Nassau Legis. Carrié Solages back in Democratic caucus

Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) Credit: Richard T. Slattery
Nassau County Legis. Carrié Solages (D-Elmont) is back in the Democratic caucus and seated on legislative committees after 18 months on the outs with his party.
Solages had been stripped of his committee assignments and expelled from meetings of Democratic lawmakers in June 2017 after he was arrested on charges related to domestic violence. The case was resolved in September after he admitted to reduced charges of disorderly conduct.
Democratic legislative Chief of Staff William Biamonte submitted committee assignments for this year in a letter to the clerk of the Republican-controlled legislature at the end of December. Solages was named the ranking member of the Minority Affairs Committee and a member of three other legislative panels.
Asked why Minority Leader Kevan Abrahams (D-Freeport) did not sign the letter, Biamonte said, “I regularly communicate directly with the clerk of the legislature on matters of the minority caucus. I was filing on behalf of him and the caucus.”
Biamonte said Solages’ privileges had been restored because “his issues have been resolved and due to the fact that residents of his district overwhelmingly sent him back by a more than three to one margin in 2017," when Solages was re-elected to a two-year term.
Solages also has been credited by party members with bringing out a large vote in minority communities in his district that helped Democratic state Senate candidates oust Republican incumbents this past November.
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