Government of Staten Island
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Like the other counties which are contained within New York City, there is no county government; there is no County Court as in non-New York City counties. Richmond County is part of a state Supreme Court (general jurisdiction) district shared with Brooklyn, but has its own Surrogate's Court and judges of the Criminal Court, Family Court and the New York City Civil Court, the last having a similar jurisdiction to New York State County Courts for disputes under $25,000, small claims and housing cases. Criminal and Family Court judges are appointed; the others are elected. Others state agencies such as the district attorney (public prosecutor), which is held by Republican Daniel Donovan, have offices as well as other government agencies.
[edit] Politics
| Party | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | 1998 | 1997 | 1996 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic (%) | 44.70 | 44.76 | 45.19 | 45.39 | 45.63 | 45.47 | 45.51 | 45.60 | 46.38 | 46.15 |
| Republican (%) | 30.64 | 30.47 | 30.77 | 30.55 | 30.68 | 30.76 | 31.17 | 31.60 | 30.80 | 31.28 |
| No affiliation (%) | 19.00 | 19.10 | 18.46 | 18.54 | 18.67 | 18.84 | 18.67 | 18.25 | 18.43 | 18.48 |
| Other (%) | 5.66 | 5.67 | 5.58 | 5.52 | 5.02 | 4.93 | 4.65 | 4.55 | 4.39 | 4.09 |
A mainly white, Catholic borough, with much suburban-style housing, Staten Island politics differ considerably from the rest of the city, being far friendlier to the Republicans than other boroughs, although Democrats have a substantial majority in registration. According to the New York State Board of Elections, as of April 1, 2005, there are 119,601 registered Democrats in Staten Island versus only 82,193 registered Republicans. The main political divide in the borough is between the areas located north of the Staten Island Expressway, who tend to be more liberal, and the south, who tend to be somewhat conservative.
[edit] Local politics
In city elections, Staten Island has been the base of the city's Republican Party for some time. Borough voters overwhemingly backed Michael Bloomberg in the mayoral election of 2001, with 75.87% (84,891 votes) to only 21.15% (23,664) for Democrat Mark Green. Since Green only lost narrowly citywide, Staten Island provided the margin of Bloomberg's victory.
Moreover, two of the only three Republicans of the 51 member New York City Council are from Staten Island, namely James Oddo and Andrew Lanza. The other city council member for the island is a Democrat, Michael McMahon, who represents the North Shore. The borough president is currently James Molinaro, a member of the Conservative Party elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005, with the endorsement of the Republicans. He is the only Republican-supported borough president elected in the city.
In state-level elections, borough voters also tend to vote Republican, but in lesser numbers. The borough was the only one to vote for Republican George Pataki over his Democratic opponent in both his 1998 and 2002 gubernatorial elections, by margins of 65.23% to 28.38% in 1998 and 68.42% to 20.92% in 2002. Staten Island representation in the state assembly is equally split between Republicans and Democrats. Hence, the 60th district [1] is represented by Republican Matthew Mirones, and the 62nd [2], which encompasses most of the south shore of the island, by Vincent Ignizio. But both the 61st [3] and 63rd [4] districts have elected Democrats, John W. Lavelle and Michael J. Cusick. Staten Island is split between two State Senate District. Most of the island is represented by Republican John J. Marchi [5], the longest-serving legislator in state history, while the North Shore belongs to the Brooklyn-based district of Democrat Diane Savino [6].
In order to explain the trend of Staten Island to vote Republican in local elections, most local political scientists cite law and order as the issue that resonates most strongly with island voters.
New York's various minor parties also have some impact upon Staten Island politics, most obviously with the election of Conservative Party member James Molinaro as Staten Island Borough President in 2001, and re-election in 2005, even though most of his votes came on the Republican line. The Conservative and Independence lines have provided the margin of victory for major party candidates in several races. As of 2006, the Independence Party had 6700 enrolled members on Staten Island, while the Working Families Party had about 600.
[edit] National politics
| Year | GOP | Dems |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 56.4% 90,325 | 42.7% 68,448 |
| 2000 | 45.0% 63,903 | 51.9% 73,828 |
| 1996 | 40.8% 52,207 | 50.5% 64,684 |
| 1992 | 47.9% 70,707 | 38.5% 56,901 |
| 1988 | 61.5% 77,427 | 38.0% 47,812 |
| 1984 | 65.1% 83,187 | 34.7% 44,345 |
| 1980 | 58.6% 64,885 | 33.7% 37,306 |
| 1976 | 54.1% 56,995 | 45.4% 47,867 |
| 1972 | 74.2% 84,686 | 25.6% 29,241 |
| 1968 | 55.3% 54,631 | 35.2% 34,770 |
| 1964 | 45.5% 42,330 | 54.4% 50,524 |
| 1960 | 56.5% 38,673 | 43.4% 50,356 |
In the national elections, Staten Island is not the Republican stronghold it is in local elections. However, it is not a Democratic stronghold like the rest of the city. It can be considered as a swing county with a slight Republican lean, though it seemed to become increasingly Democratic in the 1990s, like Long Island and Westchester County.
The island has only voted for the Democratic presidential nominee three times since 1952 — in 1964, 1996 and 2000. In the 2004 presidential election, George W. Bush received 57% of the island's votes to 42% for John Kerry; by contrast, Kerry outpolled Bush in the city's other four boroughs cumulatively by a margin of 77% to 22%.
Staten Island is currently in the 13th Congressional District, which also includes part of Brooklyn. It has been held by the GOP since 1981 and is now held by Vito Fossella, an outspoken conservative. It is the only New York city congressional seat held by the GOP. He has held the seat since winning a special election in 1997. Fossella's seat has always been targeted by Democrats, but he always won with little trouble until 2004, when he lost the Brooklyn portion of the district by seven points. However, he won Staten Island by 26 points, undoubtedly helped by Bush's win in the borough. Before Fossella, Staten Island was represented by Susan Molinari, a moderate Republican who made the keynote speech at the 1996 Republican National Convention. Her father, Guy, held the seat from 1981 to 1990, when he was elected borough president.
The difference between the clear domination of the Democratic Party in registration and the slight domination of the Republican Party at the polls can be attributed to the massive incoming of mostly middle-class Italian American families from the overwhelmingly Democratic inner boroughs, mainly Brooklyn. Those people, although mainly registered Democrats, become the archetype of the Reagan Democrat once they settle in the borough: suburban, white and middle-income, quite religious and married with children. However, given the near-total Democratic domination of city politics, they do not bother to change their registration, becoming Democrats in Name Only (DINOs). One interesting thing to note is that Staten Island tends to vote more Republican than nearby suburban counties of Nassau and Suffolk on Long Island. This is interesting due to the fact that Staten island and Long Island have similar demographics (both have large middle class Italian Catholic populations, though Staten Island's Italian percentage is slightly higher, and Long Island is a little wealthier) and the fact that both Nassau and Suffolk have Republican registration advantages (though the gap is closing fast) while Staten Island has a Democratic registration advantage.
