Groups Call On Commission To Investigate Monserrate Fund

October

NYPIRG, Citizens Union, Common Cause and League of Women Voters today sent a letter to the Legislative Ethics Commission calling on it to investigate whether Sen. Hiram Monserrate, D-Queens, has illegally set up a legal defense fund as he faces sentencing in December for misdemeanor assault involving his girlfriend.

The groups said Monserrate should disclosure of the names of the contributors and amounts of the donations and ban the creation of legal defense funds.

Sen. Neil Breslin, D-Albany, said he plans to put in legislation to do just that.

The commission said earlier this week it has not provided an opinion on Monserrate’s defense fund.

But then again, the commission has never taken action publicly against any lawmaker in its two decades in existence.

Here’s the groups’ letter.

1 on Scribd” href=”http://www.scribd.com/doc/21824559/Legal-Defense-Fund-Complaint-Letter-FINAL-1”>Legal Defense Fund Complaint Letter FINAL¹

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 29th, 2009 at 5:21 pm by Joseph Spector.
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