Members of the Assembly majority had a “tough and emotional” conference today, according to Speaker Carl Heastie. Among the topics discussed was the governor’s high-volume phone call to Assemblyman Ron Kim, a member of the conference. 

According to Heastie, emotions among Kim’s fellow Democrats ran high.

“What happened to Ron and Ron’s family is very unsettling and disturbing.  Tough on him. Tough on his family,” Speaker Heastie told Capital Tonight. “That sentiment was pretty much across the board in our conference today. Our people were expressing their support for Ron.”

When asked if the governor should be censured, the speaker didn’t directly answer, but did express his condemnation for Cuomo’s behavior.

“This kind of discourse really has no place in politics, so it’s unfortunate that this happened to Ron and his family,” he said. “I think we have to do a lot of reflection on this. As I said, I think what happened really has no place in politics. We will discuss what’s going to happen going forward with regards to the governor’s powers and things like that. But it is very troubling what happened.”

Heastie also discussed the possibility of rescinding Governor Cuomo’s emergency powers, and whether the administration’s delay in providing the legislature with nursing home data should be investigated.

“At some point, we do need to have a full understanding of what happened,” he said.

Members of the Assembly majority conference want to pass something that would provide more transparency and more accountability, Heastie said. “But we are still trying to sift through the different members’ perspectives on what are the next steps.”