Campaigning in Corona
"We don't have polling numbers, we have Compstat," said State Senator John Sabini of Jackson Heights after a third police report was filed by his campaign.
On August 14, computers from Sabini's campaign office was stolen. On August 17, a 17-year-old girl campaigning for Sabini on 99th Street reported to police that a man approached her, made a lewd/threatening remark, and fled. On August 23, an 18-year-old volunteer was confronted by three men and punched while putting up posters before a debate with his challenger, City Councilman Hiram Monserrate of Corona.
Monserrate, a former police officer, said of the last incident: "As far as I understand, there was provocation on both ends regarding the affixing of posters." Although not accused of any wrongdoing, Monserrate said he would not condone any inappropriate behavior by his campaign workers.
But Moserrate downplayed the significance of reported incidents, saying, "There have been a bunch of incidents. They have vandalized my campaign headquarters. We have pictures of it. We have video of it. I have never engaged in trying to report it." He added, "I think Mr. Sabini's camp has been very sensational in their press releasing." [more comments after the jump]
For some reason, this feels like deja vu all over again.
In non-criminal news from this race: Sabini is getting endorsed from David Paterson and African-American leaders today, and Monserrate is getting endorsed by Fernando Ferrer, whom many electeds in that district supported for mayor.
-- Azi Paybarah Hiram Monserrate:
"I'm not out here sending a press release or calling the press because there was an incident at my campaign headquarters. That's not what this campaign is about. Things happen in life, in general, in society. Sometimes people do the wrong things and sometimes people over-react. They could be people associated with his campaign, or it could be people completely unassociated with his campaign. That has nothing to do with it and I don't try to make an issue where an issue doesn't exist."
"The real issues in this district are the rates of HIV, the rates of diabetes, and women who are dying of breast cancer, the high medical needs in this community, the high needs we have for affordability, and the myriad of issues that impact the quality of life of our constituents."
Hiram is a thug. His volunteers are thugs. He stands for nothing and he doesn't care about the district. Just wait until the rat or one of his cronies pushes it to the next level and really causes some trouble.
Hopefully Freddy will be there to see it.
does freddy also think its time to get rid of the status quo in albany..jose rivera, efrain gonzalez, peter rivera, etc???
During one of his elections for City Council, one of the campaign workers for an opponent of CM Monserrate threatened over the telephone to kill the Councilman with a gun... any thoughts about that?
The Status Quo in Queens didn't do anything for Fernando Ferrer nor has it helped provide a better quality of life for the residents of of the 13th ED. Unless you think that the Queens County Democratic Organization is other than another tax on the wages and lives of those people... for sure, Hiram Monserrate does not represent the status quo and all of the people of the district will do better and be heard more often and more clearly with Hiram Monserrate working for them.
I think some of the above are getting carried away with themselves. Regardless if any or all the incidents are real or imagined, Hiram Monserrate is no "thug," and to even sugguest this demonstrates partisanship in the extreme.
Everyone hates Hiram except the people who live in his district. Of course, theft (computers was stolen?) lewd remarks to 17 year old girls and fisticuffs are ordinarily not newsworthy there.
The Machine-endorsed candidates are angels from heaven and anyone who is capable of beating them in an election is either a thug, sex pervert or KKK supporter.
Any questions?
Anyone who has ever run against Hiram has been subjected to his thuggish harrassment, including many of those now working on his campaign (Luis Rosero for one). How these folks can now be in bed with this guy is beyond me. Not a single elected in Queens, his fellow councilmembers or his boss Christine Quinn are supporting Hiram...why is that? Maybe because nobody can work with him because he doesn't care about anyone but himself. Just what this district needs in the state senate...a bully that nobody gets along with...God help us!
A simpler answer presents itself: the support of the electeds for Sabini and against Monserrate is directed out of the Queens County Organization Democratic Headquarters. To think that any of these spineless electeds would go against County would be the same as thinking of Michael Bloomberg as a Man of the People. Anon 1213... you know better.
Any one have any thoughts about Sabini's 10 government paid for flyers inside the 30 day pre- election window??? How he paid for it? How much it cost? Was it ethical.. or maybe even thug-like in a white collar way? Did he no send any mail to his District for a year so he could save up for the obvious election cycle publicity??? Any one care to compare this to Gifford Miller's mail bonanza which even the NY Times couldn't stomach??? Or should we just wipe the dog poo off of Sabini's hands and gloss over this maneuver?
HA!! Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island electeds are not "directed" by the Queens County Democratic organization and none of them are supporting Hiram either! Let's face it, Hiram has done a very good job of marginalizing himself with his peers and that is very bad for those he claims to represent.
Question: If Queens County Dem Org. is corrupt + no good then why did Monserrate seek and get their endorsement time after time? Seems to me he only calls them corrupt when they are not backing him...
First off, the guy you refer to as seeking the endorsement of the Queens County Democratic Organization is referred to by Big Mike Reich in a derogatory and extremely child-like way... they have tolerated Monserrate and at the same time tried to do him in whenever they could. Second, this is Queens business and to think that the electeds are doing this for any other reason but to this curry favor with the County Machine or because they are part of the Machine is just ridiculous. For one instance, what business does Bronx Boro Beep Carrion have in Queens with John Sabini? Who knows if he even knows Sabini... certainly they share very few interests and ideals and each represents a different set of people. But they do share one key issue... keeping up a good relationship with the County Organization. That it did nothing for Ferrer and will do nothing for him, Adolpho will find out soon enough. Oh wait, there is another common thread... when the Related Company was set to do in the merchants at the Bronx Terminal Market, the Boro Beep was eating at the table of Steve Ross and Michael Bloomberg certainly two people not to be confused as being friends of either the people of the Bronx or the merchants at the Market. And while the Mets were being fed with a silver spoon, what was Sabini doing and where was he??? Well know one really knows. He really doesn't do much of anything anyway to help the people of Queens. He is, however, good at newsletters... as long as he is not paying for them. So you are fooling no one...
Anon 524PM... wasn't Monserrate the chairman of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus for many years?? Did those electeds marginalize him? And could it be that to many of these mionority electeds, Monserrate is a threat to their long term goal for higher elected office... so this becomes a twofer... to curry favor with the County Organization and take a shot at someone who's future may interfere with their own. This is not to say that Sabini doesn't have friends with those who favor the status quo... what has he fought for? What special interests has he taken on??? Who has he stood up for other than himself and maybe his printer?? Was he responsible for the pay to pray parking meter legislation? Did he take on Bloomberg on behalf of the immigrant community??? Did he fight to get a better deal for the merchants at the Bronx Terminal Market?? Did he try to get the Mets to give back something to the community after they were handed yet another soak the poor to pay the rich deal?? Is he involved with the legislation to make the hospitals provide translators for the multi-cultural diverse people they serve and for the schools to send home reports cards in a language that the parents can understand?? On and on we can go... maybe it's that Monserrate doesn't stand up for the people you care about whoever they are??? Like many others, you may be fooling yourself but you are not fooling me nor are you fooling the people who live either in the Councilman's current District or those who live in the 13th ED.
I guess then Citizen's Union, and the NY Times are in cahoots with the Queens party bosses since they too endorsed John Sabini.
The Times is not known to endorse minority candidates especially when they are running against Caucasian candidates, are they? And yet they spoke highly of CM Monserrate, didn't they ("City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, the challenger, is a former policeman who has become an energetic force in the Hispanic community. And whatever happens in this race, Mr. Monserrate looks like a rising star in New York politics. Voters could not go wrong, whatever lever they pull.")) ? As to the Citizen's Union... sometimes they seem to be asleep at the wheel... they were down on Giff for his $1,500,000 mail blitz paid for with City funds and yet they gave Sabini a pass for doing essentially the same thing and maybe even more on a per person basis... this being a State Senate Race perhaps they dozed off here... I notice you took a pass on commenting on the items listed above where Monserrate did good things for the people and acted in a forceful and productive way for his constituents and the regular working class people he stands up for. And you also passed on his being the Chairman of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus... cat got your tongue?
The Times is not known to endorse minority candidates especially when they are running against Caucasian candidates, are they? And yet they spoke highly of CM Monserrate, didn't they ("City Councilman Hiram Monserrate, the challenger, is a former policeman who has become an energetic force in the Hispanic community. And whatever happens in this race, Mr. Monserrate looks like a rising star in New York politics. Voters could not go wrong, whatever lever they pull.")) ? As to the Citizen's Union... sometimes they seem to be asleep at the wheel... they were down on Giff for his $1,500,000 mail blitz paid for with City funds and yet they gave Sabini a pass for doing essentially the same thing and maybe even more on a per person basis... this being a State Senate Race perhaps they dozed off here... I notice you took a pass on commenting on the items listed above where Monserrate did good things for the people and acted in a forceful and productive way for his constituents and the regular working class people he stands up for. And you also passed on his being the Chairman of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus... cat got your tongue?
Citiznens Union is run by a hack, Dick Dadey. Look at the invitations to his fundraisers and you will see list after list of lobbyists. Last year, his honoree was a lobbyist. He is well known for shaking down lobbyists for money. The guy is a hack and a scandal waiting to happen.
Just like Tom Cruise, who once was a popular star (until people figured out he was a nutcake), Hiriam at one time was a "rising star", and once head of B/L caucus. But just like Tom Cruise, his peers final saw his true priorities, mainly himself, and he lost leadership posts and popularity in his district. Your manic responses to my posts just prove my point that Hiriam is nothing more than a bully. Despite what you say, their are plenty of working class latinos in his district like me who dislike him and think he's bad for the neighborhood, and we are entitled to hold that opinion. We all know why Hiriam is running for state senate, it's a little thing called term limits!
Perhaps you voted for Bloomberg as well... a man certainly well suited (NOT) to represent the needs of your council district... he stopped being the Chairman of the Black Latino and Asian Caucus because he had put in his time and new people deserved a chance to serve. And to become a State senator, Monserrate is going to be taking a pay cut... by the way, where is your boy Sabini on the pay raise for State Senator issue??? Is he voting for the raise or is he joining Eliot Spitzer to help try to stop the raise??
Lost his popularity in the district?? Didn't he just win re-election against Helen Marshall and County backed Marlene Tapper with an over 40% margin of victory???
Why is it so that when a minority candidate steps out in front of issues related to giving regular people a decent break and helping them boost the quality of their lives the forces of hell come out to strike them down? If you look up at a prior posting, some but not all of Monserrate's achievments on behalf of his consituents were listed... you all haven't found a way to attack those yet but given time, you seem to be able to avoid any truth. All this guy has done has served his country (the Marines) served the people of Queens as a cop and as a Councilman, fought the good fight on behalf of those who no one listens to and need to be heard and all you have for him is contempt and abuse. Stay home and don't vote... we need more of people like him and less of people like you. Oops, this is America so go vote if you want to and choose to make the time. The blog is easy... getting out of bed on election day requires a little more committment.
why don't you stop picking on the post and answer the question about luis rosero harassed by monserate when he ran against him for council yes or no? rosero told everyone at the time he was being harassed by monserate was that a lie or was he harassed? what about it rosero?
Virtually anyone who mounts a serious challenge to County's candidate gets slimed. There is an attempt to steer away from issues and engage in character assassination.
Hooray for Monserrate for being a threat to the Organization and business as usaul in Queens! He
is really making them nervous. Good for him.
Virtually anyone who mounts a serious challenge to County's candidate gets slimed. There is an attempt to steer away from issues and engage in character assassination. They can turn a really good guy like Monserrate into a "thug."
Hooray for Monserrate for being a threat to the Organization and business as usaul in Queens! He
is really making them sweat. Good for him.
Anon 11AM... is Rosero the guy who's staffer threatened to kill Monserrate with a gun??? Or is Rosero an ally of Monserrate in this race and was supported by Monserrate in his own race a few years ago??? Probably the latter since my understanding is that the charming fellow who threatened to kill the Councilman worked for someone named Jimenez and not Rosero. In any event, all this is old news... any comments on the list of items where Hiram Monserrate helped the people either with legislation or stepping in front of the powers that be to prevent regular working class people from getting steamrollered by government in favor of wealthy developers and in many other instances? His involvement on behalf of the immigrant community might be an example of this too. You're okay with immigrants having rights, no?
Monseratte has been nothing more than a marginal Council Member, he has passed less than a dozen bills even though he has been chair of two committees. He has never passed a bill out of Public Safety or Health (his two top priorities) and has been MIA for crucial votes on numerous committees. He would do the same in Albany and would isolate himself from enough people that he would get no legislation passed.
And, yes, the rat is a thug. His tactics are to bully his way through any situation. I seem to remember something about a run in with the law in a few years ago. Maybe his staff on here can elaborate?
you know what i'm talkin about and its not jimenez! in 2000 monserate ran against rosero for an open council seat and rosero told everyone monserate threatened and harassed him and his family. So rosero, answer the question is it true or did you lie? monserates been doin this crap for years and rosero is the proof.
you know what i'm talkin about and its not jimenez! in 2001 monserate ran against rosero for an open council seat and rosero told everyone monserate threatened and harassed him and his family. So rosero, answer the question is it true or did you lie? monserates been doin this crap for years and rosero is the proof.
They won't answer you about Rosero because they know it's true. Luis was harassed by Hiriam relentlessly in 2001. Luis spoke about the harassment publicly and in detail at a candidate's night forum at PS 69 that year.