Disgraced former State Senator and esteemed pizzaiolo Hiram Monserrate pleaded guilty to corruption charges yesterday after being indicted for misusing taxpayer money during his past stint as a councilmember. Monserrate's last publicized fling with the criminal justice system was in 2010, when he was convicted of misdemeanor assault after slashing then-girlfriend Karla Giraldo in the face. This time around, Monserrate's accused of siphoning over $100,000 in City Council "slush" funds in 2006, which he allegedly used to finance a campaign for higher office.
Monserrate convinced Speaker Christine Quinn to sign off on $300,000 in funding for a nonprofit organization called the Latino Initiative for Better Resources and Empowerment (LIBRE) that aimed to help "churches, civil-rights organizations…to council and assist individuals to secure their legal rights." But LIBRE was directing a significant portion of those funds to benefit Monserrate's campaign for State Senate.
In addition to using taxpayer funds to pay the salaries of LIBRE employees who spent the summer working on his campaign, Monserrate used the City Council funds to pay people to hawk petitions to get him on the Democratic primary ballot and orchestrated a voter-registration drive directed towards his party. "This activity was not disclosed to the City of New York," Monserrate told the court yesterday. "At the time, I knew that this conduct was wrong and not legal, and I take full responsibility for my actions." The campaign, like his boxing career, eventually failed.
Monserrate is still on probation for assaulting Giraldo, but since the corruption charges pertain to events that occurred prior, he will not face any further consequences. However he is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 14, and is out free on $500,000 bond. Had he gone to trial he was facing up to 20 years in prison, but with his plea he is likely to only spend between 21 and 27 months behind bars (though the judge in the case has emphasized she is not bound by the guidelines of the plea and could still throw the book at him). In the meantime, he is probably still looking for a job.
