Disgraced Queens state Sen. Hiram Monserrate was acquitted yesterday of felony charges for an attack on his girlfriend last year -- but convicted of misdemeanor assault.
Needless to say, the cloud over his head -- and the stench in the state Senate, for that matter -- remains.
Best for everyone for him to quit.
The incident, for starters, left 30-year- old Karla Giraldo in need of some 40 stitches to her face.
A surveillance tape shows Monserrate chasing her, as she bled, down an apartment-building staircase and dragging her from a neighbor's door, where she seemed to be crying for help.
A doctor and a nurse at the hospital where Giraldo went for treatment testified that she told them Monserrate had attacked her with a broken glass.
Giraldo later recanted that story, and Judge William Erlbaum apparently decided Monserrate's guilt on two counts of felony assault wasn't proven beyond a reasonable doubt.
That's the burden of law.
New Yorkers, on the other hand, will make their own judgments; for many, no doubt, suspicions will linger.
Nor is this his only brush with ignominy: Monserrate had a starring role in this summer's Senate coup, double-crossing both parties and throwing the chamber into chaos for a month.
Now his colleagues may finally have cause to say "enough," pending his sentencing in December.
"The leaders of our conference are discussing the potential for further disciplinary action," said Senate Democratic leader John Sampson.
Other Dems went further.
"There is no room in government or in the Democratic Party for people who commit such heinous crimes against women," said Queens Councilman Eric Gioia.
No, Monserrate's departure from the politically corrupt Senate won't totally restore its basement-level reputation.
But it might be a start.
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