Democrats have filed a lawsuit asking a judge to keep the election for that seat in the soon-to-be-former Second Judicial District, which the Island shares with heavily Democratic Brooklyn.

Republicans called the Democrats’ lawsuit a ploy to maintain control over judgeships for another year, and asked the judge to move the election to the newly created Island district.

Term limits on congressmen has been an issue recieving more and more attention as of late.  It is being speculated that Mayor Bloomberg is in talks to work out a deal to extend his allowable term.  Carmine Morano is the Independence Party nominee for congress on Staten Island (13th District) and has made his stance on the issue quite clear by pledging not to serve more than three terms if elected. He is also calling upon the other contenders in the race to make the same pledge.

There is a City Council bill running going through the process to lift the current term limits for city offices.  Mayor Bloomberg has made no commitment to veto any such legislation.

Not all political officials are against term limits.  Governor Patterson has called a Bloomberg third term a “Great Idea”.  He then went on to say “There was a time he wanted to run for president. That wouldn’t have been a bad idea, either.”  Mayor Bloomberg’s current office expires on December 31, 2009.

The Democratic party on the other hand has collected what is thought to be a record breaking 10,000 signatures for their ballot acces.  Surely more than enough protection if anything is contested.  With the Democratic party showing such strong support, the scandal with current GOP congressmen Vito Fossella, and no official nominee yet, the GOP may just lose their seat come November.

Mayor Bloomberg announced on Monday his plan to spend $2.3 Billion over the next nine years on making the city’s government more “green”.  The plans would include firemen and policemen to use hybrid vehicles to reduce emissions and fuel costs.  In addition the lighting throughout the city will be replaced with more environmentally friendly lightbulbs.  Newer flourescents use less mercury than older flourescents, and the latest LED lightbulbs use even less energy, and contain no toxic chemicals.

Another part of the plan is to build around 400 greenspots across the city.  One of these spots is the former Staten Island landfill which will be transformed into a 2200 acre word class park.

Although this all comes at a cost to the taxpayers, it will help reduce the energy used by the NYC government which currently amounts to 6.5% of the total power consumed.  Bloomberg is targeting a thirty percent reduction in the cities greenhouse emissions by 2030.

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.