Leaders Demanding Resignation or Removal

State Senator Liz Krueger
State Senator David Valesky
State Senator Neil Breslin
State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer
State Senator Daniel Aubertine
State Senator Brian X. Foley
State Senator Martin Golden
State Senator Frank Padavan
State Senator Catharine Young
State Senator Betty Little
State Senator Jeff Klein
State Senator Bill Perkins
State Senator Thomas Duane
State Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins
State Senator Jim Seward
State Senator Craig Johnson
State Senator Tom Libous
State Senator Daniel Squardon
State Assemblywoman Patricia Eddington
State Assemblywoman Amy Paulin
State Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther
State Assemblywoman Francine DelMonte
State Assemblyman Adriano Espaillat
State Assemblywoman Vivian Cook
State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver
US Senator Charles Schumer
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
Mayor Michael Bloomberg
City Comptroller Bill Thompson
Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum
Congressman Joseph Crowley
Congressman Eric Massa
Congressman John Hall
Congresswoman Louise Slaughter
NYS Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs
City Council Member Eric Gioia
City Council Member Bill deBlasio
City Council Member Annabel Palma
City Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito
City Council Member John Liu
Dan Halloran, City Council candidate
District Leader Marc Landis
District Leader John Smyth
District Leader Keith Lilly
District Leader Cordell Cleare
Democratic Party of Queens County
National Organization for Women, New York State
NARAL Pro-Choice New York
The New Agenda
Eleanor Roosevelt Legacy Committee
NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault
New York State Young Democrats
National Women's Political Caucus, NY State
New York Post
New York Daily News
Albany Times Union Newspaper
Watertown Daily Times Newspaper
The Chief, Civil Employee's Weekly News
The Buffalo News
Queens Courier
Newsday
New York Times
Journal News of Lower Hudson Valley
Queens Chronicle
Oneonta Daily Star
Troy Record
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to be added to this list, email me at:
jess.rodriguez.nyc@gmail.com
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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Daily News: Monserrate Should Lose Seat


He nearly got away with it. Guilty of misdemeanor assault for dragging his bleeding girlfriend by the arm through a hallway, state Sen. Hiram Monserrate was acquitted of two more-serious felony assault charges, for slashing her in a jealous rage.

But let there be no confusion. Though Monserrate is not guilty of these crimes in the eyes of the criminal law, there is compelling and persuasive evidence that he did in fact cut his girlfriend with a glass as charged.

He has therefore forfeited his right to serve the people of Queens and should be removed from office immediately - though the misdemeanor conviction does not require him to give up his seat.

Prosecutors were unable to convince Queens Supreme Court Justice William Erlbaum beyond a reasonable doubt that Monserrate deliberately sliced Karla Giraldo's face with a glass after finding a man's business card in her purse.

Even though medical personnel at the hospital where Monserrate took Giraldo - a half-hour away - said she told them he did it. Even though Giraldo changed her story completely from the first version to the tale she spun on the stand.

But reasonable doubt is a criminal standard. Human beings, exercising common sense, can come to their own judgment based on the facts as we know them.

Monserrate and Giraldo had been drinking. He found the business card, got angry and threw it down the garbage chute. They argued loudly. At some point, he brought her a glass of water, which was thrust into her face with such force that the skin around her eye was cut through to the bone.

An accident? We didn't and don't believe it.

Monserrate pulled her out of the apartment as she held a bloody towel to her face. He dragged her through the building hallway - a disturbing episode recorded by security cameras. She pounded on a neighbor's door, crying for help. He sidled her out of the building and drove her to a distant hospital, instead of calling 911.

A caring beau? We didn't and don't believe it.

Giraldo's change of story, her assertion that the injury was the result of a simple slip and fall, were enough to keep the judge from having the 99% certainty required to meet the legal benchmark for conviction. But any rational observer knows enough to believe the prosecution's account.

That's good enough - bad enough - to keep Hiram Monserrate from retaining the esteemed title of "senator" in front of his name.

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