Free Republic

BAY RIDGE – Adding to the hotly contested battles to replace outgoing Congressman Vito Fossella is a political “crazy-quilt” pattern to Democrat Mike McMahon’s campaign after his endorsement by Staten Island’s top Conservative, while not so favorite GOP son Robert Straniere is upset over apparent dissentient inter-party “dirty tricks.” In one of Campaign ‘08’s bizarre political twists, Staten Island Borough President James Molinaro, Richmond County’s Conservative Party executive vice chair, endorsed McMahon. This was accepted by the moderate Staten Island councilman as a logical move, given his working relationship with Molinaro since 2002. Molinaro, who was elected twice as borough...

Candidates for Congress and the Legislature made a final push for votes on Sunday before Tuesday’s primary elections throughout the city and the state. In New York City, the most prominent of the hotly contested primaries are for Congress in a district in central Brooklyn and in another that includes all of Staten Island and part of Brooklyn. There are also competitive primaries throughout the state, notably in the Buffalo area. In the Staten Island Congressional district, the 13th, there are spirited races in both the Republican and Democratic primaries. The winners will compete in November for the Congressional seat...

The two candidates were once friends, with one crediting the other for bringing him into Republican Party leadership. But the competition for the Republican nomination for a Congressional seat on Staten Island has produced a level of rancor that has left the two candidates bitterly sparring and the party in disarray. In the last week, Dr. Jamshad I. Wyne, the finance chairman of the Republican Party on Staten Island and a candidate for Congress, accused his rival in the primary, former Assemblyman Robert A. Straniere, of trying to persuade him to make illegal contributions to Mr. Straniere’s failed 2001 campaign...

In a dramatic reversal of fortunes, former Assemblyman Robert A. Straniere was endorsed for Congress last night by the Staten Island Republican Party. That backing comes just four years after Mr. Straniere, then a 24-year incumbent, was defeated in a tense Republican primary and shunned by many of the island’s officials. Mr. Straniere is running for the seat in Congress now held by Representative Vito J. Fossella, a Republican who announced in May that he will not run for re-election this year. “Bob Straniere is now the candidate of the Richmond County Republican Committee,” said John S. Friscia, the chairman...