Well this was a curveball. From the Staten Island Advance:
The GOP has just nominated Todt Hill resident Frank Powers to run for Congress. […]
Powers is on the board of directors of Richmond University Medical Center and has served as President of the Staten Island Academy. He served on the Board of the former St. Vincent’s Medical Center for over 20 years and is a past president of the Downtown Athletic Club and past president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, and Chairman of the USS Sullivan’s’ Foundation. He is the former Chairman of the Board of St. Elizabeth Ann’s Health Care and Rehabilitation Center. He was elected to the Board of the MTA in 2005. Powers also currently serves on the Board of Wagner College.
Powers did not appear in any of the prospective or rumored candidate lists that were popping up in media reports in the last two weeks. It’s worth noting that he looks older than dirt.
Hotline on Call has more:
One big question is whether Powers will self-fund (fully or partially) his bid. If so, that’s a huge factor in whether he’ll be successful, considering the huge expense of campaigning in the NYC media market. But if he chooses not to self fund, he should have a considerable fundraising base from his past connections in the financial services community.
This guy seems like a big question mark to me. I like our chances.
Update: Here’s a fun tidbit: the Staten Island GOP’s finance chair – who considered running for the seat himself – is backing McMahon:
But Dr. Jamshad Wyne, who interviewed with the party last night even though he’d said he was pulling out of the race last weekend, objected to the Powers pick.
He left the convention before the final vote was taken, saying he would support McMahon in the race.
“I like Frank Powers,” he said. “But I think Mike is a better candidate. We should be willing to cross party lines to support the best candidate.”
Wonderful.
Update II: Phil sums it up brilliantly: “The Bottom Of The Bottom Of The Barrel”.
Nice to have a full NYC delegation in blue.
sucks to be the GOP right now.
Well, he looks about as old as Fred Thompson, who is older than John McCain. (Wait, Thompson IS older than McCain, rignt?)
the basic explanation is that he has a pile of money. Vanity candidate, probably, or he hopes to buy his way on the slight remaining R lean of the district.
the GOP nomination for any congressional contest is now decided by a thorough review of each candidate’s bank account.
there’s only room for one powers in my state’s delegation, and i have a feeling it’s gonna be the guy about a third of his age from the 26th…
the fact that this guy served on the board of the MTA should automatically make him hated by any city resident… what a corrupt organization…
which should remove even the potential ethnic advantage they’d have over mcmahon — which was my one worry about that giovinozzi character
my girlfriend tells me, is synonymous with snoodiness in staten island.
so maybe he shouldn’t use it as his byline… but when all you do is sit on various boards i guess ‘todt hill resident’ is the easiest way to describe you…
But it won’t be Frank Powers, it’ll be Jon Powers in NY-26.
Where is he in all this? Or has he become so irrelevant that he isn’t part of the recruiting process anymore?