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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Monday, October 26, 2009

Queens Democrats: Unanimously Call for Monserrate's Immediate Resignation

From Daily News:
Queens Democratic Party district leaders unanimously passed a resolution this morning in support of the call by their chairman, Rep. Joe Crowley, for Sen. Hiram Monserrate to resign immediately.

The resolution, introduced by Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, who chairs the county committee, also called on Monserrate to relinquish his position as a party district leader.

Monserrate was not present for the vote, nor was Martha Flores-Vazquez, one of the few district leaders who supports the embattled senator. (She recently forwarded around an e-mail that accused the "American media" of being on the "hunt" against Hispanics).

According to Mike Reich, the party's executive secretary, 65 of the 72 district leaders attended a breakfast meeting at the Shalimar Diner in Rego Park. The DLs also support Crowley in his plan to back a primary challenger against Monserrate next fall if his fellow senators' effort to unseat him fails, Reich said.

"We can’t do anything right now except we can all be out there stating that what Hiram Monserrate has done is unacceptable for an elected official, and he should do the community that he claims to serve the right thing and step aside because he has to pay the price for what he has done and he has to pay the price for his acts," Reich said.

Reich said he believes Monserrate's girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, suffers from battered woman's syndrome, adding:

"She thinks if she sticks by Hiram, he's going to marry her and everything will be nice and cozy. But Hiram has a record of this kind of behavior."

Reich recalled that Monserrate, then a Council candidate, was accused in 2001 of running over a tow truck driver who was attempting to repossess his car at about 4 a.m. The incident occurred on the even of the primary elections and was vastly overshadowed by the Sept. 11 attacks. There were no charges lodged against Monserrate.

"He lucked out in that regard," Reich said. "He's always been known as a thug around the community. We look back in history and say, 'You know, there were signs and we may not have recognized them.' What he did here is just inexcusable."

When I noted this is a complete180 for the Queens Democrats, who abandoned then-Sen. John Sabini to back Monserrate last year (Sabini ended up dropping out of the race), Reich said:

"Sometimes you make mistakes. We backed him because we thought he was what the community wanted...The straw that broke the camel's back for John was the drunk driving conviction. Fortunately for John, he didn't hurt anyone. The same can't be said for Hiram."

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