Karim Camara (Photo: Facebook)

Karim Camara wants his colleagues in the State Assembly to pass a resolution honoring the late singer Whitney Houston.

"I think, when we look at the life that she led, and particularly how she, in the aftermath of 9/11, she raised a tremendous amount of funds for disaster relief and for the firefighters, the first responders. I think that connects her to New York," Mr. Camara told The Politicker. "She was able to unite people around ethnic lines, racial lines, gender, age, you name it."

Eric Adams is currently trying to pass a similar resolution in the State Senate, but the Republican majority initially tabled his proposal due to concerns Ms. Houston may have died from a prescription drug overdose. Mr. Camara said Ms. Houston's cause of death shouldn't stop Albany lawmakers from honoring her.

"It's not a matter of how she died, it's about how she lived," Mr. Camara said. "Thus far, to my knowledge, there's been no final determination from the coroner, but even if there was, she's done great work."

Mr. Camara said it was difficult for him to identify his favorite song of Ms. Houston's.

"It's so hard to say. I love the song 'How Will I Know,' which is not traditionally a guys song, but I think it was great," Mr. Camara said. "Also, 'I Believe The Children Are Our Future,' because of the work I do. I know it's not one of her biggest hits, but it's a great song for me."

Mr. Camara is optimistic his resolution honoring Ms. Houston will receive the necessary number of votes in the Assembly.

"I certainly expect it to pass," he said.

Whitney Houston on stage in October, 1991. (Photo: Getty)

Today the Daily News reported State Senate Republicans blocked Senator Eric Adams' request for a resolution honoring Whitney Houston, however, according to Mr. Adams and Senate GOP spokesman Mark Hansen, the resolution may live on.

"From what I understand, the Senate Republicans may have realized this was a big mistake. I'm going to give them a fact sheet in case they've spent the last twenty years on another planet and they didn't realize what Ms. Houston meant to people and we're going to revisit this immediately after the break," Mr. Adams told The Politicker.

Mr. Hansen said the Senate Republicans "never sought to block the resolution" and merely had issues with its timing.

"We didn't do it today, we felt the timing was inappropriate because we just had legislation and a public hearing that dealt with overdoses of prescription drugs that included parents who lost their children to overdoses of prescription drugs," Mr. Hansen said. "But we never sought to block the resolution and it's something that we'll take up when we return."

Mr. Adams said the Senate GOP rejected the idea of a resolution honoring Ms. Houston because they  felt she had no connection to New York and her death may have been due to prescription drug abuse. He dismissed both those reasons for denying the resolution give Ms. Houston's 9/11 charity work and the fact her cause of death has yet to be conclusively identified.

"It's personal for me, because I remember clearly like it was yesterday, after September 11th one of the motivating things that happened was when she announced that she was going to give the proceeds from her song, the Star Spangled Banner rendition, to those that had fallen. At that time, as a former police officer, it touched me," Mr. Adams said. "It's ludicrous that we shouldn't honor her because this may have been a drug overdose, this could be a teaching moment and we don't even know how she died."

Mr. Adams also expects the State Assembly to work on a resolution honoring Ms. Houston.

"Actually, I just saw Karim Camara, who's the chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus, he stated that he's also going to attempt to do it in the Assembly, because he agrees that this makes no sense and there's no reason that we are not giving the resolution to Ms. Houston," Mr. Adams said.

As of this writing, Mr. Camara has not responded to a request for comment on this story.

Mr. Adams, who said he met Ms. Houston and her ex-husband, Bobby Brown, "years ago at an NAACP event," told us he doesn't have a single favorite song by the late singer.

"There's so many, I don't know many Americans and, in particular African-Americans, that don't have at least one album sitting on their dresser, or don't have a favorite song and don't remember something they used to dance to, or sing along with, or make love to," Mr. Adams said. "I could go from a serious tune like 'The Greatest Love of All,' believing in the children, or her song in the movie 'Bodyguard,' which was a great remake."

This morning, Mr. Towns sent out a rambling, 557 word opus on the dearly departed R&B diva included the congressman's thoughts on death, drugs aging, parenthood and an extensive discussion of the singer's mother, Cissy Houston.

Congressman Towns' press release was so epic we had no choice but to reprint it in full:

“As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, longevity has its place and certainly the quality of one’s life is more important.  We all want to live to a ripe old age and one of the more trying aspects of growing older is having to witness people passing on from this life.  As I age, I find myself going to more and more funerals.  This is just a reality of growing older.

“The most difficult thing in all of this is saying goodbye to relatively young people.  No parent wants to attend the funeral of their child.  For them, it is a heart-wrenching experience to know that your beloved daughter or son’s life has been cut short.  So when I learned of the death of Whitney Houston my mind and heart immediately went to Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother.

“I wonder how many young fans of Whitney Houston even know about her mother’s career.  Most of her fans know more about her cousin Dionne Warwick than they do about her mother.  If you know Cissy Houston, then you would know that talent-wise, the apple did not fall far from the tree.  Emily “Cissy” Houston is a most gifted singer who has enjoyed a stellar singing career—as a back up to the likes of Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Elvis Pressley and many others.  She was part of a successful soul trio—the Sweet Inspirations with her niece Dee Dee Warwick and Doris Troy.

“But Cissy never forgot her gospel roots and ultimately won a Grammy Award in 1996 for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album for her album Face to Face.  If you want to hear Cissy Houston sing, you will find her in church on Sunday mornings singing God’s praises.  So Whitney Houston was born into a world where singing was ever present.  It is not surprising that Whitney gave some of her most stirring renditions on the title track album for the motion picture The Preacher’s Wife.  If you really want to be moved by Whitney’s incredible talent, then you need to give a listen to her singing, “I Love the Lord.”

“Whitney grew up in a different time than her mother and her cousin.  While the music industry has long been associated with the fast life, by the time Whitney came along, it was moving at warp speed.  It was too easy for her to get caught up in celebrity parties and the accompanying drugs.  God only knows how Whitney became consumed.  Was her troubled marriage to Bobby Brown a factor?  Perhaps, but it was Whitney who ultimately made the choices she did.

“The list of “too young to die” musical greats is long—Billie Holiday, Janice Joplin, Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Phyllis Hyman, Jim Morrison and, most recently, Amy Winehouse, to name a few.  Like millions of her fans, I will miss Whitney Houston and the world will be a lesser place now that her voice is silenced.  Her many recordings will continue to bless us.  I will be listening to Whitney Houston.

“But right now, my heart goes out to Cissy Houston and her family.  Cissy has lost her daughter and there is little that can comfort her now.  Only her faith in God will sustain her through this tragic experience.  I will pray her strength and dust off some of my Cissy Houston recordings.”

A few items to note here. For one, this statement about the death of Whitney Houston is mostly not about Whitney Houston. Sec0ndly, Mr. Towns is not one of those pols who flood inboxes with statements. The last one this newsroom received was back on Feb 1, and it was a salute to Black History month.