Before Council Member McMahon (D-Staten Island) set his sights on retiring Rep. Vito Fossella's (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) seat, he was diligently cobbling together a campaign for borough president.

But now he is running for Congress, and, most observers say, likely to win. That leaves the race with just one candidate, Council Minority Leader James Oddo, and the Democratic Party-in this traditionally Republican-leaning borough-back at square one in recruiting a candidate.

That is no reason for Democrats to worry about 2009, McMahon said.

"There are still many 'top tier' candidates on the island: a Democratic state senator, three Democratic Assembly members and a few community leaders," he said.

Though most borough president candidates in the other boroughs are already well on their way with fundraising, county Democratic chair John Gulino said there is more than enough time to put together a successful campaign. Right now, though, his only focus is the Congressional race, he said.

"I take things systematically," he said.

Nonetheless, Gulino said he has already interviewed several prospective candidates-though he would not divulge any names.

Two of the borough's representatives in Albany have been mentioned as possible Democratic candidates. Assembly Member Michael Cusick, who many had expected to run for Congress but backed out at the eleventh hour, deferred any consideration of a candidacy for borough president until after he wins re-election in the fall.

"Once we get through November, I will be able to focus on what the future will be," Cusick said.

State Sen. Diane Savino, who lives in Staten Island but has half of her district in Brooklyn, has also been mentioned as a replacement candidate for McMahon.

Savino said she has not approached anyone about running, though community leaders and party members have come to her. The main priority for her, however, is getting a Democratic majority in her chamber. If this happens, she could quickly gain seniority, which could entice her to stay in Albany.

"I'm committed to the Senate and getting in the Senate majority," she said. "If we're not, that will certainly change the discussion."

Freshman Assembly Members Matthew Titone and Janele Hyer-Spencer are also possibilities, though neither is viewed as a likely candidate.

A McMahon-Oddo race would have been highly competitive. Both were popular in their respective districts and ended January with roughly the same amount of money in the bank (McMahon edged out Oddo, $148,000 to $134,000). The two were also both friendly with labor unions-major sources of campaign cash. McMahon had also built up a strong relationship with the Conservative Party, which could have been a major boost to a borough president candidacy.

With McMahon out, Oddo said local labor and other supporters no longer face the Solomonic choice between the two of them.

"A lot of folks in unions who are happy with my voting record had a difficult choice to make," Oddo said. "I think a lot of them are freed up."

All the more reason for the Democrats, if they do not want to cede the race to Oddo, to settle on a candidate who will start fundraising, said 2001 Democratic borough president candidate, former Council Member Jerome O'Donovan. Otherwise, they may well face the same fate the Staten Island GOP is suffering through in the race to replace Fossella. 

"That's a position we don't want to be in next year," he said. "We want someone who will be recognizable."

That does not necessarily require the candidate to be an elected official, O'Donovan said.

"It'd be a difficult task, but there are civic leaders and business leaders," he said.

Current Borough President James Molinaro (C), for example, never held office. But he was well known for serving as deputy borough president to Guy Molinari.

Though Molinaro narrowly beat O'Donovan in 2001, O'Donovan's campaign manager Tom LaManna said that, especially without McMahon running against him, Oddo would be extremely tough to beat, no matter whom Democrats recruit.

"Jim Oddo-now I'm a partisan guy, [but] he is kind of like our Marty Markowitz," he said, referring to the Brooklyn borough president. "He's suited for the job."

Regardless of any Democratic deliberations that are underway or have yet to begin, Oddo said his interest is in finishing his term on the Council and focusing on his own campaign.

Asked to look ahead, Oddo recalled the words of Teddy Atlas, a Staten Island boxing trainer and commentator.
"He once told me, 'Never depend on somebody else's weakness to be your strength,'" Oddo said. "I'm not going to depend on who my opponent is."




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Candidates Already Preparing for Special Election to Succeed McMahon
If Council Member Michael McMahon (D-Staten Island) moves from City Hall to Capitol Hill this November, he will leave his much-coveted North Shore council seat behind. And many candidates are already lying in wait.

There are five candidates filed with the city Campaign Finance Board for the 2009 Democratic primary.

There is also Assembly Member Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island). Cusick, who chose to sit out the Congressional race, has remained silent on his political future, though there is speculation he might run for the seat and possibly parlay that into a bid for Council speaker.

Cusick said he is focusing on re-election now that he has a rare challenge from the GOP.

"After November," he said, "I will assess what the future will be."

One potential problem with him running exists: Cusick is currently living outside McMahon's Council district, in neighboring James Oddo's (R-Staten Island) district, though his official address for now remains the same as when he lived with his wife.

Without Cusick, the special election, in certain aspects, will be a redux of the 2001 primary: a staffer to the outgoing Council member running against an African-American community activist.

In 2001, McMahon, who was passed over by the borough's Democratic Party, was a civic leader-cum-legal counsel to his predecessor, Jerome X. O'Donovan. He beat Deborah Rose, a Community Board 1 member and chair of Community School Board 31, by 170 votes.

With term limits already bearing down on McMahon next year, his chief of staff Kenneth Mitchell announced his own bid to move from staffer to elected official.

"I don't think it's a right of passage," Mitchell said, explaining, "I know the land use procedure, the budgetary process. I know the players in the Council."

Priscilla Marco, a community liaison to State Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island/Brooklyn), is also running.

As the North Shore of Staten Island becomes increasingly diverse-the area is home to sizable African American, Sri Lankan and Liberian communities-black candidates are vying to be the politicians that reflect the cultural mix, thus ending the stranglehold Italian and Irish Americans have on all the borough parties and elected posts.

According to Kelvin Alexander, who ran for the Assembly seat now held by Matthew Titone but does not plan to run for Council, a party-endorsed African American candidate will show the black community, the bulk of the party's rank and file members, that it is not taken for granted by party leaders.

"They need to step up and say, 'Listen, these people are qualified,'" Alexander said. "They can choose one of the black candidates that represent their most loyal constituency."

Rose, who has filed to run again, and Rev. Tony Baker hope to fit that bill.

Baker said he was not overly concerned with splitting the African-American vote, especially in a special election.

"I really believe I have a broad base of appeal," said Baker, a retired military sergeant. "My background is such that I've been engaged in the broader community in Staten Island."
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