--> You can look at this tale as a tragedy in the mold of some of Shakespeare's classics. The doomed hero, in this case, would be the Republican Party. The setting is not Denmark, but somewhere quite similar: the 13th Congressional District of New York State, located primarily on Staten Island. The seat is currently held by Republican Congressman Vito Fossella, a man married with three children in the city. He is, in fact, the last surviving Republican representative from New York.
Act I: Late at night on April 30th, Fossella is arrested near Alexandria, VA and charged with drunk driving. Of course, this is not a good start for an elected official, but the real area of concern is the reason Fossella was in the middle of Virginia. When asked where he was going by police, Fossella replies that he was going to visit his family. But, you recall, his family lives in New York. Silly reader, of course he means his secret family - the woman he had an extramarital affair with and the three year-old daughter that resulted from it. A word of advice for all you budding politicians: if you're going to be an elected official, don't have a secret family (or a secret anything, for that matter) because people do actually pay attention to what you're doing (sometimes).
Act II: Of course, Fossella realizes that he cannot run for re-election (especially in such an overwhelmingly Democratic year where he'd probably lose anyway), so he decides to bow out. The Republicans frantically search for a replacement candidate, fully aware that the DCCC has WAY more money to spend than them. Thus, after all their top choices refuse to serve as sacrificial lambs against Democratic challenger Mike McMahon, they settled on wealthy businessman Frank Powers, a former Wall Street executive with the capital to finance his own race, saving the GOP some money for other races. Things seemed to be going decently, and the Republicans had a fighting chance, until more things went wrong.
Act III: Shortly after his dad became the presumptive nominee, Frank Powers Jr. announced that he would be running against his father for the seat, aiming for the Libertarian ticket (or, if not, the Anarchist ticket). His political experience as a carpenter certainly would gain him a lot of votes, but more than anything this would merely be a distraction for the Republican nominee.
Meanwhile, Vito Fossella tried to delay his trial over a typo in a subpoena.
Act IV: On June 22nd, Frank Powers died in his sleep in his home from natural causes. This left the Republicans without a candidate, and the prospect of recruiting another seemed quite dim, as DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen has pledged $2 million to start the race for McMahon. Now, the Republicans are scrambling to find a replacement. Kings County Republican Party Chairman Ed Eaton is urging his colleagues in Staten Island to support retired investmant banker Paul Atanasio. However, Atanasio would need 1,250 signatures to get on the ballot by July 10th, a very difficult task for anyone, let alone someone who doesn't live in Staten Island, where the vast majority of voters are.
The moral of this story is that on November 5th, there will be no Republicans in Congress left to represent the great State of New York. And don't come back!!
News roundup tomorrow (or later tonight - today could be a two-for-one deal).
1 comment:
McMahon is not the Democratic nominee. He has a primary against Fossella's 06 opponent Steve Harrison. Harrison in 06 received a higher percentage of the vote than any of Fossella's previous opponents,without much money or institutional support.
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