The Staten Island GOP is scrambling to find a replacement to run in NY-13, following the untimely death of ex-Wall Street exec Francis Powers, who had been slotted in by the local party as Vito Fossella’s replacement. Previous top-tier Republicans under consideration (city councilor James Oddo, state senator Andrew Lanza, district attorney Daniel Donovan, and perplexingly, Fossella himself) all politely declined.
Out of relatively nowhere, former Assemblyman Matthew Mirones has suddenly taken the conventional wisdom by storm. Mirones has two advantages: he’s a well-off businessman who can self-finance, and he used to represent the Island’s East Shore and parts of Brooklyn from 2002 to 2006.
Mirones also has one disadvantage: he and the local GOP don’t like each other much.
But another Republican said Mirones might have some fences to mend with the borough GOP.
“He completely disappeared after he retired,” he said, “and he had some negative stuff to say about people in the party.”
Mirones was believed to be irked that he was passed over by the GOP for a shot at Republican John Marchi’s state Senate seat.
Mirones also clashed with party leaders on other political matters.
“I’m not saying anyone’s closing anything out,” the Republican continued. “But Matthew would have to rebuild things to a comfort level that does not exist right now.”
The Staten Island Advance also reports that NY-1 reporter Lisa Giovinazzo, who was considered the front-runner for a period of about 12 hours before the baffling decision to give the endorsement to Powers several weeks ago, has also moved back to the head of the list. Under consideration, also, was cross-endorsing Paul Atanasio, who is the nominee of Brooklyn’s Conservative Party.
In another indication of how far Republican fortunes have fallen in this district, a bizarre scenario has apparently at least been floated:
While some observers have mentioned the possibility of a GOP cross-endorsement of [Democratic endorsee Michael] McMahon, borough Democratic chair John Gulino said that no one on the Republican side had approached him about it….
The very thought of a McMahon cross-endorsement chilled some Republicans.
“They can’t do that,” said one. “They might as well dissolve the party. It’s the biggest seat in the county. It would be like cross-endorsing Obama.”