Senate investigating panel hires attorney
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- October
- 22
A Senate committee investigating the conduct of Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, announced today that it has retained Daniel Alonso (pictured here), a partner in the Kaye Scholer LLP law firm, to serve as special counsel.
“Dan’s vast experience as a state and federal prosecutor makes him the ideal candidate to assist this committee in conducting a full and fair investigation. We are fortunate to have his wealth of knowledge to assist us in achieving a just and comprehensive proceeding,” Senate Committee Chairman Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, said in a statement.
The Special Committtee of Inquiry was formed after Monserrate was convicted last week of a misdemeanor assault charge in a domestic-violence case. It involves a case in which Monserrate said he was bringing a glass of water to his girlfriend, tripped and broke the glass, and accidentally slashed her face. She needed dozens of stitches. He was convicted of the assault charge for violently handling his girlfriend as he took her out of the building.
Had Monserrate been convicted on either of two felony counts he was charged with, he would have automatically lost his seat. Because of the misdemeanor, a nine-member bipartisan panel is conducting a probe. Monserrate has said he will cooperate with the committee.
Alonso specializes in internal investigations, white-collar and general civil litigation, and SEC enforcement. He is a member of the state Commission on Public Integrity. Alsonso is a former assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
“I look forward to working with the bipartisan committee to examine the facts and law in a thorough and fair manner,” Alonso said.
This entry was posted
on Thursday, October 22nd, 2009 at 10:57 am by Cara Matthews.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
