Moya wins battle over Monserrate

CONVICTED FELON and disgraced former Queens politician Hiram Monserrate lost his comeback bid Tuesday for a seat on the City Council as voters in his working-class Corona district couldn’t look past his sordid history of corruption and domestic abuse.

Monserrate was beaten by Assemblyman Francisco Moya after a mud-spattered campaign that included the National Organization for Women standing on the steps of City Hall urging voters to reject a man convicted of assaulting an ex-girlfriend.

At a packed victory party in a pizzeria on 104th St. in the heart of Corona on Tuesday night, Moya (photo) supporters cheered and waved signs as he gave a victory speech noting Monserrate’s attacks during the campaign taunting him for living with his parents.

“We endured a tough campaign, one that made it very difficult for my father and my mother. It was a nasty campaign,” Moya told the cheering crowd. “Honesty and integrity won tonight.”

Monserrate was expelled from the state Senate in 2010 over charges he slashed his girlfriend’s face with a glass. He later pleaded guilty to a scheme to siphon taxpayer cash into his campaigns and was sentenced to two years in prison.In competitive primary races across the city: l In East Harlem and the South Bronx, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s chosen successor, aide Diana Ayala, eked out a win over Bronx Assemblyman Robert Rodriguez. l Bronx Assemblyman Mark Gjonaj, who shelled out more money than any Council candidate on record in his quest to take over the Throgs Neck and Pelham Bay seat vacated by Jimmy Vacca, won narrowly over district leader Marjorie Velazquez. l In Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, Justin Brannan won the Democratic primary for the Council seat being vacated by his former boss, Vincent Gentile. The district also saw a competitive Republican primary in which Senate aide John Quaglione beat former congressional staffer Liam McCabe and supermarket manager Bob Capano, which could pave the way for a heated contest in November.