Vote New York

For those who haven’t been following, the Staten Island Congressional run has gone through a series of twists and turns.  Candidates jumping in the race, and falling out just as fast.  We’ll go through a review before going on to the latest developments.

The Staten Island (13th District) seat is currently occupied by Vito Fossella since 1997; he is finishing out his 6th term.  Earlier this year, Fossella announced he would not seek re-election, but would finish out his term.  This announcement came after he was arrested for drunk driving in Alexandria, Virginia on May 1st, 2008, in addition a week later he confessed that 3 years earlier he had fathered a child out of wedlock.  This announcement left the race for the congressional seat wide open.

Frank Powers was seeking the GOP nomination; with Vito out of the picture it should have made things easy.  Though Frank Powers has never run for office, he is a retired wall street executive and has been closely involved with GOP fundraising for many years.  His wife Dianne currently serves as the GOP borough treasurer.  His fundraising power, along with his promise to use 500,000 of his own money on his campaign made Frank Powers an attractive candidate for the GOP.

To complicate the race a bit, Fran powers, son of Frank Powers announced he was seeking the Libertarian nomination.  There were fears that a father-son rivalry in the congressional race would distract from covering actual issues, making it easier for a democratic challenger to gain the seat.

In the “end”, Frank Powers received the GOP nomination.  His son Fran however, did not succeed in getting the Libertarian nomination.  Former ABC Radio employee Susan Overeem won the Libertarian nomination by a large margin, receiving almost three times the number of votes as Fran Powers. The story however is far from over.

Sunday, June 22^nd, 2008 Frank Powers age 67 passed away in his sleep. His sudden death would throw the congressional race into turmoil. Supposedly most if not all of the signatures for ballot access have already been collected. Most other potential GOP candidates have already decided against running.

After Frank Powers’ unexpected death, the two most widely discussed potential candidates announced that they would not seek the nomination. Matthew Mirones, a former Assemblyman who operates a prosthetics company, said that he has decided to sit out this race. And Lisa Giovinazzo, a lawyer and part-time journalist with the cable network NY1, also said she had decided against running. Deadlines are closing in, and the GOP still has no nominee. The Republican party may have to look to other parties for a nominee.

Carmine Morano, a businessman who is a member of the Independence Party is being eyed as the latest potential GOP nominee. Mr. Morano said that, although he is a collecting signatures to run on the Independence line, he is hoping to be selected by Republican leaders, too.

Others with a little hope are collecting signatures for the nomination. Jamshad Wyne, a cardiologist who is the finance chairman of the Staten Island Republican Party, is also a candidate for the seat. Dr. Wyne said that he has already collected 2,000 signatures and that he plans to continue getting more until the filing deadline.

But he has little support among the party’s leaders. They point to the fact that Dr. Wyne was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for three years in 2003 by the state Health Department’s Board for Professional Medical Conduct. The board said that he had practiced “with negligence on more than one occasion.”

There is also a chance that Libertarian nominee Susan Overeem, having already defeated Fran Powers, might seek the Republican nomination.

Regardless of who gets the nomination, a decision needs to be made soon. Deadlines are nearing, and the longer the GOP is at a standstill, the more time is given to the Democratic congressional campaign.

Tags: Congress, Democrat, election, Fossella, Frank Powers, GOP, Libertarian, new york, nomination, ny, Race, Republican, Staten Island, Susan Overeem, turmoil, Vote

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