Pol a loose cannon
Brooklyn Assemblywoman Diana Richardson, who was accused of blaming Jews for gentrification at a community-board meeting this week, also went ballistic last week at a Democratic caucus in Albany, sources said.
Assembly Democrats who witnessed Richardson’s outburst at Speaker Carl Heastie over funding one of her pet projects said they were stunned and outraged, calling it the most abusive and rude behavior they had ever encountered at a caucus meeting.
“She had a meltdown. She was really out of control,” said one Assembly veteran.
“Everyone in the room was appalled at her behavior. She basi- cally accused the speaker and his staff of lying to her. It was a personal attack. I’ve never seen anything like that in conference.”
Another Assembly Democratic insider who witnessed Richardson’s rant called it “the most abusive behavior in memory.”
Sources said three Assembly members — Inez Dickens of Harlem and Erik Dilan and Walter Mosley of Brooklyn — went over to Richardson to calm her down.
“She was nasty and disrespectful. It was kind of kooky. It was like a 3-year-old having a tantrum. She certainly diminished herself in the eyes of her colleagues,” one witness said.
The new revelations come after The Post reported that Richardson was accused of making anti- Semitic comments at a community-board meeting Monday.
Former City Councilman Lew Fidler, who attended the meeting as a representative of Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, said Richardson responded “it must be Jewish people” when a community-board member complained that people were constantly ringing her bell to ask if she wanted to sell her house.
Insiders said the Albany dispute concerned a $660,000 allocation for a program in Richardson’s district, believed to be a violence-prevention program.
Heastie, known for his Zen-like demeanor, calmly rebutted Richardson’s broadsides at the caucus meeting, sources said.
But Heastie later dressed down Richardson, saying in front of the entire Democratic caucus that she had disrespected him.
Richardson had no immediate comment.
State Republican chairman Ed Cox called for her resignation.
“Assemblywoman Richardson knew exactly what she was doing when she made her hateful, antiSemitic comments, and someone with those views has no business serving in state government receiving a taxpayer-funded salary,” Cox said.
“Her offensive remarks were made worse by her insulting, conditional ‘apology.’ If Governor Cuomo, who loves to talk so much about ‘ New York values,’ means what he says, he must also demand her resignation.”