STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – The Staten Island Republican Party organization endorsed Rep. Lee Zeldin in the GOP primary for governor.
And Zeldin delivered, winning the primary and setting up a fall battle with Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in the fall.
But it was Andrew Giuliani who won Staten Island, as well as three other New York City boroughs, in the primary.
The reason? The enduring popularity of Andrew’s dad, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, particularly on Staten Island, said borough Republicans.
“Staten Island has really never had a better friend,” than Rudy Giuliani, Borough President Vito Fossella told us following an event with City Councilman David Carr (R-Mid-Island) announcing funding for new baseball and softball fields at New Dorp High School on Thursday. “In terms of a commitment to Staten Island, Rudy remains a friend to Staten Island and it showed in the election.”
Fossella said, “[Andrew] was a direct beneficiary of the fact that Rudy Giuliani is still very popular, particularly among Republican prime voters here on Staten Island.”
But Fossella also gave credit to Andrew Giuliani, a novice campaigner, saying that the younger Giuliani had shown “a great personality, was engaging, and people were attracted to him.”
Fossella said that that Andrew Giuliani also “spent an awful lot of time here. It seemed like he was here every other day. And that matters too. All those factors worked to Andrew’s advantage.”
The primary came days after Rudy Giuliani claimed to have been slapped while campaigning with his son at a ShopRite supermarket in Charleston.
Carr said that New York Republicans had “great choices” in the GOP primary, which also included Rob Astorino and Harry Wilson.
“I think it was always going to be a question of campaign strategy and tactics,” Carr said, saying that Giuliani invested his time in the five boroughs while his GOP rivals looked elsewhere for votes. Zeldin did particularly well on his own home ground of Long Island.
Despite the Zeldin-Giuliani split in the GOP primary, Carr said that state Republicans know what’s at stake in November.
“Everything that’s come out of Albany is been the result of one-party Democrat rule,” he said. “The expansion of the speed camera program, the lack of a dangerousness standard in our bail system, the so-called bail reform, which has been a total boondoggle from the beginning.”
Pointing to high crime and inflation, Fossella said, “The party in power has to explain the status quo. The status quo is not good.”
Said Fossella, “Lee won handily. I think he ran a great race. Now he’s got to pivot to the general.”
CARR’S CONGRESSIONAL ‘COUP’
One speaker at the New Dorp event mistakenly referred to Carr as “congressman” while addressing the crowd.
Speaking with Fossella and Carr later, we kiddingly congratulated Carr on his “promotion.”
“It was like a coup,” Fossella, a former congressman, joked.
“We’ll call it ‘Succession,’” Carr said, alluding to the HBO drama about the fraught sibling rivalry that roils a Fox News-like media conglomerate.
“Should I tell Nicole?” Fossella said, referring to the borough’s actual Congress member, GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis.
Joining in the levity, we joked that we’d already texted the congresswoman about it.
But truth be told, these little slip-ups with titles, electoral and otherwise, happen often at such events.
On Thursday evening, one speaker at the kickoff event at Silver Lake Park for the beep’s free summer concert series nearly referred to the City Council members who had provided funding for the program as “Congress members” before correcting themselves.
NEW PERCHES
Both Fossella and Carr are marking six months in their new jobs.
“It’s been great,” said Fossella, who served in the House from 1997 to 2009. “When I’ve been given the chance to represent the people of Staten Island, I’ve been honored and blessed that they believe in me. And a day like today is emblematic of doing good.”
Fossella said that he still had friends at all levels of government, including former colleagues in Washington, that he can call on.
“My mission is very simple,” Fossella said. “Whoever wants to improve the quality of life for the people of Staten Island, I want to work with them. If you want to diminish the quality of life for the people of Staten Island, you’ll have a committed opponent.”
Fossella said, “The job is different, but you make the most of it.”
And that includes taking on issues that may not fall under Borough Hall’s direct purview, such as Fossella being the lead plaintiff in the recent lawsuit against noncitizen voting.
“It was just one of the more absurd things I’ve seen,” Fossella said of the push to allow noncitizen voting. “We stood united and sued because that was our only recourse.”
It was a use of the borough president’s office that harkened back to Fossella’s early political mentor, Republican Guy Molinari, who, like Fossella, served in both Congress and as borough president. Molinari famously sued in order to close the Fresh Kills Landfill.
State Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio, himself a Staten Island Republican, ruled that allowing noncitizen voting violated the state constitution.
“Those are the areas where we stand up for the people,” Fossella said, “for those who feel that, and I think there are many, they don’t have a voice right now [that’s] reflective of their value system or their priorities. So those are the things that we’re willing to step out of the box to do.”
Said Carr, “I think it’s important to have judges that share the interpretive view that the law is the law as written, that statutory texts matter.”
Carr, meanwhile, is the latest in a long line of GOP Council members serving the Mid-Island, including John Fusco, James Oddo and Steven Matteo. Carr served as Matteo’s chief of staff before winning the seat for himself.
“Even though the styles may be different, the substance is always the same,” Carr said. “We’re always trying to improve quality of life. Our role is to seek a material improvement for the people we represent. That’s what’s measurable. That’s what’s deliverable.”
