Hiram Monserratre’s former chief of staff Julissa Ferraras wants him to caucus with the Democrats.
“I hope that the senator can join the Democratic caucus,” Ferraras told me. She was standing outside City Hall a few minutes ago.
Ferreras, a Democrat who was elected to the City Council seat Monserrate vacated when he was elected to the Senate, said, “In my communications with him, he said he really wants to make sure there’s reform” in Albany.
She went on to say that “I think it’s important” for Monserrate to rejoin the Democratic caucus. “Our district needs him there.”
UPDATE: Ferreras emailed this statement to reporters just now expressing disappointment with her old boss.
“For more than a decade, Senator Hiram Monserrate and I worked together on the important issues facing our community. Whether the cause was building affordable housing, increasing access to health care, or building the best school system for our kids, we have generally agreed on the best way to proceed with our legislative work to represent the people in our districts. The Hiram Monserrate I have worked with in the past has been a champion of the very working families who stand to lose most under Republican leadership in Albany.”
“That is why today I am deeply disappointed that he voted to align with the Republican Party in the State Senate. The working families of Queens need a functioning Democratic majority in the State Senate to fight for our communities.”
