ALBANY — The State Senate expelled Sen. Hiram Monserrate on Tuesday following his

misdemeanor assault conviction in a domestic-violence case, again tossing control of the

62-member chamber into chaos amid a state fiscal crisis.

The Queens Democrat vowed an immediate appeal to overturn the vote.

Gov. David A. Paterson, meanwhile, called a March 16 special election to fill the seat.

Monserrate, in a 16-minute appeal on the Senate floor, called it the "height of arrogance"

for lawmakers "to think they have more power than voters." He said that their act was illegal

and that his rights to due process were violated because he is still appealing his criminal

conviction.

"It's clear here that the rights of the voters of the 13th Senatorial District were

trampled upon," Monserrate told reporters after the vote.

But the expulsion, months in the making, was overwhelming: 53-8. A second resolution,

pushing off his expulsion until the end of June — which, not coincidentally, is the scheduled

end of the 2010 legislative session — was not taken up once the first vote immediately tossed

Monserrate out.

Buffalo-area Republicans, as a bloc, voted for the expulsion, as did Sen. William T.

Stachowski, a Lake View Democrat.

Sen. Antoine M. Thompson, D-Buffalo, said he voted no because Monserrate is still appealing his domestic-violence conviction.

"They kicked him out before his day in court," Thompson said.

"I think it was an act of aggression," Sen. George D. Maziarz, R-Newfane, said of

Monserrate's criminal act.

Monserrate was convicted of dragging his girlfriend through his apartment lobby but

acquitted of a felony. Conviction on a felony would have automatically cost him his job.

The historic removal of the controversial senator threatens to throw the chamber into

turmoil until the Monserrate seat is filled. It takes 32 votes to pass legislation, and with

Monserrate gone, the chamber now has 31 Democrats and 30 Republicans.

The Senate development means Democrats and Republicans will have to work together — or one

side will have to get renegades to join with them — in order to get enough votes to pass legislation.

Several senators who led the expulsion effort said there was no choice but to remove

Monserrate immediately.

"I think it's a clearer indication of his conduct, and it's more direct and more

understandable and more appropriate," Sen. Neil D. Breslin, an Albany County Democrat, said of

the move to immediately oust Monserrate.

Given the historic nature of the vote — lawmakers have not been ousted since the 1920s, and

in that case a group of Socialist Party legislators were prevented from taking their seats

following an election — there was surprisingly little floor debate. No one in favor of the

expulsion spoke, and only two of Monserrate's colleagues rose from their seats to defend the

Democrat during the 25-minute session. Presiding over the chamber — in case a tie vote needed

to be broken — was Lt. Gov. Richard Ravitch.

Sen. Ruben Diaz, a Bronx Democrat, suggested that an anti-Latino motivation was part of the

ouster. He also said part of the vote was a "time to get even" move by lawmakers paying back

Monserrate for his role in last June's brief coup in which the GOP took back Senate control.

"Go ahead, enjoy your victory," he said on the floor.

Earlier in the day, a defiant Monserrate, who vowed legal action against the ouster,

insisted that he will be a senator for "many, many years."

The lawmaker, who already has hired civil rights lawyers, has said he will not relinquish

his seat — setting up a legal and political showdown. And, lawmakers said, he is already

preparing a run for the seat in November.

The removal of Monserrate, 42, could have sweeping implications for the Legislature's

ability to get much done in the weeks ahead.

A senior Paterson administration official said the governor is expected to today call

for a special election to fill the seat. An election could not be held for at least 30 days.

There had been speculation that given Paterson's chilly relations with Senate Democrats, he

might delay the special election to help Democrats regain control as a way to possibly work

with Republicans on budget and other matters. But one lawmaker suggested that the immediate

expulsion vote was made easier by a promise from Paterson to quickly call a special election.

Monserrate's challenge will include trying to block Paterson's move. "He has the

legal authority to call a special," Monserrate said of the governor, as his colleagues were

debating his fate. "When and where is a separate matter."

Monserrate had few friends among the 32-member Senate Democratic Conference. He joined with

three other Democrats in early 2009 to slow down the Democratic takeover of the Senate after

the party had won back control following seven decades of GOP dominance.

Last June, he briefly joined with another dissident Democrat, Sen. Pedro Espada of the

Bronx, in a coup that put Republicans back in control in June; Monserrate jumped ship back to

the Democrats first and then Espada rejoined after getting the majority leader's title.

A Senate panel of Democrats and Republicans last month said Monserrate's domestic-violence

incident, and his refusal to cooperate with the Senate's internal probe, had brought

disrespect to the chamber. It said it also did not believe his account of the incident

involving his girlfriend.

"It left us in a situation where there were not a lot of options," Stachowski said of the

nature of the domestic-violence incident and his lack of cooperation with the Senate probe.

Monserrate, a former New York City police officer, was cleared of felony charges stemming

from the December 2008 incident — a month before he took his Senate seat — in which he cut his

girlfriend's face with a broken glass during a fiery argument. Workers at a Nassau County

hospital told police the woman described an incident in which Monserrate cut her face in a

jealous rage. The woman and Monserrate, though, later said the slashing was an accident.

Monserrate was convicted of misdemeanor assault for dragging his girlfriend through the

halls of his Queens apartment — images caught on security cameras — as he took her to a

hospital. Investigators said he bypassed at least eight closer hospitals to go to a facility

on Long Island.

In the cleanest of legal circumstances, the governor could not call a special election

until at least 30 days after a Senate seat becomes vacant. At the very least, that means the

seat could be vacant until mid-March. That is at the height of the expected talks over the

2010-11 budget — a plan already splitting the Legislature apart from Paterson because of the

programs Paterson wants to cut to erase a deficit of at least $8.2 billion.