The much anticipated rematch between western Queens heavyweights, City Council Member Hiram Monserrate (D) and Sen. John Sabini (D), for the senator’s Albany seat this fall is generating some rumors, early fundraising and uncertainty over a local 2009 Council race.
Monserrate is the unpredictable and feisty legislator representing the heavily Latino Council district which includes Jackson Heights, Corona, East Elmhurst and Elmhurst. He has had an uneven relationship with the Queens County Democratic Party, but he remains a district leader in the organization. He has not confirmed he is running for the Senate, but he is furiously raising money. He is term-limited out of his Council seat next year.

Sabini is the reserved and formal three-term state senator from the area, representing wider pockets of the same Queens neighborhoods as Monserrate, home to many Latinos, but also to African-Americans, Italians, Irish, South Asians and Asians. He has maintained a long and close relationship with the county party, even serving as chairman for a few months in 1986. He said he is in the race to win.

The one central, complex rumor that would have Sabini cede the seat to Monserrate has sparked speculation as to who might be behind it, but has created few, if any, believers.

The idle chatter has not impacted the fundraising. Monserrate and Sabini have both raised far more than they had by the same period in 2006, when the councilman first challenged Sabini and lost by only 242 votes.

But the rumor—or at least the possibility-- of a loss by Sabini to Monserrate has brought added uncertainty to next year’s race for the neighboring Council district, currently held by Helen Sears (D), who is being forced out by term limits in 2009.

The rumor goes like this: Queens County Democratic leaders would urge Sabini to step aside and let Monserrate take the Senate seat, in exchange for county support for Sabini as a candidate for the Sears’ seat, which he held for 10 years until he was term-limited out in 2001.

But as one skeptical Queens district leader quipped, ”If it was true, you wouldn’t be hearing about it.”

Danny Dromm, a district leader and a candidate for Sears’ seat, said the rumor seemed to be the stuff of cigar-chomping back room dealers.

”That is almost like a conspiracy. You have to get a diverse group of district leaders, like 14 people that would have to agree to that. I don’t know that something like that could actually occur,” Dromm said.

Monserrate said he may have heard the rumor, but did not know its source.

”I don’t know where it came from, and I don’t know who is behind it,” he said. ”You hear rumors all the time in politics.”

Michael Reich, the executive chairman of the Queens Democrats, brushed this speculation aside. He said county support came through a vote by district leaders, not a back room deal, and it would most likely go to the incumbent.

The rumor was first floated two years ago when Monserrate took on Sabini in a rough election battle. Then, the Democratic hopes of gaining the majority seemed somewhat more distant. But with Democratic control now only two seats away, Sabini seemed intent to remain in Albany. If he wins re-election and the Democrats take the majority, he would be in line for chair of the Transportation Committee.

”I intend to stay in the Senate and see my fellow Democrats take the majority so we can pursue a progressive agenda for New York State,” Sabini wrote in a written statement.

Toward the goal of retaining his seat, he has raised $107,090 in the six months ending Jan. 11, far more than in the same period for the 2006 cycle, when he brought in just over a tenth of that.

Monserrate, who has raised $70,054 in the six months ending Jan. 11, raised just $15,250 in the same period two years ago.

In addition to raising money, Monserrate has looked to improve his relationship with the county party over the past two years, appealing to county chair Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-Queens/Bronx). Monserrate was tapped in September to be a delegate for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Crowley’s district.

Two legal issues could complicate the race. The first is the arrest Sept. 27 in Albany of Sabini, who was charged with driving while his ability was impaired. At the time, he refused a Breathalyzer test, and for that his license was revoked for one year. On Feb. 5, he pled guilty to the charge. In a statement, he announced that he would pay a $300 fine and attend educational classes.

”I have learned from this incident and will continue working hard to maintain the confidence and integrity of my role in the State Senate,” Sabini said in his statement. ”I have always been proud and honored to serve my constituents, the State of New York and the great borough of Queens, and on their behalf will continue to support and talk about the issues that matter the most to them.”

The second incident was an unsolved break-in of Monserrate’s East Elmhurst Council office Jan. 19, in which a computer and letter-head were reported missing.

If Sabini were defeated by Monserrate, no one doubts he would be a formidable candidate for his old Council seat. But he would add to at least five other people considering the post.

The district has changed remarkably over the past few years. The opening of a Starbucks and other specialty coffee shops on 37th Avenue is an expression of the influx of Brooklyn transplants, and the plans to raise office buildings on 74th Street speak to the growing economic power of South Asians, locals said.

Dromm, a public school teacher for the past 24 years, is positioning himself as the education candidate.

”What this district wants is a change in education. They want someone who knows the educational system,” he said. He has raised $31,666 so far, city campaign finance records show.

Alfonso Quiroz, a former deputy chief of staff to Sears and currently a spokesman for Con Ed, is another likely candidate. He raised $27,134, according to city records, but has not officially declared himself in the race.

”There are going to be a lot of candidates. It’s going to be a very full race that will boil down to who can bring fresh ideas and bring positive improvements to the neighborhood,” Quiroz said.

Both Quiroz and Dromm are openly gay, yet belong to very different political clubs. Dromm is a founding member of the New Visions Democratic Club, a two-year-old local club based in Jackson Heights. He is also co-founder of the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens.
Quiroz belongs to the John F. Kennedy Democratic Club – the club of Sears, Sabini and Assembly Member Ivan Lafayette (D) – as well as the Stonewall Democratic Club based in Manhattan.

Other candidates eying the council seat are Sears’s son Stuart Sears, a consultant.

”We are forming a committee and moving ahead,” he said.

Immigration attorney Bryan Pu-Folkes said he was also considering a run. He was beaten handily in 2005 by Sears, despite winning The New York Times’ endorsement.

And Community Board 3 Chairman Vasantrai Gandhi was also rumored to be running. When asked, he said, “I would not comment either way.”