Crooked ex-pol Hiram Monserrate richly deserves up to 27 months in the slammer for a corruption scheme to help him win higher office, the feds say.
In court papers filed ahead of his sentencing next week, prosecutors blasted the fallen Queens Democrat for using his post as a city councilman to steer more than $100,000 in taxpayer money to a nonprofit that used the funds to finance his failed 2006 bid for a state Senate seat.
“In short, he abused the power of one office in a corrupted effort to secure another, and, in the process, he undermined the integrity of a New York state election,” according to the Manhattan federal-court filing.
Prosecutors Brent Wible and Carrie Cohen noted that while “other elected officials have been convicted of crimes involving larger sums of money, Monserrate’s crimes were serious” and “furthered the public’s cynicism and distrust of their elected officials.”
Monserrate eventually won a state Senate seat but got booted after he was found guilty of roughing up his girlfriend in 2008.
He avoided prison for the misdemeanor-assault conviction and hopes to do so again when he’s sentenced on Tuesday for conspiracy and mail fraud.