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Hiram Monserrate, Infamous For Dragging Girlfriend Through Lobby, Wins Key Endorsement In City Council Race

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Hiram Monserrate, Infamous For Dragging Girlfriend Through Lobby, Wins Key Endorsement In City Council Race

Hiram Monserrate, center, leaves court in 2009 after he was found guilty of misdemeanor assault. — Ellis Kaplan-Pool/Getty Images

David Colon

Published Jun 22, 2017

Modified Jun 22, 2017

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Two-time disgraced elected official Hiram Monserrate—who was expelled from the state Senate in 2010 after being convicted of assaulting his girlfriend, and then pleaded guilty to spending $100,000 of City Council money that was earmarked for a non-profit on a campaign for higher office instead—received an endorsement for his latest City Council run from a group run by the former CEO of ACORN yesterday.

The NY Post reports that Monserrate got an endorsement from the Black Leadership Action Coalition, a political fundraising offshoot of former ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis's Black Institute. Lewis said that Monserrate earned her group's endorsement because of his support for affordable housing in the Willets Point project and because residents of the 21st District (which covers Elmhurst, Coronoa, Jackson Heights, Flushing and College Point) thought he was their best hope.

“The Black Leadership Action Coalition (BLAC) is proud to endorse Hiram Monserrate to replace Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland in the City Council to represent District 21," Bertha Lewis, Founder and President of the Black Leadership Action Coalition told Gothamist in a statement. "Hiram’s work on Willets Point is one of the main reasons we will be supporting him as he is the only one who has stood up for this plan. This is an open race, and we know that residents in this district want to see a real progressive, real ideas, and tangible results to benefit the community.”

Monserrate had entered the race for the 21st District seat even before Queens Council Member Julissa Ferreras-Copeland declined to run for re-election, despite looking like the next Speaker of the City Council. After Ferreras-Copeland dropped out, Queens Assembly Member Francisco Moya also announced he was running for the seat, and rumors are swirling that Jose Peralta, himself facing a 16-year-old challenger for his state Senate seat, might jump into the race as well.

Monserrate has run and lost against both Peralta and Moya in previous elections. Peralta and Monserrate faced off in a 2010 election for Monserrate's old state Senate seat after he was expelled from the chamber, a race Peralta won by almost 40 points. Monserrate would then go on to lose a primary to Moya for Jose Peralta's old Assembly seat later that same year. What a world.