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Matt Titone is Democratic Choice to Replace Lavelle in Assembly
Former State Senate candidate Matt Titone prevailed in a marathon Staten Island Democratic County Committee Convention that I am very angry that I wasn't allowed to be part of , to select who will run in the March 27 special election to replace the late John Lavelle last night. Titone defeated Supreme Court deputy chief clerk Bob Olivari, the late Assemblyman's son Danny and another former State Senate Candidate Kelvin Alexander, who I would have supported at least in the Convention that ended at 12:30 A. M.'s first ballot. I ultimately would have switched support to Titone after early balloting placed Kelvin at a distant 4th.
Danny Lavelle unlocked the convention by throwing his support to Titone after it became apparent that he wasn't going to win.
Despite finishing way out of the money, Alexander , the founder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, is on the ballot as the Independence Party nominee. Although I would have supported Alexander at the Democratic Convention, my vote will go to Titone in the Special Election.
Alexander is a member of the County Committee and should not jeopardize a safe Democratic seat by siphoning votes from Titone, who would normally attract 70 percent of the vote in an election against Republican Rose Margarella. Margarella, a junior high social studies teacher received 28 percent of the vote against Lavelle in November.
Ironically, Titone almost benefited from comparable Republican infighting in the fall State Senatorial campaign. When former mayoral candidate John Marchi, decided to end a State Senatorial career spanning 6 decades, aid Bob Helbock, thought he was heir apparent. The Vito Fossella wing of the Republican Party then chaired by Helbock, preferred Vito crony Andrew Lanza. Helbock resigned as party chair and lost to eventual general election winner Lanza in the Republican primary.
Helbock had already received the Conservative Party endorsement before the primary and originally planned on running on that line regardless of the primary's outcome. The openly Gay Titone could have possibly won in a district gerrymandered to be Republican if Helbock and Lanza canceled each other out. If he wins the Special Election, Matt will become Staten Island's first openly Gay elected official. Helbock eventually bowed to party pressure and withdrew from the Conservative line.
The gerrymandering of districts being overwhelmingly Democratic or Republican resulted in 11 people seeking Lavelle's old North Shore seat, while no Democrat is running for the vacant South Shore seat also contested on March 27. The Democratic Party cross endorsed Conservative Party candidate John Mulia in absence of a candidate.
who got the line
OK, first I admit I was wrong about Olivari yesterday. Big surprise. Titone and Alexander are both decent candidates and since there is no primary it's good that they both get to run. If they split the 70% a Democrat still wins the district, so I wouldn't worry about the seat going Republican, especially with such a weak candidate.
Can't assume this
Heard my district leader tonight discuss this and, though we can feel reasonably safe, we don't want to be caught unprepared. He was a bit worried about the Republicans pulling a coup on this one and is encouraging people to pay attention to this race.
Never underestimate one's opponant.
Matt & Kelvin
Splintering the vote in an election with expected Republican support estimated to hover around 30 percent could be dangerous. Margarella will probably receive a slightly higher percentage of the vote than in November by virtue of her not running against an incumbent and given the low voter turnout endemic to special elections, anything could happen if Kelvin siphons off enough votes from Matt.
This is should not happen in a race that would normally be cakewalk for Matt or Kelvin running as the Democratic nominee.
It would be interesting to see if Kelvin shows up at tonight's County Committee dinner. Matt is chairing the event but Kelvin is still a committee member.
Titone's win was also a huge
Titone's win was also a huge win for Mike McMahon and his forces. It's strange that the one thing that John Lavelle would have never wanted, turning the party over to Mike McMahon, is what happened once his family and friends decided to oppose one another. It's too bad that they could not put personal feelings aside and make a deal with each other. As for the special election perhaps electing Rose Margarella would not be such a bad thing as she would only last one year and it would give Kelvin a chance that he did not have this time.
As for the anger of not
As for the anger of not being allowed to participate in the process there are a number of people who feel this way based on what the McMahon forces (joined by Lavelle forces) to block a number of people who were added to county after John Lavelle passed away. While some thought all these people were supporting Olivari many were not and a number were longtime Democratic supporters/donors/volunteers who were just blocked as they were appointed after a certain date. While blocking people is democracy the shame is it was done the way it was as some of the people should have been allowed on and were not as they could not be discussed.
I was angry
I was angry because I was told I was added to the County Committee in June and wasn't and thus couldn't participate in the process. I was not a plant for Olivari and although I'm sure Bob would have made a fine assembly person, I would not have voted for him at that County Convention. As I previously stated, in the first round I would have supported Alexander and switched my vote to Titone in the second round had I been there. I am also supporting Titone in the election over Alexander, whom I feel shouldn't run on the Independence line and siphon away votes from Titone.