| The FireMonserrate.com effort is a good one. I signed the petition. You should too.
But if there is anything that past history tells us, it's that we just can't "fire" him. We need to can him AND replace him with someone better.
Case in point: Efrain Gonzalez.
Gonzalez had some serious charges against him. He admitted to funneling state money (your tax dollars) to two nonprofits so that he could use that money for a shopping spree. A Gonzalez staffer was sentenced to prison for being the recipient of a "no show" job. (Gonzalez will be sentenced next month, so stay tuned.)
We wanted Gonzalez out. His scandal was bad news, not only for Democrats and the New York State Senate, but for the 33rd Senate District Gonzalez represents. No one wants to be represented by a crook. And that's exactly what Gonzalez is.
So who did we find to replace the scandal-ridden Efrain Gonzalez?
Senator Pedro Espada.
That's all I need to say, especially on this blog. We replaced one scandal-plagued senator with another only because the challenger (Espada), at the time, was the lesser of two evils.
If we are going to replace Monserrate, we need someone better to serve the residents of the 13th Senate District. We can't just replace him with someone that has a questionable past who will burn us in the end (like Espada). Monserrate needs to exit. He was found guilty of a crime that still has a lot of unanswered questions. While the misdemeanor means that Monserrate technically can stay in office, it still doesn't say a lot of Monserrate. Being found guilty of physically abusing your girlfriend isn't a good characteristic to have as an elected official.
The lessons we have learned about Espada should be fresh in our minds. The DSCC supported him. We saw him as a better option than Gonzalez, which is debatable. While Gonzalez had his own scandal with nonprofits, Espada also has nonprofit problems. Espada has toyed with switching to the Republican Party in the past and that culminated with his role in the June coup.
Thus, to replace Monserrate, we need to have a good Democrat ready to take over. We can't have another Pedro Espada. |
