Primary, Special Election, Court—Hiram Monserrate Will Not Go Away
Fears of Peralta’s performance in head-to-head Senate match-up begin to circulate
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:00
Embattled Queens Senator Hiram Monserrate has vowed to run again for his seat if his colleagues vote to expel him for his misdemeanor conviction in a domestic abuse case. But Democratic powerbrokers in Albany and Queens who thought that their anointed candidate, Assembly Member José Peralta, would banish the memory of Monserrate forever are now fretting over his chances in a head-to-head race with the beleaguered incumbent.Despite getting tarnished in the press, Monserrate remains a well-known figure in Latino neighborhoods like Corona and Jackson Heights, and his allies have already begun to question Peralta’s credibility.
That has some prominent Democrats worried that Monseratte may be able to claw his way back.
“The concern is Peralta could lose,” said one Senate Democrat.
When Peralta declared his intention to challenge Monserrate, it seemed likely the embattled Queens senator would be quickly expelled from the chamber and dispatched from the Capitol in disgrace. Dozens of his colleagues pressured Monserrate privately to resign—including, according to several sources, his close ally, Sen. Carl Kruger—and lobbied Democratic Leader John Sampson to allow an immediate vote to oust him.
In the meantime, Monserrate grew even more defiant, declaring his intention to run again and to challenge his expulsion in court.
Monserrate has been working the rounds in Queens to shore up support. He has been pressing his former aide and now-Council Member Julissa Ferreras, the only female Latino lawmaker in Queens, to stay out of the race. But Ferreras, who has been getting pressure from Queens Democrats to buck her old boss, appears to be moving in Peralta’s direction.
Ferreras’ neutrality would be important, Monserrate’s aides say, because it would help him maintain the support of his Latino base, which is located primarily in neighborhoods like Corona—where, as one former associate of Monserrate put it, “He’s king. He can do no wrong.”
In an interview in the dank basement of his East Elmhurst district office the evening after he vowed to fight the penalties recommended in a special committee report released that morning, Monserrate said that his record would appeal to voters in those areas of the district, many of whom have celebrated him as a hero.
Whether the election is in September on the normal primary calendar or before that, if an expulsion creates a vacancy for his seat, Monserrate said he will be a candidate.
“I was the first Latino elected to the borough of Queens,” he said, sitting at a conference table cluttered with children’s toys from a recent Three Kings Day event. “And the two that got elected subsequent to me, I both supported and ensured that they would have political victories, so that both of them could be in office—both of them.”
Monserrate’s supporters suggest that his years of crusading for poor Latino voters—not to mention his control over millions in discretionary funds—have helped him engender considerable goodwill through the assault trial and will outlast the media frenzy over his expulsion.
“This is a hands-on, one-on-one kind of individual, and everybody knows it. Everybody knows the positive changes that came in that district. And nobody’s going to go with an opportunist,” said Martha Flores-Vasquez, a Queens Democratic district leader whose family crisis center has received funding from Monseratte. “They’re not naïve. They know who provides service and they know who does not.”
Monserrate’s aides, meanwhile, have begun to attack Peralta, leaking word that he helped steer hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to a defunct non-profit organization. They have also said that they will showcase Peralta’s ties to organized labor, including his former employer at the Central Labor Council, Brian McLaughlin, who is currently serving a 10-year prison term for embezzlement.
Peralta did not return calls for comment. But his supporters in the Senate say the talk is nothing more than baseless innuendo.
“He has a reputation and a record that I think most people in that community respect—certainly they voted for him numerous times—and I think that’s what they’ll judge him on, not some slimy gutter politics,” said State Sen. Diane Savino, who has said she will vote to expel Monserrate.
Meanwhile, a drawn-out legal battle could complicate the race, especially if a court rules that the Senate does not have the constitutional authority to expel one of its members.
The delay could also paralyze the Senate, leaving the Democratic conference without a crucial 32nd member. Some Democrats fear they could even lose a second vote, depending on what State Sen. Ruben Diaz, a close Monserrate ally, decides to do in protest of Monserrate’s ouster.
The dysfunction would most likely redound to the GOP’s benefit politically, restraining the Senate Democrats from being able to pass even basic pieces of legislation.
But Monserrate would also stand to gain, his aides suggest. The longer he can delay the Senate’s decision, the more time he will have to make his case to local organizations and voters who have supported him in the past.
Senate Democrats, meanwhile, seem increasingly resigned to the fact there is not much more they can do to extricate themselves from the Monserrate circus.
“We can expel him, that’s within our power, but we can’t stop him from running,” said State Sen. Eric Schneiderman, who led the Special Committee of Inquiry that recommended Monserrate’s removal. “If the voters of his district see fit, even after all this has come out, to re-elect him, then they’re allowed to re-elect him.”
Monserrate-Crowley-Bloomberg Proxy Battle Takes Shape in Race to Succeed Peralta
A proxy fight between Hiram Monserrate, the Queens Democratic Party and perhaps even New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is taking shape in the race to succeed Assembly Member José Peralta.
Monserrate and the Queens Democrats have each chosen sides in the race, with Monserrate supporting a longtime ally, Jackson Heights attorney William Salgado, and Rep. Joe Crowley, chairman of the county party, backing local activist Francisco Moya.
Salgado could not be reached for comment.
A third candidate, immigration lawyer Bryan Pu-Folkes, is also mulling the race, and has said he hopes to win Bloomberg’s support. Pu-Folkes served as a member of the city’s Human Rights Commission under Bloomberg, endorsed the mayor in 2009 and promoted his immigration policy before largely Latino audiences at Bloomberg campaign events last year.
Peralta is also expected to endorse Moya, as is Council Member Julissa Ferreras, who defeated him in a heated Council race early last year. Ferreras is said to be close to Pu-Folkes, who worked briefly for her as an immigration counselor, but is nonetheless expected to go with county and back Moya.
“At the end of the day, Queens County may just convince Julissa to go with Moya,” said a source familiar with her thinking.
Ferreras is currently neutral in the Senate race, but has indicated that she may soon endorse Peralta.
Pu-Folkes declined comment.
The election could be awkward for Monserrate and his chosen candidate Salgado. The seat would only become available, after all, if Monserrate is expelled from the Senate for domestic abuse and he and Peralta face off in a special election.
Salgado could not be reached for comment.
Moya said in an interview that he plans on launching his campaign at the end of this month, with a fundraiser in Corona hosted by Crowley. He promised to make the spectacle surrounding Monserrate, and the negative attention it has brought to the district, the centerpiece of his campaign.
“People are angry, they’re angry at the establishment right now. They’re angry at the elected officials in this district,” he said, adding of Monserrate: “His whole career has been based in this controversy and negativity that surrounds him, and I think that we bring a breath of fresh air.”
Moya added that the voters in the district, which is made up mostly of Corona and Jackson Heights, would prefer a loyal Democrat over a Bloomberg supporter.
“I’ve always been a Democrat, and I’ve always endorsed the Democratic candidates,” Moya said. “The bottom line is this is a Democratic seat.”
—SG
