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Date Posted: 17:46:06 06/15/09 Mon
Author: I wish he would make up his mind.....Dem or Repug
Subject: Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate rejoins Democrats
In reply to: Cody Hill 's message, "Re: The NY Senate Gridlock" on 13:29:51 06/11/09 Thu

>Well, it doesn't look like much
>can be done to rectify the situation and get the
>Senators back to work on the floor until Sen.
>Montserrate is removed from office after being found
>guilty of a serious crime.
>
>

Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate arrested
>on domestic assault charge

>
>Updated Saturday, December 20th 2008, 10:12 AM
>
>Hot-tempered city councilman Hiram Monserrate was
>accused of slashing his girlfriend's face with broken
>glass Friday, leaving her with 20 stitches and a black
>eye.
>
>Wearing black Adidas sweatpants, a Mets cap and a
>black wool jacket, the 41-year-old ex-cop from
>Elmhurst, Queens, looked weary as he stood before
>Judge Toko Sarita at his arraignment in Queens
>Criminal Court.
>
>He did not speak during the brief hearing and was
>released on $2,500 cash bail after his lawyer, James
>Cullen, entered a not guilty plea.
>
>Monserrate was charged with assault and weapons
>possession for allegedly attacking his girlfriend
>during a "boisterous argument," Queens District
>Attorney Scott Kessler said.
>
>The city councilman claimed the injuries were
>accidental. "I brought her a glass of water, I leaned
>over and tripped," according to a statement read in
>court.
>
>Kessler said Monserrate's girlfriend, Karla Giraldo,
>29, first told hospital staff he broke a glass in his
>hand during a heated argument and stabbed her in the
>face with the shards. She later changed her story and
>said it was an accident.
>
>"She doesn't want him to go to jail," Kessler said,
>adding that police found blood-soaked towels and
>broken glass in Monserrate's apartment. "She doesn't
>want protection."
>
>But Sarita told Monserrate he cannot contact her and
>must stay at least 100 yards away.
>
>Monserrate was elected to the state Senate last month
>and is scheduled to be sworn in Jan. 1. He would
>automatically lose his seat if convicted of a felony.
>
>Monserrate and Giraldo spent Thursday night with
>Caroline Kennedy and other luminaries at the Queens
>Museum of Art for the Queens Democratic Party's
>holiday dinner.
>
>They argued afterward, possibly because a guest at the
>party confused Giraldo with another of Monserrate's
>girlfriends, one law enforcement source said.
>
>The fight turned violent in Monserrate's Elmhurst
>condo about 1 a.m., when he broke a drinking glass in
>his right hand and struck her - almost taking out her
>left eye, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
>
>Monserrate lives a few blocks from the trauma room at
>the city-run Elmhurst Hospital Center. But sources
>said he drove Giraldo 14 miles to Long Island Jewish
>Medical Center on the Nassau County line for treatment
>- and tried to get her to concoct an innocent
>explanation on the way.
>
>A doctor interviewed Giraldo privately, then summoned
>the NYPD at 4:50 a.m., police sources said. Officers
>arrested Monserrate at the hospital.
>
>The arrest meant Monserrate couldn't make his own
>holiday party at a substance abuse treatment center in
>Corona last night.
>
>Prosecutors had been probing Monserrate's connections
>to a now-defunct nonprofit organization called Libre.
>
>Any political consequences may fall into a gray area,
>though. Council Speaker Christine Quinn referred his
>case to the Council's Ethics Committee. It is unclear
>whether it would take action once he leaves for
>Albany.
>
>The Senate may not take up an ethics case for
>something he did before taking office. Smith ducked
>questions about it.
>
>Mayor Bloomberg and Quinn also declined to comment on
>the arrest, though Quinn said anyone charged with
>domestic violence should be prosecuted "regardless of
>any position that individual might hold."
>
>Monserrate was elected to the Council in 2001 and
>served on its Public Safety Committee. He attended his
>last Council meeting on Thursday, where he and other
>departing members were honored by their colleagues. He
>was elected to the Senate last month after he won the
>backing of Queens Democrats over previous Sen. John
>Sabini, who pleaded guilty to drunken driving and was
>later picked to run the state racing and wagering
>board.
>
>alisberg@nydailynews.com

Leaders plan to meet: Senate is deadlocked 31-31
Monserrate returns to Democrats; judge gives both sides until 10 a.m. Tuesday

By ROBERT GAVIN AND CASEY SEILER, Staff writers
Last updated: 4:02 p.m., Monday, June 15, 2009

ALBANY -- The battle for the state Senate entered a new phase this morning after Sen. Hiram Monserrate returned to the Democratic fold, leaving the chamber split 31-31.
"I have always been clear about my loyalty to the Democratic party," Monserrate said at a news conference where he was joined by almost all the members of the Democratic conference -- a week to the day after he joined Sen. Pedro Espada Jr. and the 30-member Republican conference in a shocking coup that ousted the Democrats from power after less than six months in power.

Democratic Leader Malcolm Smith, who is suing Espada in state Supreme Court to take back the title of Senate President Pro Tempore, kicked off the news conference by introducing Brooklyn's John Sampson as the new "conference leader," although the structure and duties of that title remained somewhat undefined.

Monserrate made his return to the conference contingent on a change in conference leadership, which Sampson's elevation apparently satisfies.

But Monserrate failed to answer questions about whether or not he continued to support Espada as president pro tem. Espada claims he still has Monserrate's backing.

As the news conference was breaking up, acting state Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara extended the deadline for both parties in the Senate war, giving them until 10 a.m. Tuesday to work out a power-sharing agreement.

At 2 p.m., Espada met with a group of supporters rallying on the east steps of the Capitol, and insisted that his hold on the post of president pro tem -- which puts him second in line of succession to Gov. David Paterson -- was secure.

"I will go to my grave defending the 32 votes that were cast last Monday," Espada told the press after greeting about 70 of a group that he decribed as constituents. The group held signs that read, "32 is good for you then 32 is good for me."

Speaking just after the rally outside his office, Espada brushed off the suggestion that any power-sharing arrangement between Democrats and Republicans would result in his being voted out of the powerful post. Espada is currently the subject of several investigations into his campaign finances and the operation of several nonprofits he's involved in.

"Thirty-two votes can kick me out, 32 votes elected Malcolm Smith," he said. "With 32 votes you can change anything."

Gov. David Paterson called for a 3 p.m. leaders meeting to explore a solution to the dispute, but the legislators who will need to hammer out an agreement have apparently decided to meet on their own at 4:30 p.m. A 3 p.m. Senate session that the GOP-led coalition announced after last Thursday's abortive sessions -- where Monserrate showed up, delivered a brief speech and then left -- was also scuttled due to the lack of 32 votes. The Republicans and Espada did, however, hold a news conference in the chamber in which GOP Leader Dean Skelos insisted that any power-sharing arrangement would first have to acknowledge that last week's actions on the floor were legal and binding.
At a 9:30 a.m. hearing at the state Supreme Court in Albany, McNamara noted there are "serious and difficult" matters separating the opponents, but said the judiciary has shown a "historical reluctance" to involve itself in legislative affairs.
"I have no problem in providing an answer to the quesiton from a judicial standpoint," McNamara said. "As a matter of public policy, you guys should work this out."

Democratic attorney Richard Emery -- also a member of the Commission on Public Integrity -- told reporters that a power-sharing agreement seemed to be the only solution absent a ruling from the court.

"It's unprecedented," Emery said of such an arrangement. "We'll see what develops."

In the hearing, lawyers for the Senate Republicans offered to introduce DVDs of the June 8 legislative session when the coup that overturned the Senate took place.

Attorney John Ciampoli, representing Espada, said the DVD of the session and a follow-up press conference by Sen. Malcolm Smith "speaks for itself" in showing the session was not over when senators voted on the resolution.

"Why should I care about Sen. Smith's remarks at a press conference?" McNamara replied.

http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=810313&TextPage=1

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Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate arrested >on domestic assault charge

Queens City Councilman Hiram Monserrate arrested
>on domestic assault charge