Hiram Monserrate has been offered an olive branch. The New York State Senate's decision to form an Investigative Commission means only one thing: time. Time to forget.

The Senate math indicates that if the case were put to vote now, despite not being held legally responsible, Senator Monserrate would lose his seat.

Republicans would like to inflict a loss upon the Democrats, after having lost the draw for the Senate President. It must still hurt to know that, after initially siding with the Republicans, Senator Monserrate abandoned them in the middle of the fight to control the Senate. They only need two Democratic state senators to vote him out, and more than two have asked for his resignation.

When Senator Monserrate goes before Judge William Erlbaum on December 4 to receive his sentence for a misdemeanor – assault against his girlfriend for making her leave the building against her will – it is possible that it will no longer be the most important topic in the State Senate, and public opinion may have forgotten about the case. Today's public indignation could be tomorrow's indifference.

This is clear in the mercenary sense. But, from now until December 4, nothing guarantees that the matter will be forgotten. The case has had a lot of press to be forgotten so easily. And Latinos have a lot of eyes on us waiting for a big mistake like this.

Senator Monserrate could also have handled the situation better, instead of fencing himself in with his declaration that he would not resign, he should have come out with a "mea culpa" as an act of good faith. Announcing that he plans to marry his girlfriend on his parents' wedding anniversary is not enough.

All of this, evidently, affects the Latino community because Senator Monserrate has been a concerned voice for our community in terms of consumer protection, particularly the foreclosure issues, concerns for senior citizens, in health and education.

The right thing to do is to admit what happened and seek professional help so that this kind of behavior does not repeat itself.

It is not a moment for us to pontificate, but if irrational jealousy was the motive of this occurrence, all of us, men and women, need to avoid this type of situation. We have to take into account the death of Monica Lozada, caused by jealousy – one of the manifestations of domestic violence.

The public may have forgotten that in 2005 in Queens, the Dr. César Ascarrunz, originally from Bolivia, killed Monica Lozada and later abandoned her daughter, Valery, barefoot and at the mercy of the night, on a desolate street. I recall what Luis R. Martos, a professor in Psychiatry at New York University, told me at that time: attacks out of jealousy are a frequent motive of homicide within marriage, and the reason behind 20 percent of all violent acts in the United States.

We have been warned.