By Beth Morrissey
Michael Grimm’s election to the House of Representatives was a triumph for Republicans in the 13th congressional district, which spans Staten Island and southwest Brooklyn. But the win may also bring a change within the Staten Island Republican Party, and may also signal that new players are entering the island’s already crowded political playing field.
The 13th district is where Republican Michael Grimm squared off against incumbent Michael McMahon in the race for the House of Representatives. Grimm was challenging the only Democrat to represent Staten Island in the House in over two decades. Grimm was an underdog in the Republican Party; he did not have the endorsement of the Staten Island Republican Party during the primaries. He did have the endorsement of the Conservative Party since March of last year.
Data released last month by the New York City Board of Elections shows that Grimm did not have a plurality of votes without those he received from the Conservative Party. The data also shows that the Conservative Party received a greater percentage of votes in this election than it has in the past four elections in the 13th congressional district.
The Conservative Party has been an important part of Staten Island politics for decades. But, it has not been the deciding factor in a congressional race in 13th district for at least the last four elections.
Herb Berman, a special assistant for government relations at the CUNY graduate center, says that the results do not indicate that Grimm would not have won without the Conservative Party endorsement. Rather that the uptick in Conservative votes is a sign of discontent in the district. “It’s a reaction to the conventional leadership of the country as manifest in Albany and Washington,” he said.
The uptick in votes for the Conservative Party is the latest twist in an eventful election season that was peppered with party-infighting and national endorsements.
Grimm, a political newcomer, ran with the backing of former Staten Island Borough president, Guy Molinari. A long-time political heavy weight, Molinari has been involved in Staten Island politics for decades. Brooklyn political consultant Gerry O’Brien calls the 82 year-old Molinari the creator of the “modern Republican party on Staten Island.”
“Guy is very much a chess player. He understands what politics is about,” said O’Brien .
When deciding which candidate to back for the 2010 election, Molinari courted the Conservative vote and sent Grimm to meet with Conservative Party leaders.
“Knowing that the state Conservative Party leader favored Grimm, I thought that there was a reasonably good shot that we could get the Conservative Party endorsement then,” said Molinari. “So that had some bearing in my decision to support and run the campaign for Michael Grimm.”
Molinari is far from pleased with the current state of Republican politics on the island. “There is no Republican party to speak of today,” he said, when asked to characterize the Staten Island GOP.
Molinari is also not shy about leveraging criticism against Staten Island Republican Party chairman, John Frisca, an ally of former-congressman Vito Fossella.
“If you start checking the boxes…he’s done pretty well as chairman,” said Fossella.
Molinari and Fossella have had a tumultuous relationship that has been a part of Staten Island Republican politics for over a decade.
Fossella was elected to the House of Representatives in a special election in 1997 after the 13th district seat was vacated by Susan Molinari, Guy Molinari’s daughter. Susan Molinari was elected to the position in 1990 after her father vacated it. Fossella was elected to the position with the backing of Susan and Guy Molinari.
But the relationship between Guy Molinari and Fossella disintegrated after that. In 2000 they were backing different presidential candidates, and in 2004 they were backing different candidates for the city council.
Fossella held on to his congressional seat until 2008, when he chose not to run for re-election in the wake of scandal in which it was discovered that he had an illegitimate child with a woman in Virginia.
It was during the 2008 election that the 13th congressional district elected McMahon to office. The Democrats won by a resounding margin that year, commanding over 60.93 percent of the vote. Republicans won a meager 33.31 percent. The Conservative Party, which did not endorse the Republican candidate that year, won 3.5 percent of the vote.
Fossella retained influence in the Staten Island GOP. In May of 2010, the Staten Island Republican Executive Committee nominated Fossella to run against McMahon, overlooking both Grimm and Republican hopeful Michael Allegretti. Prior to that, Fosella had not announced an intention to run in the 2010 election.
“I don’t think they really understood the anger level out there,” said O’Brien of the nomination. “Republican voters, independent voters, democratic voters would have been apoplectic.”
The nomination certainly irked Guy Molinari, who described the GOP Staten Island convention as “bizarre.”
“What the hell is that all about?” said Molinari “We put his name in nomination but you don’t know if he’s going to accept it?”
The former house representative eventually turned down the nomination, and the party endorsed Allegretti, who had no appeal to the Conservative Party.
“Michael Allegretti would not have been perceived as the Conservative Party candidate,” said Jerry Kassar, chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party, noting that he thought the Republican executive committee on Staten Island was out-of-step with the electorate.
Grimm beat Allegretti in the Republican primaries, and then geared up to face McMahon in a contest that garnered national attention. The race was beset with endorsements from political heavy weights. Sarah Palin, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and George H. W. Bush stepped up to endorse Grimm. McMahon had the support of Michael Bloomberg, Andrew Cuomo, and Ed Koch.
Grimm garnered 44.02 percent of the vote from Republican ballot line, just a hair behind McMahon who received 44.49 percent from the Democratic ballot line. But Grimm was able to eek out the win with 7.26 percent of the vote from the Conservative ballot line.
Both candidates had the backing of third parties. But only the Conservative Party made a significant impact on the results. McMahon ran on the Independence ticket, but he only garnered 3.41 percent of the vote from that affiliation.
O’Brien believes that the national trend carried Grimm over the “finish line.”
Grimm may have benefited from the emergence of the tea party movement, which galvanized conservative politics in the last election.
‘Third parties…exist as a place for individuals who are disenchanted with the two other political parties to find a voice,” said Jerry Kassar, chairman of the Brooklyn Conservative Party. “Tea Party people I think found it more comfortable to vote on the Conservative Party line.”
Frank Santarpia, co-organizer of the Staten Island Tea Party, makes it clear that his group does not officially endorse candidates. “We think our job is to keep our members informed on the issues,” said Santarpia, later noting that his group is primarily concerned with fiscal responsibility, small government, and free markets.
“I think the old boy network now sees the writing on the wall,” said Santarpia of Grimm’s win. “It’s not a great leap that Tea Party people are going to want to be on the inside now.”
Grimm’s win signals a challenge to Frisca’s chairmanship, which is up for election next year. Molinari says he plans on backing a new candidate for the position.
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