What You Should Know

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

BY

SENATOR REV. RUBEN DIAZ

(718) 991-3161

Senator Dean Skelos should create a Senate Committee to investigate Senator Mark Grisanti.

There are too many versions of what happened the night of February 10, 2012 in the Seneca Niagara Casino. It is being reported that Senator Mark Grisanti was involved in an altercation that resulted in his wife being injured.

There is another story floating around where many people are claiming that Senator Grisanti threw the first punch and that he hit a woman. If this is so, these are very serious accusations.

I completely disagree with Senator Dean Skelos when he said “I believed Mark Grisanti when he said he was attacked. His wife was attacked. She was knocked down on the floor. They beat her head against the floor. She has a concussion. She has bruises, and I think that was an indication that she was attacked.”

I wish that Senator Skelos and the members of the Senate would have taken Hiram Monserrate and his girl friend Carla at their word and believed them, the same way they are believing Mark Grisanti.

You should know that during the Hiram Monserrate incident there were no witnesses present except Monserrate and his girlfriend Carla. Both of them testified under oath that it was an accident, but Senator Skelos and the members of the Senate did not believe them. They formed their own opinion and decided that they knew better and expelled Senator Monserrate from the Senate.

Today, my dear reader, you should also know that contrary to Monserrate’s case, in Grisanti’s situation there are many other witnesses that testified against Grisanti’s version. Yet Senator Skelos does not believe those witnesses who were not only present, but saw and heard every detail of the incident. Senator Skelos already has decided to believe Senator Grisanti’s account.

You should know, and I want to make it very clear, that I am not saying that Senator Grisanti is wrong or that he is right. I was not there. I am merely stating that justice has to be equal. If the Senate created a special committee to investigate Senator Hiram Monserrate, even when the only two witnesses said that it was an accident, why not create a committee to investigate Senator Mark Grisanti, when there are many witnesses and many different stories?

Justice is supposed to be blind, colorless, racially-less, culturally-less, and conveniently-less.

You should also know that it was the Democratic controlled Senate that created a commission to investigate one of their own (Senator Monserrate), regardless of the consequences to their own majority and party affiliations.

I am Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.