Barron Wouldn't Budge On Decision To Vote Against Silver For Speaker

When incoming Assemblyman Charles Barron was the sole vote against re-electing Sheldon Silver as Assembly Speaker, he said you could have heard a pin drop in the room.

Barron told City & State that he had informed Silver earlier he would not be voting for him as speaker for the 2015 legislative session because Barron was upset with Silver’s decision not fight to keep Brooklyn’s district offices open last year when his wife, Inez Barron, left her seat in the Assembly to join the New York City Council, something Barron spoke about in a recent City & State TV interview. 

“I said, ‘Do you realize you devastated our community?’ There were people who lost jobs,” Barron said. “There were people who in the community that lost a valuable service.”

Barron said the Assembly tried to have a unanimous vote on Tuesday, but he would not budge.

The Brooklyn assemblyman said he was not worried about his future relationship and position in the Assembly after his stand.

“I think it sets a tone with the [Democratic] Party,” he said. “We need a speaker who is going to deliver to our communities, not to individual members for their individual agendas and interests.”

Barron said he did not have a particular member in mind to replace Silver, but that he just didn’t want to vote for Silver.

“I think that that process should open up in the future and other people should be considered,” he said. “But I know one thing, I wasn’t going to give this Speaker my vote because this was unconscionable and unforgivable.”