From NY1:Queens Senator Hiram Monserrate has been expelled by the State Senate following a vote of 53-8.
The resolution takes effect immediately.
Sources say there were two resolutions being considered by lawmakers earlier tonight. One called for an immediate expulsion, the other would have delayed it until June.
Monserrate was convicted in October of misdemeanor assault for dragging his girlfriend through the lobby of his apartment building.
The committee that investigated him recommended the State Senate vote on a resolution to expel Monserrate and if that were to fail, to vote on a resolution censuring him.
Monserrate says he will challenge the vote in court, saying only his constituents can vote him out of office.
21 comments:
Buh-bye, you disgusting turd. The people don't want you in office. To hell with your legal challenge and get lost.
I'm shocked. the people didn't decide but the party. Wouldn't it be funny that the people vote for him anyway on Nov. he can still run.
How nice to finally know that the American bedrock principle that if you are acquitted of a charge you will never be re-tried on that charge is trash.
Now we can all agree that the Federal and New York State constitutions are filth, not worthy of the paper they are written on.
Monserrate was acquitted of the domestic abuse allegations. He was convicted of a single misdemeanor charge of dragging his girlfriend a bit too roughly through their lobby on the way to the hospital.
Having been convicted of that single misdemeanor, he is now being punished, in the press, and also by the legislature for the much more serious the more serious domestic violence charges, all of which he was he was acquitted of.
Seriously, if we are respecting the principle of never any double jepoardy, would a government organ really expell a legislator of the misdemeanor charge of dragging a drunk friend too forcefully through a lobby on the way to get help?
To Hell with the rule of law.
Good. Now they must get rid of that sleazy thug Peralta!!!
Good. Now they must get rid of that sleazy thug Peralta!!!
Don't forget about Smith.
No one is more upset about Hiram getting expelled than Martha Flores Vaquez who will have to find another pol to leech off of to pay for her botox treatments.
HALLELUJAH!!!
he got a few votes of spport from that scum peralta and ruben diaz who barely speaks english
how do these guys get elected?
GLAD TO SEE THIS LOWLIFE OUT ON HIS ARSE
Pray to Jesus that he stays out. He tried to have at least 3 mentally-healthy people committed to mental institutions so he could help their landlords steal their rent-stabilized or rent-controlled apartments where they had lived for decades.
Now for his new home--the big house.
Come on guys, we all know that "Honest Joe" looks after the boys.
He will lay low for a few years and be back keep some seat warm on some commmission for $70,000 a year and one day a week at work.
And the press will sing his praise on how he has changed his life and helps the tweeded and is beloved in his community and interview a newly humbled man and we will feel good about him and how he has turned his life around.
(gag)
How nice to finally know that the American bedrock principle that if you are acquitted of a charge you will never be re-tried on that charge is trash.
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He wasn't re-tried. He evaded criminal prosecution, and that stands. He was simply voted out of office by his peers, a process that doesn't require a "beyond reasonable doubt" standard of proof that a criminal prosecution requires. There is no double jeopardy here. He simply got fired, he isn't going to jail.
Anonymous: He wasn't re-tried. He evaded criminal prosecution, and that stands. He was simply voted out of office by his peers, a process that doesn't require a "beyond reasonable doubt" standard of proof that a criminal prosecution requires.
Exactly. I'm surprised there's not a provision in the NYS constitution allowing the houses of the legislature to expel a member. There's such a provision in the US Constitution - each house can expel a member on a 2/3 vote. The power seems to be unlimited - the member doesn't have to be convicted of a crime or anything, they merely need to have lost the confidence of a supermajority of their peers. That said, expulsions are rare, as they should be.
I think the best course of action would be to allow Monserrate to run in the special election that's already been set of March 16th. If he were to win, if the people of his district REALLY want him to represent them then he should be allowed back into the Senate. If not - and I hope this is the case - he should go away and not been seen or heard again.
There doesn't need to be a constitutional provision in the state constitution. It says there that the senate and assembly make their own rules by passing laws, and so it is under a state law that Monserrate was expelled. It was legal. Monserrate foolishly declined to appear before the senate investigative committee to present his side of the story. Effectively, he waived "due process" with respect to the senate expulsion.
If he wants his seat back, he is free to run in the special election, which I guess will be scheduled in a matter of days, if not hours. That election will he held long before anything is resolved on the constitutionality of the expulsion.
Various government forums use different standards to convict and punish.
But still, double jepoardy is double jeopardy.
Same thing with crime. Crime is crime is crime.
The double jeopardy argument just doesn't fly. But the fact that there is no automatic expulsion for any criminal conviction, be it misdemeanor or felony, is troubling.
This was a safe vote. They knew that Monserrate was going to take this to court, and maybe win. If the court rules in his favor, the people can shrug, grin, and say something along the line of "well, we tried".
"Anonymous: He wasn't re-tried. He evaded criminal prosecution, and that stands."
He did not evade criminal prosecution. He faced his accusers in court and the judge acquitted him of the felony charge that he deliberately slashed his girlfriend.
His defense was that he tripped, broke a glass of water and accidentally cut her.
It was his argument that won the day, like it or not.
Anonymous: But still, double jepoardy [sic] is double jeopardy.
Except this isn't double jeopardy since it isn't a criminal prosecution. Legislative bodies can generally expel a member for almost any reason, whether the member has been convicted of a crime or not, if their action is seen as bringing the house they serve in into disrepute. Most legislatures exercise this great power sparingly - the U.S. House of Representatives, for example, has formally expelled only five members in its entire history, and only two since the Civil War. This isn't a judicial proceeding, it's a political one. Despite his acquittal on the most serious charges against him, Monserrate has, quite simply, become politically toxic. At the very least the people of his district should be consulted as to whether or not they want him to continue as their Senator. If they return him in March, the Senate will have to live with that. But if they don't - good riddance.
just leave ass wipe the judge should beat your ass like you did to your bitch
Governor Paterson has called for a special election on Tuesday March 16 in 33 days Let us see if Monserrate is still "the people's choice". In the unlikely event that Monserrate gets a TRO to take back his seat, the Senate will immediately appeal the TRO to let the special election go forward on a separation of powers claim, and the Senate is now in recess and not in session again for 11 days. Time is not on his side now.
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