The Select Committee charged with investigating State Senator Hiram Monserrate’s misconduct during and after the incident in which he slashed his girlfriend’s face with a broken water bottle has just lost its legal council, the Daily News reports. Danny Alonso, who had been serving in that role, has been stolen away by Manhattan District Attorney–elect Cyrus Vance Jr., who will appoint him as chief A.D.A. when he takes office on the first of the year. But that isn’t stopping the group from proceeding with its report on Monserrate. According to the Times, the document rules that the senator behaved “recklessly and callously” after his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, was hurt, that he was far too concerned with public opinion to take proper care of her, and that he did not take full responsibility. Though a judge acquitted Monserrate of all felony charges and only convicted him of misdemeanor assault, the committee could rule for further censure. According to reporter Nicholas Confessore, the draft report suggests that “the committee is laying the groundwork for a stiff punishment for Mr. Monserrate, possibly even his expulsion from the Senate.”
Monserrate Committee Loses Counsel To Vance [NYDN]
State Senators Criticize Hiram Monserrate [NYT]
