from reporting illegal immigrants to the federal authorities. “Hiram has always been an absolute bulldog and champion of the underdog,” said Richard Lipsky, a lobbyist who has had Mr. Monserrate’s help in battling the mayor and Council on several issues. In Albany, Mr. Monserrate had been chairman of the Senate Consumer Protection Committee, but he was forced to step down by the Senate majority leader, Malcolm A. Smith, after his arrest on the assault charges, and lost the $12,500 stipend, which was paid on top of his $79,500 salary. Though Mr. Smith also held a fund-raiser for him, Mr. Monserrate’s relationship with him had soured in recent months, and Mr. Smith’s departure as a leader is clearly one of Mr. Monserrate’s goals in siding with the Republicans this week. .... Mr. Monserrate said Thursday he wanted only three things — new leadership, reforms in the Senate’s rules and a bipartisan approach to governing. But there was concern in Mr. Monserrate’s camp that even if he returned to the Democratic fold, there would not be enough votes to install a replacement for Mr. Smith. And in the hallways of the Capitol, there is much skepticism of the view of Mr. Monserrate and Mr. Espada as reformers. For one thing, the coup was brokered by a Rochester billionaire, Tom Golisano, who was angered that the new budget included a tax on the wealthy. And Mr. Espada has a litany of ethical entanglements, including the question of whether he actually lives in his Bronx district. In the meantime, the Republicans are trying to figure out what to make of their new confederates. Senator Martin J. Golden, a Brooklyn Republican who only weeks ago was calling for Mr. Monserrate’s resignation, acknowledged uneasiness about the alliance.... Russ Buettner and Jeremy W. Peters contributed reporting. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 01:07:27 2009, in response to Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 00:47:22 2009. I *love* how Skelos hitched his wagon to two future convicts. :) |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by MJF on Sat Jun 13 09:31:36 2009, in response to Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 00:47:22 2009. It was painful to watch Monserrate on NY1's "Inside City Hall" last night. He wouldn't answer one direct question and was evasive during his entire interview. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by AlM on Sat Jun 13 10:43:19 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 01:07:27 2009. But then you have the Democrats trying to woo Monserrate back. They should just declare him officially a Republican instead. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 11:11:32 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by MJF on Sat Jun 13 09:31:36 2009. It figures. He knows what he wants - not to lose his position, and even more power - but he doesn't know how he thinks that he is going to secure that. He is still up for grabs. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by MJF on Sat Jun 13 11:24:07 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 11:11:32 2009. I'm sure that Monserrate and Espada have been bought by Tom Golisano. Espada, on the same show, denied that HE received any money from Golisano. EVER.They got what they wanted. If they can be wooed back by the Dems, their power increases. I hope the Dems excommunicate them from the party. But the Dems don't have the balls to do it. No sanctions against them. Nothing. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 11:30:56 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 01:07:27 2009. I *love* how Skelos hitched his wagon to two future convicts. :)Remains to see if Democrats will take back one of those future cons! A very tenuous prediction as of now, looking forward: Senate Democrats take Mr. Monserrate back, Mr. Smith is out as leader, and Mr. Espada is indicted. Not sure how Acting Justice McNamara is going to decide the case. Personally, as I indicated earlier, I believe that the Senate's parliamentary procedure is within its own purview, subject only to applicable constitutional limitations. I would, therefore, dismiss the action brought. Strategically, the path that I suggest to Democrats: tear rhetorically into Mr. Golisano and Republicans for coming into power based on the votes of an alleged embezzler and an alleged misogynist, make it only tacitly clear to Messrs. Brown and Johnson that the green light has been given to move criminal proceedings against Messrs. Monserrate and Espada with all speed, and have replacement candidates already lined up to replace them. Strategically, the path that I suggest to Republicans: prayer, and trade whatever horses to secure a greater majority with more wayward Democrats. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 11:38:31 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by MJF on Sat Jun 13 11:24:07 2009. Espada, on the same show, denied that HE received any money from Golisano. EVER.With most of these characters, you have to ask whether anyone on Team Golisano provided funding to anyone on Team Espada. And the answer there appears to be an obvious yes. I hope the Dems excommunicate them from the party. But the Dems don't have the balls to do it. I think that's right, as of right now, anyway. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by R30A on Sat Jun 13 12:09:18 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by AlM on Sat Jun 13 10:43:19 2009. They should do the same, not only to Espada, but to Diaz and Kruger as well. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 14:33:29 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sat Jun 13 11:30:56 2009. This has got to be the most awful soap opera ever ... Since there's not much news usually around here, the court hearing was televised. It seemed pretty obvious when McNamara told them to "work it out" over the weekend that he's planning to dismiss the case and let the Golisano administration stand. McNamara is one of those "OK, genius" type judges.Meanwhile, behind the curtains, Espada is about to be indicted for wilfull violation of election law over failure to file his reports, Monserrate's girlfriend is about to be charged with filing a false report since she refused to testify, and so we end up with a 31-31 senate as it is, or 30-28 dem if the two geniuses are arrested. Any way you cut the salami, this year's session is over. Once bail is arranged, Governor Dave will call a special session over the summer so that the road show can come back to town and do this stupidity all over again. I'm kinda enjoying our Lebanese style gubbamint. :) |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 14:37:53 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by AlM on Sat Jun 13 10:43:19 2009. Politics says bring him back now, primary him later. I believe both of the saboteurs will be in lockup by the end of the month tho'. :)Ah for the good old days of Bruno ... both Golisano AND Skelos would be found in the trunk of a Lincoln Towne car in the Rockaways. Heh. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jun 14 11:43:28 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 14:33:29 2009. It seemed pretty obvious when McNamara told them to "work it out" over the weekend that he's planning to dismiss the case and let the Golisano administration stand.To be fair, I think that's the right approach. I don't see any legal leg for the democrats to stand on, other than that the courts should adopt their view of parliamentary rules. As for Mr. McNamara himself, I don't know anything except that he was appointed by Governor Pataki to the Court of Claims, and that he is now presiding in the Supreme Court up there as an Acting Justice. I'm kinda enjoying our Lebanese style gubbamint. :) That's an insult to Lebanon. :) |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by JayZeeBMT on Sun Jun 14 11:52:40 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by SelkirkTMO on Sat Jun 13 14:37:53 2009. The NYPD 101 Precinct is getting tired of doing those "open trunk funerals" on Sprayview Avenue in the open wasteland by the sea around B. 35th Street. They have decreed that henceforth, any Lincoln or Cadillac found in that area with a body in its trunk will be immediately reefed in the North Atlantic. Turncoat politicians found dead in this area will be sent to the B. 108 St. Water Treatment Plant to be flouridated and washed back into the sewers from which they arose...lol! |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jun 14 14:20:33 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jun 14 11:43:28 2009. Update to my prior post:Justice Karen Peters of the Third Appellate Division reportedly granted a temporary restraining order moved for by Senate Democrats. The order in question apparently upholds the status quo ante, i.e., Mr. Espada is not Senate President, pending further action on Monday 6/15. |
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Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it |
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Posted by SelkirkTMO on Sun Jun 14 14:55:30 2009, in response to Re: Hiram Monserrate, in the center of the storm and used to it, posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jun 14 11:43:28 2009. Heh. Yeah, didn't want to call it "Palestinian" and get Mitch and OBS all wound up. :) |
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