Carl Heastie
120th Speaker of the New York State Assembly
Assumed office
February 3, 2015
GovernorAndrew Cuomo
Kathy Hochul
Preceded bySheldon Silver
Chair of the Bronx County Democratic Party
In office
November 25, 2008 – February 3, 2015
Preceded byJose Rivera
Succeeded byMarcos Crespo
Member of the New York State Assembly
from the 83rd district
Assumed office
January 1, 2001
Preceded bySamuel Bea
Personal details
Born (1967-09-25) September 25, 1967
New York City, New York, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Children1
EducationStony Brook University (BS)
Baruch College (MBA)
WebsiteAssembly website

Carl Edward Heastie (/ˈheɪsti/; born September 25, 1967) is an American politician from New York. Heastie has served in the New York State Assembly since January 2001, and was elected Speaker of the New York State Assembly on February 3, 2015.

Early life and education

Born in New York City, Heastie earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from Stony Brook University in Suffolk County, New York, and a M.B.A. in Finance from Baruch College in New York City.[1]

Career

Before his election to the Assembly, Heastie worked as a budget analyst for the New York City Comptroller.[1] Heastie has also worked as an adjunct professor at Monroe College.[1]

New York State Assembly

Heastie was first elected to the New York State Assembly in 2000 and represents the 83rd District, which covers the Williamsbridge, Wakefield, Edenwald, Eastchester, and Baychester sections of the Northeast Bronx.

Since joining the Assembly, Heastie became one of the lead negotiators for the construction of a new K-8 school in his district. He has also sponsored legislation to require mandatory reporting of alleged child abuse of students in New York City. He became Chair of the Assembly Labor Committee in 2013.

Heastie became Chair of the Bronx Democratic Party in 2008, a post that he relinquished after becoming Assembly Speaker in 2015.[2][3]

Speaker of New York State Assembly

In January 2015, Heastie's Assembly colleagues considered him a frontrunner to be elected Speaker, following the arrest of Sheldon Silver on federal corruption charges led by U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.[4][5] On February 2, Assembly Democrats voted unanimously for Heastie to become the new Speaker. The full Assembly elected him Speaker of the Assembly the next day.[6][7]

Heastie is the first African-American to serve the position. One of his first New York City appearances after becoming speaker was at Al Sharpton's rally in Harlem, where he told the crowd, "This is a tremendous opportunity for our community, for the first time, to have one of us sit at the table," and added "All of you are going to be sitting at that table with me for the first time".[8][9]

In April 2015, it was reported that, contrary to a judge's instructions, Heastie had neglected to sell a home that his mother, Helene Heastie, according to prosecutors bought with money embezzled from a nonprofit charity. After his mother's death, Heastie ceased attempts to sell the home, having been advised by his lawyer that he was no longer obligated to do so, and later sold it for a profit of $200,000.[10] An independent forfeiture law expert consulted by the New York Times agreed, explaining that the judge's order was "probably legally unenforceable without a formal forfeiture agreement," which prosecutors had not obtained. In addition, prosecutors did not follow the judge's instructions to file a civil judgement against Heastie's mother. When asked in 2015 why no civil judgement was sought, the District Attorney's office was unable to explain why this routine filing had not occurred. In 2015, Heastie's office issued a statement about the incident, saying that "the lessons imparted to the speaker [Heastie]... included owning up to mistakes and taking responsibility."[10][11]

Personal life

Heastie has a daughter from a previous marriage.[6]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lovett, Ken; Blain, Glenn (January 31, 2015). "Bronx Assemblyman Carl Heastie, set to become the next speaker, is similar to Sheldon Silver". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 16, 2018.
  2. ↑ Spector, Joseph; Campbell, Jon (February 2, 2015). "Bronx Democrat to be N.Y. speaker as Silver resigns". USA Today. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  3. ↑ Klepper, David (February 3, 2015). "Heastie becomes first African-American Assembly speaker". Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  4. ↑ Fink, Zack (January 30, 2015). "Upstate Assemblyman Drops Out of Race to Replace Silver". NY1 News. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ Gonzalez, Juan (January 30, 2015). "Carl Heastie on the verge of capturing Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's post". New York Daily News. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  6. 1 2 Kaplan, Thomas (February 3, 2015). "New Speaker in Albany: A Skilled Operator, Embracing Change". New York Times. Retrieved February 14, 2015.
  7. ↑ Randolph, Eleanor (February 2, 2015). "Meet Carl Heastie, the Flawed Politician Who Might Lead the N.Y. Assembly". New York Times. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
  8. ↑ Chayes, Matthew (February 5, 2015). "At meeting with Al Sharpton, new Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says a person of color will now 'sit at the table'". Newsday. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie Joins Sharpton's Saturday Morning NAN Rally". CBS. February 7, 2015. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  10. 1 2 Buettner, Russ (April 20, 2015). "Carl Heastie, New York Assembly Speaker, Benefited From Mother's Embezzling". New York Times.
  11. ↑ Smith, Greg (February 3, 2015). "Heastie addresses mom's felony embezzling conviction: 'a sad chapter'". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 9, 2015.
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