A radio speak present host is in dogfight with a baby-faced Staten Island scion 13 years his junior to characterize NYC’s most conservative Council district.
Republican Frank Morano, host of WABC’s “The Different Facet of Midnight,” has already locked up endorsements from the Staten Island GOP, all the borough’s Republican elected officers and key members of President Trump’s inside circle in his marketing campaign to serve the South Shore.
However his path to victory within the April 29 nonpartisan particular election is not any certain factor.
His stiffest competitors: fellow GOPer Griffin Fossella, who comes from a protracted line of Island energy brokers, from his late great-great grandfather, Congressman James O’Leary, to his dad, Borough President and ex-Rep. Vito Fossella.
Morano, 40, mentioned he “by no means anticipated the race to be a cakewalk” however isn’t shedding sleep competing in opposition to the 27-year-old Fossella, or a household dynasty.
“I believe Staten Islanders aren’t going to be fooled by a candidate with the identical final title who makes use of the same marketing campaign slogan (“Staten Island First”) and the identical coloration garden indicators as his father,” mentioned Morano.
He claims Fossella has repeatedly ducked debating him. Fossella insists he’s had scheduling conflicts.
Each Morano and Griffin Fossella are lifelong Staten Islanders who’ve practically equivalent marketing campaign platforms: together with opposing congestion pricing and NYC’s sanctuary metropolis coverage, advocating for the NYPD to rent hundreds of extra cops, and pushing for mass-transit affordability.
The 2, together with longshot Democrat Clifford Hagen, are vying to interchange former Council Minority Chief Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island), who was term-limited and stepped down in January from the $148,000-a-year gig to take a job as a lobbyist.
The winner would serve the remaining months of Borelli’s time period, which expires at 12 months’s finish — and take an enormous benefit into the November normal election for a brand new four-year time period.
Fossella mentioned it will “humbling” to win the 51st District Council seat as soon as held by his father within the mid-Nineties.
“I believe public service is in my blood, and to serve the individuals of Staten Island could be a dream come true,” he mentioned.
On a neighborhood degree, each additionally vehemently oppose a challenge to construct a resort on the nook of Richmond Valley and Arthur Kill roads as a result of many residents are involved it’s going to in the end change into a homeless shelter.
President Trump – who’s wildly well-liked on Staten Island — seems to be staying out the race, however Morano has scored key endorsements from former Trump advisors Roger Stone, Michael Caputo, Corey Lewandowski and Trump’s former White Home chief Steve Bannon.
Fossella’s endorsements embody former Lengthy Island Rep. Peter King, former Brooklyn state Sen. Marty Golden and John Catsimatidis, a billionaire who owns WABC-AM. Griffin Fossella bought his first style of politics engaged on Catsimatidis’ 2013 mayoral marketing campaign.
Morano and the youthful Fossella’s political battle chests are practically equivalent. Each mentioned they’ve raised over $50,000 and anticipate to qualify for an additional $200,000-plus in public matching funds.
Fossella boasts he’s “the one lifelong Republican within the race” – a dig at Morano being a former chief of the state’s now-defunct Independence and Reform events earlier than registering as a Republican.
Vito Fossella couldn’t be happier — and jabbed his son’s opponent, saying he’s “extremely happy with Griffin’s choice to step ahead as the one true Republican within the race — dedicated to preserving Staten Island as an excellent place to dwell and lift a household for generations to return.”
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