State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s own heavily Democratic district disagrees with the powerful pol on charter schools and giving judges discretion when it comes to bail, a new Post poll shows.
Most voters in Heastie’s Bronx district support charter schools, even as their top local lawmaker moves to block a proposal to lift the cap on the publicly funded, privately run schools in New York City.
Heastie also is opposed to fellow Dem Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to give judges more leeway to set bail to curb crime — while many of his constituents disagree.
“It’s so obvious that people not only in Carl’s district, but in the whole city of New York, they are just against some of Carl’s policies,” state Assemblyman Alec Brook-Krasny (R-Coney Island), a former Democrat, told The Post on Tuesday.
“But again, he cares about the progressives” because he hopes to avoid a political challenge from the left, the pol said.
Charter-school expansion is opposed by the city’s powerful teacher’s union, which has donated $146,000 to Heastie and another $1.3 million to his caucus’ campaign committee since 2015.
Yet according to the McLaughlin & Associates poll commissioned by The Post in Heastie’s northern Bronx district, 62% of the 400 likely voters surveyed last week said they support charters, and 68% want to increase their numbers.
Only 16% were even aware that Heastie was blocking legislation to expand charters statewide.
Charter schools have proliferated in the South Bronx and northern Manhattan, but they are comparatively sparse in Heastie’s 83rd state Assembly district.
A total of just four charters are located in the sections of Williamsbridge, Eastchester and Wakefield, according to a map from New York Charter Schools Association.
Yet support for New York City public schools was much lower among residents of Heastie’s district — only 46% of those surveyed had a positive opinion of them.
Heastie, asked by The Post earlier this month about his opposition to Gov. Hochul’s proposed expansion, replied, “There’s minimal support overall in the Assembly for charters, but it’s all part of negotiation.”
Pressed on where there was any shot at a compromise with the Democratic governor in budget talks regarding charters, Heastie replied, “To be continued, I guess is the answer.”
Heastie and many other pols in the state legislature are also out of sync with the executive chamber when it comes to strengthening the state’s lenient bail-reform law, which began eliminating cash bail in 2019 for defendants accused of all but the most serious crimes.
A surge in serious crime prompted Hochul to propose giving judges more leeway to set bail under the law — a move opposed by Heastie, who has said he believes the controversial statute isn’t tied to the increase of crime.
Many of his constituents disagree; poll respondents said crime is the top issue in their community, and 64% approve of requiring anyone committing a crime with a gun to be held without bail.
“Crime concerns are real,” state Assemblyman Ed Ra (R-Garden City, LI) told The Post on Tuesday.
“It’s not just a suburban GOP talking point but something New York City residents are very concerned, which is why I’m not surprised it came out first [in the poll]. But how far above things like jobs and housing is somewhat surprising.”
Additionally, 38% of respondents said Albany’s bail law isn’t tough enough, although only 17% of them were aware that Heastie was moving to block Hochul’s proposed changes that would put violent suspects behind bars ahead of their day in court.
“As I’ve always said, ‘You’re not going to incarcerate people into crime dropping,’ ” Heastie insisted earlier this month.
The likely voters who disagreed with the state’s highest-ranking Democratic lawmaker on the two issues are largely Dem loyalists through and through.
About 73% of those polled approve of President Biden, and 69% support Hochul — the architect of the charter school and bail reforms.
Two-thirds of those polled approve of the general performance of both Assembly Democrats and Dem New York City Mayor Eric Adams, but support for Heastie in his own district is murkier.
Only 47% of voters in Williamsbridge, Eastchester and Wakefield approve of the speaker’s performance, and a startling 30% of the voters had never even heard of Heastie — even though he’s represented the district for more than two decades in Albany.
Still, Heastie’s lack of name recognition in his own backyard doesn’t appear to be a hindrance to his political career: 78% of those polled are “behavioral” Democrats, and nearly half of them vote down the party line.
Forty-seven percent of respondents said they would vote to reelect Heastie regardless of who ran against him.
McLaughlin polled 400 voters in Heastie’s northern Bronx district between March 22 through March 26 in English or Spanish over the telephone or through a text-message-prompted online questionnaire.
The survey had a margin of error of +/- 4.9% at a 95% confidence interval, according to pollsters.
“The poll is proof of what Republicans, Conservatives, Independents and many Democrats have been saying for some time,” state Conservative Party Chair Gerard Kassar told The Post.
“Public safety and charter schools changes are universally accepted as an important issue affecting all constituencies in the metropolitan area.
“Even in the speaker’s district, voters want a reversal of cashless bail and more charter schools. He needs to listen to them and all New Yorkers.”
