She does her job while giving birth

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Aug 02, 2024 View in browser   By Jason Beeferman Assemblymember Michaelle Solages is seen as a rising star in the Assembly, including by the lower chamber's speaker Carl Heastie | Jason Beeferman/POLITICO THE ASSEMBLY’S MVP: Assemblymember Michaelle Solages was laid out on a hospital bed, in labor at Northwell’s Katz Women’s Hospital about to give birth to her second child.. She also had a cell phone pressed up against her ear. “It was like a constituent issue,” the now mother of three said. “I think a state agency had an issue with contacting a state agency. It was not a hard sell or act. I just had to, like, coordinate it.” To Solages, the decision to handle a constituent matter during the birth of her daughter isn’t remarkable. “I had an epidural, so it wasn't like I'm in active labor,” she said. “It wasn’t a big deal.” Those who know Solages weren’t surprised by the tale of her solving a multiagency bureaucratic inconvenience while giving birth. “That sounds like her,” Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told Playbook in a rare phone interview that underlined his close alliance with the six-time Assemblymember from Long Island. Solages joined the Legislature at 27 years old in 2013 — her first time holding elected office. At 39 and deputy majority leader of the assembly, she serves with the Speaker as he leads the 150-member body. She also chairs the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, a group that’s grown under her leadership and now wields influence on all sorts of policy issues. She already seems an obvious bet for those already thinking about who could one day succeed the 56-year old Heastie. Solages is an introvert at heart. Prior to politics she was a library worker at Hofstra University, where she spent her post-grad days in the periodicals section helping people find newspapers and magazines. “It was very, very difficult, getting over that shyness,” Solages said, recounting her first two years in office. “I'm a librarian, I shush people and I go back to work.” She only got her hands in politics when her brother, Carrié Solages, decided to run for Nassau County Legislator. During his campaign, she did everything — knocked on doors, answered phones, put up signs — and less than a year later she was elected as an assemblymember for about 130,00 Nassau County residents. Now every one of her brother’s constituents lives under double-Solages rule, with Carrié as their county legislator and Michaelle repping them and tens of thousands more up in Albany. “People enjoy it, because it's not like we ever point fingers,” she said. “We never say, ‘Oh, that's a county issue.’ It’s us working together.” She’s become more comfortable with the retail side of politics — shaking hands, meeting people, giving speeches — even if it took a while, she said. She hands out her cell phone number to constituents and tells them to call her at any time, and she welcomes impromptu questions and requests while she’s running personal errands. “This is my community; these are my neighbors,” she tells Playbook. Solages was born in her district with three other siblings. Their parents both immigrated to the U.S. from Haiti, where her father went on to serve in the military and later become an NYPD officer. They told their children they should choose any profession they wanted, as long as they decide to be a doctor, a lawyer or an engineer. Instead they went into politics and public office. Her eldest brother is a judge, her sister moonlighted as a consultant with the Trump White House and Carrié is a county legislator. For her part, Solages is adamant that she’s happy in the assembly and doesn’t want to run for any other office. And she dismisses the idea that she has her sights set on anything else. But people are noticing her. “You have these promising young talented people, and then you watch them grow, and they become all-stars and MVPs,” Heastie said. “I think what we are witnessing now is Michaelle coming into her own.” He also said that he hasn’t given any thought to whom — whether it be Solages or anyone else — could replace him as Speaker. “Jokingly, the King never talks about the next King or Queen, but when I get to that position, it'll be up to the members,” Heastie said. “But I think the world of Michaelle.” — Jason Beeferman   Millions of retiring Americans rely on Social Security benefits, but the program is running at a deficit and Congress has struggled to find a solution for years. Join POLITICO on August 7 to explore what can be done to save the program. What other steps can Congress take to ensure its future? And how could Social Security impact the affordability and housing crisis facing aging New Yorkers? REGISTER HERE.     From the Capitol Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks with Aspen Institute President and CEO Dan Porterfield on Thursday August 1, 2024 at the Aspen Institute in Aspen, Colo. | Marc Piscotty/AP Content Services for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul IN MODERATION: Gov. Kathy Hochul wants Democrats running in key swing House seats to “just be moderate” as the party pushes to retake control of the narrowly divided chamber. That advice — given Thursday evening at the Aspen Institute in Colorado — rankled progressives and reopened the rift between the centrist governor and New York’s political left. Hochul has sought to stake out positions that thread a needle on public safety and crime — including changes to the controversial law ending cash bail — while also significantly increasing spending for schools. Addressing crime and boosting aid for education can be embraced by a broad swath of New Yorkers, she said. “I’m a moderate and I also believe the majority of New Yorkers are moderate,” Hochul told the forum. Progressives in New York politics have prodded Hochul and her fellow middle-of-the-road Democrats to take bolder positions, especially on economic issues such as increasing taxes on rich people. Exciting the broad base of the liberal-leaning voters can turn people out on Election Day, said Jasmine Gripper, the co-director of the Working Families Party in New York. “People are inspired by hope, they’re inspired by change,” Gripper said. “When people lead from that perspective they’ll see an uptick in Democrats turning out to vote.” Hochul herself won a relatively narrow victory two years ago for a full term against Republican Lee Zeldin, who made public safety a central issue in the campaign. Democrats this year want to flip five House seats in New York and Hochul has been playing a pivotal role in providing resources and support from the state party. And recent victories by Democrats in House elections were by candidates like Reps. Pat Ryan and Tom Suozzi, who have positions meant to address border security, but also support abortion rights. Democratic consultant Alyssa Cass endorsed Hochul’s instinct in a Playbook interview Friday. “Having positions that are within the mainstream of the Democratic party, that’s the winning space to be occupying,” she said. — Nick Reisman IN OTHER NEWS... — HOUSEBOAT: The Democratic Party’s failed struggle for control of a single houseboat. (THE CITY) — NJ TRANSIT FIASCO: A NJ Transit train stayed unmoving, underground, with no air conditioning for three hours on Wednesday evening. (Bloomberg) — CRIMINAL PENSION: A former Steuben County village clerk will be the first government worker in the state to forfeit a public pension as part of a criminal conviction. (Times Union) Missed this morning’s New York Playbook? 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