Hiram Monserrate is fully aware that there are a lot of people who wished that his failure to regain his old State Senate seat in a special election in Queens on Tuesday would seal his political career. And he really doesn’t care.
“A lot of this reaction is based on just ignorance, on not knowing the facts, not dealing really with the issues,” he said. “There’s a lot of emotional hysteria out there.”
Wednesday was a day off for Mr. Monserrate, who has been unemployed since his colleagues in the Senate expelled him on Feb. 9, after his conviction on misdemeanor assault charges for dragging his girlfriend through the lobby of his building in Jackson Heights. At 4 p.m., he sounded as if he had just woken up and hadn’t yet bothered to read the newspapers.
“I did get a good night’s sleep for the first time in a month,” he said. “The election was over and I didn’t have to be out the door at 6 in the morning, 7 in the morning, to start campaigning.”
Yes, the election is a thing of the past, and the 13th Senate District has a new leader in José R. Peralta, who defeated Mr. Monserrate by 38 percentage points.
One of the defining issues of the campaign was Mr. Monserrate’s opposition to same-sex marriage, which split the electorate and also made for some uncomfortable encounters with some of his neighbors in Jackson Heights, which is home to a sizable gay community.
“There was tremendous aggressiveness,” he said evasively. “A couple of incidents, really, but most of my interactions have been positive.”
Mr. Monserrate, who is a registered Democrat, ran as an independent because the party shunned him this time after picking him over a three-term incumbent in 2008. His opponent, Mr. Peralta, ran as a Democrat and therefore had the party’s organizational and financial powers at his disposal, which Mr. Monserrate said made the election unfair.
“That’s the problem with state election laws,” he said. “If there’s a vacancy and a special election is called, party bosses decide who is going to run under the party line, while in the city, special elections are nonpartisan. I’ll advocate for a change in this process.”
He framed his expulsion from the Senate as payback for his role in a leadership tussle last year, when he aligned himself with the Republicans and then rejoined the Democrats, giving each the numbers they needed to control the Senate. Then he sued his former colleagues, claiming that the expulsion was unconstitutional.
The lawsuit carries on, and so does he.
“Clearly, I will continue to serve the community and the public in one capacity or the other,” he said.
But what capacity? Might his future be outside of politics?
“That requires some reflection,” he said. “I’m not ruling anything out. Everything is on the table. What I know is that I’ll continue to be a voice for the little guy.”
15 Comments
Someone (preferably his victim, but anyone will do) needs to slap this joker upside the head for having the audacity to even think about running for office again, after having committed such a despicable crime.
He ought to just be thankful that tarring and feathering have fallen out of fashion.
-LL
— LIberty LoverHe suffers from the same disease most if not all politicians suffer, NO SHAME.
— Ray IannicelliHiram: Kthxbye.
— Steven M.There is something that keeps on getting repeated in these stories that I think is incorrect. The much-talked about Queens Machine is something of illusion. While their lawyers may be good enough to knock a rookie off the ballot, they really don’t have troops to speak of. In fact, it is precisely because of their weakness as a machine that both Hiram and Jose regularly beat County’s candidates. What killed Hiram in this election was Jose’s ability to tap into his deep relationships with organized labor, the WFP, the LGBT community and his rather substantial support in the district’s Latino community. If Hiram thinks he was beaten as badly as he was last night because of county he needs to think again.
— CaballerodeParisWell, the worst of it is over now as he is out of politics and has even more time to pull his lady friend around by the hair.
— Perley J. ThibodeauOr is the worst of it over yet?
As the lady friend may not want to have anything to do with him now that she won’t be going to all the worst freebee political cocktail parties.
Of course, it would be even worst if she finds a way to get to the worst freebee cocktail parties, but not with an even worst lout who refuses to pull her around be the hair!
I mean, which worst is worst?
That seems to be the worst question.
That should read;
— Perley J. Thibodeau“…….worst lout who refuses to pull her around by the hair.”
I stand humbly corrected!
If she had any brains – the girlfriend would lose this guy and seek a protection order quickly.
I fear sooner, rather than later, this sicko will get it in his head that she is to blame for his downfall. Then – watch out!
Monserrate is a dangerous, violent person. He probably should be in jail.
— George“emotional hysteria” and “ignorance” partially explain Mr. Monserrate’s public behavior. “Opportunism” defines him. Most people elected to the incompetent state legislature are opportunists and incompetent. Mr. Monserrate rises to the top. Monserrate no tiene verguenze (Mr Monserrate has no shame).
— RonI’d say that Hiram Montserate is a man with invincible delusions. The guy is a raving sociopath.
— blacklightFinally something works out the way its supposed to. Congrats Jose Peralta. One seat closer to sanity.
— RayAny other person who viciously attacked and slashed the face of a woman he “loved,” and did not end up in jail as he should, would be grateful. This guy accuses me, a Peralta voter, of being ignorant?
I beg to differ. Having seen Monserrate around our hood, I knew he was scum. As soon as I saw that he did not take Ms. Giraldo to Elmhurst Hospital — two blocks away — but rather drove her all the way to Long Island, I knew he was hiding her because he knew he committed a crime.
He says he will serve the public in the future, but it is my understanding that this dog actually draws disability payments from then NYPD, which means the public is serving him.
What was his disability: a mental condition that precluded him from carrying a gun.
I would pity this fool, except he slashed his girlfriend, and has no remorse.
— jeffp26I want to mention this as well: I understand that Mr. Monserrate has skipped all of his court mandated visits with his probation officer. And has performed none of the community service which was part of his (admittedly light) sentence.
if he wants to serve the community, I suggest he get a broom and sweep the streets, or at least do what he is legally bound to do.
— jeffp26What is most unbearable about Monserrate is his refusal to acknowledge that he is a convicted domestic violence offender. Referreing to his crimes as “a mistake” as he does is an obscenity. An example of a “mistake” is putting too much salt in a recipe. Dragging your girlfriend away from ringing a neighbor’s doorbell for escape from you is a crime, not “a mistake.” Monserrate’s acknowledgement that he is a domestic violence offender should be followed by a commitment to never again abusing. By continuing to act and talk as though he committed no crime of domestic violence, Hiram Monserrate insults the intelligence and decency of everybody who cearly sees from the video evidence that he did.
A commenter above repeated reports from elsewhere that Monserrate is not carrying out his sentence (and that the authorities are not compelling him to carry it out). In some ways, society has advanced as regards domestic violence. In other ways, and most particularly as regards deterring domestic violence offenders, society has made no progress. Crimes of domestic violence should carry lengthy mandatory prison sentences. Not only does prison keep an offender away from victims, it gives victims a chance to truly escape their abusers’ clutches. There is no way that in a society more enlightened about these crimes and what works in terms of deterrent punishment that an assault conviction, even if a misdemeanor, would not result in a prison sentence.
The New York Times should follow up on all this by finding out from the Department of Probation whether Monserrate is fully carrying out his punishment/sentence. Investigative work should be done on why the Queens D.A. never brought witness tampering and witness intimidation charges against Monserrate. A Monserrate lawyer wrote an English-language deposition that Giraldo signed on Queens Blvd in a van full of Monserrate staffers. A Monserrate staffer drove Giraldo to court the day she testified. If that isn’t witness tampering and/or witness intimidation, what is?
— Scott RoseShame and decorum issues aside, as they have been thoroughly addressed in this forum already, two things catch my attention. First, how could he possibly think that he could get re-elected after such a high-wattage scandal? The intelligent move would have been to lay low and then, after a few years, come back if that was possible. Second, what kind of people voted for this person?
— Tufik HabibThe Electorate deep sixed a cad,
— Larry EisenbergNot a naive misunderstood Lad,
With no trace of shame,
Or assumption of blame,
Any sense that his actions were bad.