The New York Times:
The political fate of State Senator Hiram Monserrate, a Queens Democrat convicted of assault in a dispute that left his companion with a gash on her face, grew uncertain on Thursday as a special committee recommended that the Senate vote soon on a motion to expel him.
The Senate Democratic leader, John L. Sampson, is expected to allow an expulsion vote to proceed, most likely within two weeks.
"I expect us to act on this very quickly," said Senator Eric T. Schneiderman, a Manhattan Democrat who led the special committee, which was created specifically to handle the Monserrate case. "There is no reason we can't move quickly. And I think it's in everyone's best interest to do so."
Mr. Monserrate is not expected to survive a Senate vote on his ouster. He would be the first member of the Legislature to be expelled since six members of the Assembly were removed in the 1920s for their affiliation with the Socialist Party of America.
But not so fast. City Hall News has the disgraced Senator on the record as wanting to take his case to the voters.
"I fully expect to be running and to put my record of accomplishment to the voters of this district and move forward," Monserrate said in the interview. "So I'm prepared to challenge, to debate intelligently, based on the facts and not hysteria, my record and my role as a public servant with anyone."
If he is expelled and does run again, he'll be challenged by Assemblyman José Peralta, Empire State Pride Agenda - Monserrate voted against the marriage equality bill, apparently believing that marriage is exclusively for an abusive man and a battered woman - and the entire Queens Democratic establishment.
That is, however, if he is indeed expelled. Given the division of seats in the Senate - 32 Ds, 30 Rs - some R votes are required to make it happen. And it's hard to see Dean Skelos and his caucus doing the Democrats the political favor of getting rid of one of the guys who joined with them in their short-lived coup. |
