Attorneys spar over Monserrate's ouster

The State Senate violated the constitutional rights of a convicted lawmaker and voters by removing him from office, his lawyers argued yesterday, but an attorney for the state insisted the politician was unfit for office.

The expulsion of Queens Democrat Hiram Monserrate "has everything to do with conduct - conduct that involved domestic violence," Henry Greenberg, counsel to the attorney general, said at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan. "None of it involves political speech."

Monserrate - convicted of a misdemeanor for dragging his girlfriend through his apartment lobby - sued the Senate to get his seat back and block a special election next month after it voted last week to remove him.

At a nonjury trial last fall, a judge acquitted Monserrate of felony assault. A felony conviction would have automatically cost him the Senate seat.

Karla Giraldo had a cut requiring stitches near her eye from a glass Monserrate was holding on Dec. 19, 2008, in his apartment.

Both said afterward the cut was an accident.

After hearing arguments for nearly two hours yesterday, U.S. District Judge William Pauley said he would issue a written ruling today on a request to temporarily block the expulsion.

Outside court, where three busloads of supporters turned out, Monserrate said he was confident the case would go his way. "Ultimately, I believe justice will prevail," he said.

Backed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Monserrate's attorneys argued that he was denied due process because the Senate has no concrete rules and standards for how to deal with bad behavior. They also said the expulsion denied his constituents their right to representation.

State attorneys countered that the process was fair.