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Looking Past Molinaro, Oddo and McMahon Weigh Options
Term limits on the horizon has many people looking ahead to the 2009 races, and the contest to succeed James Molinaro (R) as Staten Island borough president is no exception.
“Here’s my prediction: Mike McMahon is running,” said Council Member James Oddo (R-Staten Island.)
However, many expect Oddo to be facing McMahon—a Democrat who was also backed by the Conservative Party in his 2005 Council reelection bid—in a race most see as wide open in the wake of term limits. Both will be term-limited out of the Council at the end of 2009.
Like McMahon, Oddo remains non-committal.
“I have to figure out if I still want to be an elected official,” Oddo said. “If you do this job the right way and you wear your heart on your sleeve, it takes a toll on you.”
Staten Island has long been home base for Republican politics in the city, and there has not been a Democrat in Borough Hall since Ralph Lamberti held the post from 1984 through 1989. Lamberti was defeated after one term by Republican Guy Molinari. In his 12 years on the job, Molinari ensconced himself in the minds of many as the penultimate Staten Island borough president.
Oddo said though “symbolically, people would take from it certain things,” a Democratic return to Borough Hall would not necessarily mean a groundswell of political change on Staten Island.
“To the extent that the next mayor will probably be a Democrat, it would probably help the island if the next borough president were a Democrat,” said Richard Flanagan, a professor of political science at the College of Staten Island. “That’s not to say that cross-party linkages can’t be made.”
Molinaro said he planned to play a hands-on role in the race. He said he would consider endorsing a Democrat, “if I felt that would be the best choice for Staten Island.”
All in all, Molinaro said it was far too early to make predictions.
“In politics, a week is a lifetime,” he said.
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