Hiram Monserrate went down in history in 2001. That year, he became the first Latino elected to a public office in Queens. He rose through the ranks from being a Marine, a police officer and a civil rights advocate on the city council to becoming a New York State Senator. The politician worked hard to give citizens more opportunities and make their lives safer. However, he was forced out of office after he assaulted his girlfriend. Later, he was imprisoned after pleading guilty to corruption. Read more at queensyes.com.
Marine and police officer
Hiram Monserrate was born on July 12, 1967. After completing his education, he joined the US Marine Corps Reserve. In 1988, Monserrate began a 12-year service in the police force, protecting Queens residents. He was one of the founders of the Latino Officers Association and the first police officer elected to the Board of Directors of the non-profit civil rights organization New York Civil Liberties Union.
Member of the City Council
As a member of the New York City Council from 2002-2008, Hiram attempted to enhance the standard of life in his community. Being in charge of the Veterans Committee, he initiated the opening of resource centers for veterans in all five boroughs of the city.
Monserrate was co-chairman of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus from 2002 to 2005. Their mission is to protect, empower and defend the interests of New Yorkers of color. Monserrate’s duty was to direct his team’s work to push legislation on a minimum wage for hard-working people and families. Furthermore, he successfully countered attempts to cut funding for programs aimed at preventing child mortality and HIV/AIDS.
The politician also supported the Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. It had to provide a detoxification procedure for firefighters who eliminated the consequences of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.
State Senator
In 2009-2010, Democrat Hiram was elected to represent the 13th district in the New York State Senate. He was appointed chair of the Consumer Protection Committee. He also joined the Cities, Civil Service, Energy and Telecommunications, Insurance, Rules and Mental Health Committees.
As a consumer rights advocate, Monserrate introduced a bill that required retail stores to set fair prices. He also wanted to make meters in New York City free of charge on Sundays. He fought hard for fair labor contracts for workers throughout the city and led a successful campaign to secure the rights of immigrants. The legislator collaborated with the mayor to guarantee privacy protection for residents in city institutions. At the same time, he cared about the safety of citizens by providing them with access to necessary city services, including emergency medical service and fire prevention.
The issue of education has always been a priority for the senator. For example, he allocated funds to schools to reduce overcrowding. Considering the large number of immigrants in NY, Hiram made sure that translation services were available in every city school. The senator granted millions of dollars to expand libraries, open children’s playgrounds and more.
Charge of assault
In December 2008, the politician was arrested and charged with attacking his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo. They were fighting in their apartment and Monserrate struck his partner with a broken glass. The attacker did not admit his guilt.
Giraldo initially reported to doctors and police about the incident but then refused to cooperate with the investigation. She said that the cuts on her face near her left eye were an accident. Nonetheless, the investigation continued because surveillance footage confirmed that the attack really happened.
In March 2009, Hiram was charged with assault and violence. During the trial in September, security footage was used as evidence and made public. The footage shows Giraldo screaming and reaching for the door while Monserrate pulls her out of the house. In October, the politician got a year in jail. But in December, the punishment was commuted to 3 years suspended. He was also sentenced to 250 hours of community service, a $1000 fine and one year of counseling for domestic violence.
Corruption allegations
In October 2010, Monserrate became involved in a new scandal. He was accused of federal corruption. It was revealed that he engaged employees of the non-profit organization the Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment (LIBRE) to perform work for his 2006 state Senate election campaign while he was on the city council.
In 2006 and 2007, Monserrate allocated $300,000 to LIBRE, one-third of which was paid to staff for work related to the political campaign. In December 2012, the senator was sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Further career
Soon after his release from prison, the politician made his first attempt to regain public trust by running for the position of district leader in 2016. After losing the elections two years in a row, he successfully ran for office in 2018. Moreover, he was re-elected in 2020. Despite his previous convictions, Monserrate’s opponents could not underestimate his influence.
Hiram used various methods to enhance his authority and promote his candidacy. For example, he attended an event organized by a group of progressive activists in Queens. All district leaders were present there too. In addition, he visited a center for the elderly located in his electoral district and handed out cookies to dozens of senior guests. The long-lasting popularity of Mr. Monserrate frankly surprised the political elite, considering that the most influential Democrats of the state did not accept him.
Bertha Lewis, the president of the Black Institute and a well-known civil rights activist, defended the politician, saying that corruption is widespread in New York politics. By serving time in prison, Hiram actually demonstrated more accountability than most government officials, stated the woman. At the same time, most politicians and voters did not believe that Monserrate had changed. Judicial documents show that he paid back only $8,400 out of the total compensation of over $79,000 that the court ordered him to repay for embezzling public funds.
In 2021, the city council passed a law prohibiting former delegates from running for municipal posts if they were convicted of corruption in government agencies. But the ambitious Monserrate was not stopped by that. Just a few months after the law took effect, he still ran for a seat on the city council, albeit unsuccessfully.
Monserrate kept trying to get elected again and even won support from the court. In 2021, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Machel Sweeting abolished the law, allowing the infamous politician to run for office again. Sweeting deemed the law unconstitutional because it could only be applied to candidates who committed crimes after 2021, while former convicts were exempted from this law. In 2022, Monserrate ran for election to the New York State Assembly but lost to J. L. Aubry.