Yesterday ousted State Senator Hiram Monserrate held a press conference to formally announce his bid to get his old job back in a special election Tuesday. After some laughable rhetoric about how voters should send him to Albany to keep crime down in their community, the girlfriend beater addressed allegations that he jacked his campaign logo from the Obama campaign. "This logo is similar to the slogan that they used, but slightly different, because the logo actually is a 'Q,' which stands for the great borough of Queens,"Monserrate told reporters. "If folks had really analyzed it, they would have seen it." It's almost as convincing as Vanilla Ice's argument that he didn't rip off "Under Pressure"—but will voters buy it?
Many same-sex marriage advocates and sane people hope not, and they're joining the Queens Democratic establishment in backing Assemblyman Jose Peralta, who yesterday called Monserrate "the Bernie Madoff of politics. The ex-senator has really promised a lot and has done more harm than good." Because the Democrats have turned their backs on him, Monserrate was reduced to starting a new party—the Yes We Can party—in order to get on the ballot for the special election. (Any resemblance to Obama's campaign slogan is purely coincidental.)
Anti-gay fliers were recently distributed in Monserrate's former Queens district claiming that Peralta is a pawn of "mega-rich gay fanatics" and is a "leading spokesperson for the gay community's [sic] in N.Y.C." At yesterday's press conference, Monserrate, who voted against same-sex marriage when it was before the senate in December, shrugged off the fliers and denied any involvement in their production: "People are out there doing their thing. You know, I can't speak to that."
"With each hate-mongering, fear-rattling, equality-stunting volley, Hiram Monserrate digs another foot down into his political grave," said Valerie Berlin, a spokeswoman for the gay advocacy group Fight Back New York. And speaking of people doing their thing, actor Cynthia Nixon just appeared in a video ad for the Fight Back, urging voters to reject Monserrate when they go to the polls Tuesday. Oh, and then there's Peralta's ad, which the Observer says is already running on NY1 and uses that infamous surveillance footage of Monserrate dragging his girlfriend out of an apartment building. Watch both below!:
