8 days left

It is all about the signatures on the ballot petitions. There is still no Republican endorsement but there is some news.

Frank Powers does not have 2,000;

Republican leaders say that Mr. Powers campaign had collected about 1,500 signatures on Mr. Powers's petitions.

1,250 are needed and 1,500 isn't likely to hold up against challenges.

Wyne has 2,000.

Bob Straniere is collecting signatures for the Republican line;

Multiple sources confirm that former Assemblyman Bob Staniere [sp], who has long desired to run for Congress, no longer lives in the district (not a requirement in this case; one must only live in the state) and is on the outs with the GOP powers-that-be on Staten Island, is indeed circulating petitions to run.

Carmine Morano is collecting signatures for both the Independence and Republican lines;

Frank Morano, a state Independence Party official, confirms his father, Carmine, is circulating petitions in an effort to get both the Indy and GOP lines (he'll need a Wilson Pakula for the latter).

Frank Powers passes away

via the Advance;

Frank Powers, the retired Wall Street executive designated by the Staten Island Republican Party to run for Congress in November, died today. He was 67.

Sources close to the family said that Powers apparently died in his sleep and was discovered in bed by his wife, Dianne, about 10 a.m.

The Powers family released the following statement, which was read by Powers' son Brian, 23, who was joined by his brothers in front of the family home on Todt Hill:

"Our dad, Frank Powers, passed away early this morning. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for our family. We would appreciate privacy at this time as we make the necessary arrangements. We shall have more information when the final arrangements have been made. We thank you for your kindness and cooperation and ask you to keep our dad and our family in your prayers."

There will be no posting or analysis from me on the race today

Nobody likes Frank Powers

Curtis Sliwa endorsements aren't really news, but his quotes are news worthy;

But he couldn't support GOP designee Frank Powers, a Todt Hill resident who is a board member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Sliwa said.

Sliwa called the MTA "the most despicable organization, government agency in the tri-state area."

"They exploit the people, they lie," he said.

"Quite frankly, enough with the Republicans," Sliwa said. "It's time to go the Independence Party route."

Sliwa offered himself as a candidate for the Republican line just a couple of weeks ago and now can't bring himself to support the party or their candidate of choice, Frank Powers.

Frank Powers flip flops on his constituent paid E-ZPass perk

Frank Powers quickly backtracks on giving up his constituent funded E-ZPass;

Board members will vote on revocation of their lifetime privileges and a policy requiring them to use passes only when they're on official business.

Several members said they might reject such a resolution.

snip

No one pledged to reject the resolution outright - since it has not yet been finished - but several members also said they were "leaning" against restricting their perks.

"I believe we should have an outside counsel review the law," said board member Francis Powers.

Why have outside counsel review this? Well it seems the NY Attorney General is looking to shut the practice down and Powers may want to fight that;

After an exclusive Daily News report on the number of free E-ZPass tags granted to past and present MTA board members, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office warned the authority the freebies are illegal - and told the MTA to halt the free-travel privileges.

That is a far way from his previous statements that giving up his perks were the right thing to do;

With the MTA being a favorite punching bag of borough residents and lawmakers, Powers said that he would surrender the free E-ZPass he received as a perk of his service on the authority board and would reimburse the MTA for any tolls he's rung up.

"It's the right thing to do," Powers said.

Meanwhile his fellow board member says they deserve to keep their perks;

An MTA board member said yesterday he and his colleagues should be allowed to keep their free transportation privileges to encourage them to endure the "inconvenience" of riding trains.

Frank Powers and the MTA out of touch with district residents

Frank Powers is still fleecing the residents of this district who struggle with transportation costs. via the Advance;

With the MTA being a favorite punching bag of borough residents and lawmakers, Powers said that he would surrender the free E-ZPass he received as a perk of his service on the authority board and would reimburse the MTA for any tolls he's rung up.

"It's the right thing to do," Powers said.

This wasn't the right thing for Powers to do until he started running for office. If it was the right thing to do all along why did he not turn it down, considering he is so rich he is about to loan himself $500,000 for this race. He certainly could afford to pay a few bridge tolls if he wanted, but he didn't. Frank Powers was above paying tolls.

The MTA has been slammed for giving out the lifetime passes, with some top officials getting as many as seven to give out to family members and friends.

Powers called the controversy "a big deal over nothing," and said he was the only person who used his agency E-ZPass.

Since giving up his E-ZPass is the right thing to do and this is all a big deal over nothing how soon until Powers requests that all of his fellow MTA board members give up their E-ZPass and reimburse their expenses as well? I hope he continues this "a big deal over nothing" theme because that will resonate so well with the hard working constituents of this district. Just how out of touch with the real world is Frank Powers?

Nobody wants Frank Powers, part II

via Tom;

WABC Radio personality Curtis Sliwa, who considered running for Congress here himself, is set to endorse Independence Party pick Carmine Morano in the race to replace GOP Rep. Vito Fossella.

Sliwa had offered himself up as the candidate in waiting for the GOP as all of their other top tier choices were dropping out. Now he won't even support the party endorsed candidate. In December 2006 I commented on the possibility of Fossella losing the Independence Party line;

The ability for the Democratic candidate to pick up the Independence line as they did in 2002 is potentially a large piece of flipping this seat. Along with the WFP, the Independence Party has relative recent growth, compared to the Conservative Party which is on a recent decline. This could be a gain of at least 4,000 votes, if not more.

The Democratic nominee won't pick up this line, but the Republican nominee certainly will not have it, potentially costing them 4,000 votes assuming there is not more voters this cycle than in 2004. The right is split and frustrated at their situation and hopefully will go into November with at least 3 major contenders to split their vote on.

Fossella's lame duck term

Not having to answer to his constituents this fall Fossella is freely carrying out George Bush's agenda. Today he voted to deny struggling Americans with unemployment relief. via the DCCC;

The Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act would provide economic relief for Americans looking for work.
Extends Unemployment Insurance for 13 weeks nationwide and for 26 weeks in high unemployment states - those with 6% unemployment or higher.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this would provide relief for 3.8 million Americans.
49,000 American jobs were lost in May, the fifth straight month of job losses. [New York Times; June 7, 2008]
Last week, the Department of Labor announced unemployment reached 5.5% in May, up from 5%. This marks the largest single month increase in 22 years. [Kansas City Star; June 6 2008]
So far in 2008, 324,000 jobs have been lost in America, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [Baltimore Sun; June 6, 2008]

Meanwhile the soon to be convicted Fossella will receive a pension from all of his hard work in the House and continues to receive the best benefits your tax dollars can get him. Fortunately he will soon he unemployed himself and one can only hope he finds himself in the shoes of those he neglected to represent. Meanwhile voters are being asked to replace Fossella's lack of compassion with Republican Frank Powers, retied Wall Street executive who has so much money he is lending himself half of a million dollars to run for Congress. I am sure he intends to work hard for the blue collar workers of the district.

Libertarian Party Endorses Susan Overeem

via the NY Times;

The Libertarian Party selected Susan Overeem on Monday night as the nominee for the Congressional seat being vacated by Representative Vito J. Fossella of Staten Island. She had nearly three times as many votes as the other Libertarian candidate, Francis M. Powers, the son of the Republican Party candidate, Francis H. Powers.

Fran Powers still likely to not support his dad on the Republican line. Let's revisit his comments from yesterday's post;

"We can't have the Republicans take this seat again," he added. "A vote for my father is a vote for the straight Republican ticket."

Frank Powers and others rack up $14 million billion in lost revenue

Frank Powers free EZPass is costing you;

As straphangers face the possibility of higher fares and tolls, the MTA's freebie E-ZPasses are costing the authority $14 million in lost revenues a year.

In March alone, cars and other vehicles with a free E-ZPass made nearly 300,000 trips via Metropolitan Transportation Authority bridges and tunnels - amounting to approximately $1.2 million in uncollected tolls, MTA records show. Many of the trips were made by city employees, including on-duty police officers and firefighters.

The MTA is planning fare and toll hikes in 2010, but they could be put on the table for next year because of budget gaps. Given the MTA's shortfall, fare hikes could come around next year - and Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said the city should pony up some dough.

Remember as a board member of the MTA Frank Powers has given himself a free E-ZPass that you ultimately pay for in fare and toll costs and increases.

Meet the Candidates

Candidate speculation is retired for now. The new post is meet the candidates since the third parties couldn't let the big two have all the frantic fun.

update: The endorsements listed below are just of the county party endorsements. While there are many other endorsements by clubs and organizations with Harrison having most of them, they have been covered previously and this is just to get a picture of the potential primaries for each party. Since I am adding this update I might also mention that Susan Overeem won the Libertarian endorsement.

Democratic:
Steve Harrison
Mike McMahon, endorsed by Richmond and Brooklyn County Party

Republican:
Frank Powers, endorsed by Richmond and Brooklyn County Party
Ramshad Wyne

Conservative:
no endorsement yet

Independence:
Carmine Morano, endorsed

Working Families Party:
Mike McMahon, endorsed

Libertarian:
Fran Powers (the son)
Susan Overeem

Nobody wants Frank Powers

Not even his son;

An already topsy-turvy political year grew even more so yesterday when Francis M. Powers, the son of GOP designee Francis H. Powers, said he would seek the Libertarian Party line to run for Congress.

some more fun choice quotes from son about dad's candidacy;

"I know his policies. I'm running against someone I know."

"We can't have the Republicans take this seat again," he added. "A vote for my father is a vote for the straight Republican ticket." [emphasis mine]

Fran Powers will need to gather 3,000 signatures to gain ballot access which may be the only thing keeping us from a very entertaining race on that side of the spectrum.

via the DCCC;

"The Bush-McCain Republican agenda is so unpopular that Republican candidates for Congress can't even rely on their own family members for support any more."

You pay Frank Powers' tolls

Must be nice to be rich enough to serve on a board of directors and have pesky tolls paid for by hard working New Yorkers. I am not really sure how his serving on the board of the MTA is an attribute to this campaign.via the NY Times

For years, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has given its board members free passes to drive across its bridges and tunnels without paying tolls and to ride the subways, buses and commuter railroads without paying a fare. And when the board members retire, they are allowed to keep the passes for life.

On Wednesday the authority said it will go to court to defend the practice in the face of a challenge by Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who said that giving E-ZPass tags to board members violates a law that they must serve without compensation.

This means Frank Powers has been crossing bridges in and out of Staten Island for free, while the residents of the district cover his tab through tolls and MTA fares. Despite being able to loan himself $500,000 to run for Congress he has felt the need to not pay tolls since 2005. How many residents in this congressional district have those perks?

Frank Powers bought his own nomination

To the outside world and most of his own party Frank Powers may seem like a complete unknown and untested candidate but he had at least one trait that the party leaders seemed to like. Money. via the Advance

One GOP executive committee member told the Advance that Powers informed the committee during an interview last night that he would spend $500,000 of his own money on the race and would raise $500,000 more. "He said it like it was no big deal," the committee member said.

The last sentence is the best because it is the start of a theme you will notice where Mr. Powers is so removed from the average Staten Islander struggling to pay $4 for a gallon of gas and dealing with housing market concerns. Mr. Powers just wrote himself a $500,000 check and didn't think twice about it. Must be nice.

GOP nominates Frank Powers. Who?

The Republican Party just pulled a fast one on itself. After having 19 potential candidates they passed on and then declaring a front runner no one had ever heard of they nominated someone who wasn't even good enough to be in those top 20.

So Frank Powers is their nominee. Who is he? No clue. But the Advance tells us;

Powers is on the board of directors of Richmond University Medical Center and has served as President of the Staten Island Academy. He served on the Board of the former St. Vincent's Medical Center for over 20 years and is a past president of the Downtown Athletic Club and past president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, and Chairman of the USS Sullivan's' Foundation. He is the former Chairman of the Board of St. Elizabeth Ann's Health Care and Rehabilitation Center. He was elected to the Board of the MTA in 2005. Powers also currently serves on the Board of Wagner College.

So this guy serves on the board of a medical center that is closing clinics across the district and creating major health care concerns. He is on the board of the MTA, which mismanages transportation and funds and is the bane of existance for so many in the district. Oh but he is used to be president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation. Makes sense. He is loaded and can self finance. Congrats Republicans.