New Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie offers few clues on his plans, priorities

On Board Online • February 9, 2015

by Cathy Woodruff
Senior Writer

The swift election of Carl E. Heastie, a soft-spoken Bronx Democrat, as speaker of the state Assembly last week prompted scrutiny of his legislative record and public comments for signs of his likely policy priorities.

The clues were scarce.

Heastie, who on Feb. 3 became the first African-American elected to the top Assembly post, embraced his reputation as a tight-lipped guy in his first address to the Assembly in his new role. "I've been known as a man of few words, so I'll promise to keep my remarks brief," he said.

In that regard, the 47-year-old Heastie (pronounced like "hasty") follows in the footsteps of his predecessor, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat known for his taciturn demeanor. Silver stepped down after 21 years as speaker in the wake of his Jan. 22 arrest on federal corruption charges, though he continues to serve as an Assembly member representing a district on the Lower East Side.

Before being elected to the Assembly in 2000, Heastie was a budget analyst in the New York City Comptroller's Office.

Heastie takes on the speaker's job as the Legislature begins its evaluation of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's $150 billion state budget proposal. The Assembly Speaker traditionally serves as chief negotiator for the house in talks with the governor and Senate majority leader, currently Republican Dean Skelos of Long Island, and Silver was regarded as a master of the process.

In his first remarks as speaker, Heastie pledged to emphasize an agenda that would include legislative ethics reform, education, access to health care, raising the minimum wage and jobs. But the nuances of his positions on many of those individual issues, including education, are not widely known.

When asked specifically about education during a news conference following his election, Heastie kept his answer brief.

"That's probably going to be one of the tougher areas in the discussion of the budget," he said. "But again, I don't want to get ahead of myself."

Compared to prior years and prior governors, Gov. Cuomo has expressed little interest in negotiating on education. He has linked a litany of education policy changes to school aid in his 2015-16 proposed budget.

After Heastie's election, Cuomo issued a statement saying he looks forward to working with the new speaker "to enact an aggressive agenda that ensures economic opportunity for all, improves and reforms our education system, ensures justice in perception and in reality, and restores trust in our government."

Though he has been a member of the Assembly's Education Committee, Heastie has sponsored only a handful of bills referred to that committee and is not known to weigh in with any frequency during committee discussions.

He was listed as a co-prime sponsor of recent education bills, including measures to encourage financial literacy, provide tutors, screen students for eating disorders, replace school lighting fixtures, and encourage other health and safety changes.

He signed on in support of a 2013-14 bill that would have created an education investment tax credit, and he was listed as a co-sponsor or a supporter (technically, a "multi-sponsor") of various other bills related to full-day kindergarten, physical education classes, availability of medication for students, study of racial segregation, dyslexia screening, career education and other issues.

Heastie chaired the Labor Committee and last year co-sponsored a bill that would have required payment of prevailing wage rates to workers who provide maintenance or construction in charter school buildings. His Assembly biography notes passage of the Wage Theft Prevention Act, a law that requires employers to notify workers of their pay rate and other information, as a signature achievement.

In a statement released immediately after Heastie's election as speaker, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, a former Democratic Assemblyman, offered warm words about the new speaker and said he looks forward to working with him.

"Our state is facing great opportunities and challenges in the year ahead, and New Yorkers need strong leaders," DiNapoli said. "I served with Carl Heastie and know that he accepts his new role with humility and understands the need to get back to work. My office is prepared to help him through this transition and to make government more accountable and transparent."

The events that carried Heastie to the speakership unfolded quickly - and largely behind the scenes - after U.S. Attorney Preet Bahrara announced charges against Silver on Jan. 22, the day after Cuomo delivered his State of the State message and 2015-16 budget proposal.

Silver initially said he did not plan to step down, and he sought to name a group of five senior members to help shoulder leadership responsibility while he attended to his legal defense. But as word of that plan emerged over the following weekend and as members heard from constituents in their home districts, the idea disintegrated.

After two days of closed-door meetings, Assembly Democrats announced that Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, from Monroe County, would take office as interim speaker on Feb. 3 and the election of a new speaker would take place on Feb. 10.

Announced contenders for the job included Education Committee Chairwoman Cathy Nolan of Queens, Codes Committee Chairman Joseph Lentol of Brooklyn, Morelle and Keith Wright of Harlem. But as Heastie's New York City allies consolidated his support, it became clear that none of the other candidates would be able to muster sufficient votes to win and the vote was moved up.

Nolan was the only candidate who did not officially drop out of the race. After Heastie won the Democratic conference vote, Nolan, who had campaigned for greater openness and more leadership by women, told reporters: "I'm not ashamed to say I lost. I did not drop out and I feel very comfortable with the decision I made. There's no shame in saying that you don't have enough votes."

While budget negotiations can be complicated, Heastie should be comfortable dealing with the numbers. He holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics and statistics from the State University at Stony Brook.