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Why Hiram Can WinNow that former Councilwoman Helen Sears has ended her weekend as a Republican, the Special Election to replace former State Senator Hiram Monserrate is down to 2 candidates. Assemblyman Jose Peralta has the Democratic & Working Families lines while Hiram is the candidate of the Yes We Can party. Most observers think the support of Peralta by the Democratic organization, various unions plus Hiram's bad deeds make Peralta the favorite. But I wouldn't be so sure. Special Elections are low turnout affairs and they usually come down to which candidate has the best "pulling"operation. And we have visual proof that Hiram has a reall skill at this. Nobody does a better job of dragging voters out of their homes!
 As I've previously noted, except in the technical sense Monserrate has nevwer won an election for State Senate, because, except in the technical sense, there was never even an election. As I’ve also noted before, Monserrate, despite his open flirtations with Joe Bruno (whose trial Adams also attended) and Dean Skelos, and the cries of bloggers who warned about it, was nominated by the Democrats after both the Queens Democratic Organization and the Working Families Party took the incumbent, John Sabini and cut him with the political equivalent of a piece of broken glass (David Paterson then performed the political equivalent of driving Sabini to the hospital, finishing the job on Sabini by giving him a new one).There was no primary. Nor was there ever a general election. When I say there was never a general election, I am not merely saying that the November election was a mere farce where the Republicans nominated a placeholder who did no campaigning. The Republican did not nominate anyone, either living or dead. Why should they have done so? With an assist from the Governor, the Queens Democratic Organization and the WFP, the Democrats had already nominated the candidate the Republicans wanted. In November, 2008, the voters of the 13th Senatorial District had four choices. They could vote for Hiram Monserrate on the Democratic line. Or they could vote for Hiram Monserrate on the Working Families line. Or they could have written in a name of their own choice. Or they could have forgone entirely the chance to vote for their State Senator. 40,404 voters chose Monserrate the Democrat. 1,444 chose Monserrate the “progressive.” Five voters wrote in other names (two for John Sabini; two for Peter Koo, who was the Republican candidate in an adjoining district; and one for someone named Robert M. Anderson), and 21,382 voted for no one at all. Please note that high as the last number was, it was of no legal significance. In fact, if instead, Monserrate had gotten only 21,382 on the Democratic line, and 40,404 voters had skipped the race entirely, Monserrate would still have been certified as the victor. Expelling Monserrate did not take away from the voters of the 13th SD their sacred right to a State Senator of their own choice; it restored to those voters that right.  Yoda was making a funny, dudes! Re-read the last line, then re-watch the infamous video of Monserrate dragging his girlfriend out of the building, then re-read the last line again. Get it??? :-) Manny Burgos, I'll vote for monseratte because Jose Peralat who is endorse by Quinn also has a slush fund with fictitious charity group. Quinn is morally bankrupt and anyone who is endorsed my her is just as rotten. Queens Assemblyman Jose Peralta landed more than $500,000 in taxpayer money for a nonprofit that never filed federal tax records, has no employees and has been inactive for more than two years.Peralta helped organize the Corona-Elmhurst Center for Economic Development after joining the Legislature, and for years it was located in the same building as his campaign office. This year, he and his chief political consultants have continued to lobby state and city lawmakers for additional grants for the dormant group, the Daily News has learned. Until a month ago, the Corona-Elmhurst group maintained an office at 104-01 Roosevelt Ave., in a two-story commercial building, where Peralta rents space for his election committee. As for the Corona-Elmhurst group, Peralta secured its first $125,000 grant in 2004 from the state's Economic Development Corp., for technical assistance for neighborhood businesses. The money was an earmark from the fund for pet projects of individual legislators. Click the link to read the entire thing, which involves Peralta's family members. http://queenscrap.blogspot.com/2009/12/hirams-replacement-is-no-angel-either.html Queens Assemblyman Jose Peralta landed more than $500,000 in taxpayer money for a nonprofit that never filed federal tax records, has no employees and has been inactive for more than two years. Peralta helped organize the Corona-Elmhurst Center for Economic Development after joining the Legislature, and for years it was located in the same building as his campaign office. This year, he and his chief political consultants have continued to lobby state and city lawmakers for additional grants for the dormant group, the Daily News has learned. Until a month ago, the Corona-Elmhurst group maintained an office at 104-01 Roosevelt Ave., in a two-story commercial building, where Peralta rents space for his election committee. As for the Corona-Elmhurst group, Peralta secured its first $125,000 grant in 2004 from the state's Economic Development Corp., for technical assistance for neighborhood businesses. The money was an earmark from the fund for pet projects of individual legislators. Click the link to read the entire thing, which involves Peralta's family members. My bad! Manny Burgos, Interesting you should mention Quinn slush fund scandals, because it is Hiram, not Peralta, who has benefitted from the Quiin slush fund: http://www.r8ny.com/blog/gatemouth/los_gusanos.html
This comes from someone that knows both candidates well and has actually worked in campaigns for both candidates (and who now has both candidates upset at him for sitting out this election). I really think that Hiram has a chance to win, which is extremely scary. Hiram has been in public office longer than Peralta (2001 v. 2003), has MUCH HIGHER visibility and name recognition within the district (go to 103rd and Roosevelt and ask. Almost everyone knows who Monserrate is, much fewer will know who Peralta is. This was true pre-face slashing), has beaten the Queens Dems before (in his first election, Hiram was heavily opposed by the party), and has convinced his hard-core followers that he's the victim of a racist, political plot to unfairly remove him from office. I'm getting the emails pretty constantly from Monserrate lackeys on different events he's having around the district. These people are motivated. They've done it before and they feel they can do it again. I would go into the details and psyche of the Monserrate followers, but am afraid that doing so would be too much in outing who I am, as I have shared those thoughts with people active in the campaign. What I will say is that unfortunately for NYS (fortunately for him), since his political beginning Hiram has tapped into a psychological need for him and his followers to be branded as the "victims" going against the big, bad establishment. Hiram and the LOA (lol) first found this strategy worked when fighting against the NYPD and later used it to get him elected to the Council in 2001. I'm afraid that today, Hiram and Co. can still tap into that reservoir of "victimhood", fueled by this new perception of "persecution" by the system, to get enough supporters to bring him over the edge. As far as Peralta, I've always gotten along better with him than Hiram, mainly because he's just a nicer guy. Unfortunately, he is someone that has basically been groomed for his current position by Manton/Crowley and has still not had his first real political fight for survival. When you have the Queens Dems always supporting you and don't have real opponents in your races, it makes you soft when that challenge does appear. Other than that (and the obvious ethical issues outlined above, but which in my experience with electeds is actually fairly standard), I can't really complain about anything else in regards to Peralta. He's a good, generic, vanilla bland politician. However, when you're facing someone that has made a career of fighting the establishment and who is able to motivate people within the district, even after committing a heinous act, and who has beaten your machine in the past within the district, then you gotta step up your game. My fear is that even if Peralta can step up his political game, Hiram's is still stronger and sharper. Post new comment |
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Hiram will win because the voters of that Senate District know him and elected him in the first place.
It's boundries are the political equivalent of an insane asylum.