Well, well, well - to follow up on a recent diary from brown sox, the local daily Staten Island Advance has a front page story, New Subplot Swirls Around Vito. The lede from today's story:
With 41 days to go until Election Day, the Republican side of the race for the 13th Congressional District seat remains as unsettled and riven by rumor and potential Machiavellian machinations as it was in the days following GOP Rep. Vito Fossella's DWI arrest five months ago.
Constant vigilence, people! More below the fold.
According to the Advance, the Manhattan Republican Party has nominated Robert Straniere, the winner of the Republican primary for Congress, to a judgeship - one of only 3 methods of lawfully replacing a nominee (the others being moving away and death). The sad part is that Manhattan being so Democratic, Straniere wouldn't have a chance to win the judgeship. . .and I'm sure he knows that.
The story goes on to describe the various backdoor dealings meant to provide a slot for Vito once he had successfully removed his ass from the sling.
In fact, sources alleged, the late GOP congressional designee Frank Powers also was meant to serve as a "placeholder" candidate should Fossella decide to get back in.
The thinking, they said, was that the Fossella camp would look to launch a re-election bid after the scandal about the child the congressman fathered during an extramarital affair abated.
Unfortunately for the Fossella crowd, Robert Straniere is loudly and publicly denying any such deal.
The good news is that we have a strong Democratic candidate in Mike McMahon who will work day in and day out to return this district to the Blue side of the ledger - and then work just as hard for all his constituents.
With the likelihood that McCain will strongly challenge Obama here, the question becomes: who will win the 2 top slots on the NY-13 ballot?