Published: March 11, 2010

Peralta, left, goes into the contest as the favorite by virtue of his endorsement by the Queens Democratic Party and a long list of endorsements by public officials, public- and private-sector labor unions and women’s organizations rallying against Monserrate, right, who was expelled for assaulting his girlfriend. Republicans have also entered a candidate in the race—Robert Beltrani, an Administrative Law Judge in the city Department of Finance. Beltrani, a Jackson Heights resident, also has the Conservative Party line, but is not expected to figure in the election’s outcome because the district is heavily Democratic. Peralta, left, goes into the contest as the favorite by virtue of his endorsement by the Queens Democratic Party and a long list of endorsements by public officials, public- and private-sector labor unions and women’s organizations rallying against Monserrate, right, who was expelled for assaulting his girlfriend. Republicans have also entered a candidate in the race—Robert Beltrani, an Administrative Law Judge in the city Department of Finance. Beltrani, a Jackson Heights resident, also has the Conservative Party line, but is not expected to figure in the election’s outcome because the district is heavily Democratic. Assemblymember Jose Peralta and Hiram Monserrate, recently expelled from the state senate, will battle it out before the voters in the heavily Hispanic 13th state senate district special election next Tuesday.

Peralta goes into the contest as the favorite by virtue of his endorsement by the Queens Democratic Party and a long list of endorsements by public officials, publicand private-sector labor unions and women’s organizations rallying against Monserrate, who was expelled for assaulting his girlfriend.

Republicans have also entered a candidate in the race—Robert Beltrani, an Administrative Law Judge in the city Department of Finance. Beltrani, a Jackson Heights resident, also has the Conservative Party line, but is not expected to figure in the election’s outcome because the district is heavily Democratic.

The 13th senate district includes Corona, which Peralta represents in the Assembly, Jackson Heights, where Monserrate resides and East Elmhurst and Elmhurst.

Although Hispanics are a dominant portion of the district, it is also heavily Indian and Bangladeshi, with some Chinese and Korean immigrants.

Peralta and Monserrate are both well known in the district. Peralta has represented the 38th Assembly District for the past seven years. That district includes Corona, Jackson Heights and East Elmhurst.

Monserrate served in the City Council representing Corona and East Elmhurst for eight years, was elected to the state senate in 2008 and started serving at the beginning of 2009.

The primary focus of Peralta’s and Monserrate’s campaigns has been the district’s Hispanic voters. It’s probable that the two will split the vote from that community.

Peralta has a big edge by virtue of his endorsement by Queens Democrats, and Democratic elected officials, as well as his endorsement by labor groups such as the state AFL/CIO and politically active municipal labor unions. Peralta also has the backing of well financed gay rights groups because he favors gay marriage, while Monserrate voted against it and helped defeat it in the senate. Consequently Monserrate is being targeted by gay groups in this election.

Following Monserrate’s expulsion by the state senate and a failed attempt to block Tuesday’s special election, Monserrate formed a new party, Yes We Can/Si Se Pueda and rallied volunteers to get the 3,000 signatures needed to put him on the ballot for the special election.

The ex-cop and ex-Marine has campaigned as the victim of a conspiracy among senate members to expel him for his part in taking control of the senate and causing a stalemate that blocked any activity by the legislative arm of the state government.

When a compromise solution was finally worked out, Senator Pedro Espada (D–The Bronx), who led the Monserrate group, wound up Majority Leader.

Monserrate has no endorsements for his election and is trying to use his opposition to gay marriage as a wedge to get local church leaders’ support.

Peralta, who voted for gay marriage, is fighting back with well-financed gay rights groups behind him. Peralta also formed a political action committee to push the gay rights agenda in the legislature.

Trying to take full advantage of Monserrate’s conviction for assaulting his girlfriend, Peralta has campaigned for strengthening domestic violence statutes and for the creation of a domestic violence task force.

This aspect of his campaign has won him strong support from women’s groups such as the New York State National Organization for Women (NOW) and prochoice groups such as Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro Choice New York.

A key supporter among women is Councilmember Julissa Ferreras,

D–Corona–East Elmhurst), who succeeded Monserrate in the council with the backing of her boss.

In endorsing Peralta, Ferreras declared pointedly, “Our community has been in turmoil over the last year. The people of Northern Queens deserve stability and continuity of representation.”

Turning to Peralta’s strengths, she stated the assemblymember “has a record of strong, solid service to the community and will ensure that we’ll have responsible, consistent representation in Albany”.

Ferreras’ statements clearly distinguish between the chaotic year the state and the 13th district experienced while Monserrate was in office and the changes that will come if Peralta is elected.

City Comptroller John Liu made similar points in endorsing Peralta. Liu, from Flushing, stated, “It [is] time to get back to the business of serving the people. Now, more than ever, we need individuals in Albany who will bring stability to the legislature and who will put the needs of the people first.”

Other high-level city officials, past and present, have also boarded Peralta’s bandwagon, including Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former city Comptroller William Thompson and Council Speaker Christine Quinn.

Other key endorsers of Peralta are city labor unions, whose members can be counted on to galvanize Peralta’s campaign and get the vote out for him on Tuesday. These include DC 37, the largest municipal union, and Locals 32 BJ and 1199 SEIU.

Democratic City Councilmembers who have endorsed Peralta include Danny Dromm (Jackson Heights), Peter Vallone Jr. (Astoria), Mark Weprin (Hollis), Leroy Comrie (Jamaica) and Karen Koslowitz (Forest Hills).

Dromm, the first openly gay person to represent Jackson Heights, made the point recently that a problem for the candidates is, “No one knows there’s an election happening.” This could favor Peralta over Monserrate because the former senator has far less campaign help than Peralta who, as we’ve pointed out, has many municipal labor unions to do aggressive vote-pulling on election day, as well as the Queens Democratic Party organization.

County Democratic Organization Chair Congressmember Joseph Crowley has been behind Peralta since the latter announced his intention to seek the senate seat the day after Monserrate was convicted on the assault charges.

This support will manifest itself with energetically getting Peralta voters to the polls on Tuesday. The organization’s chief political operative, Michael Reich, is a master at this. He’ll have an army of supporters out in the field on Tuesday.