Government of Staten Island

The Government of Staten Island, or Richmond County, like the other boroughs which are contained within New York City, includes no county government. Counties within New York City lack the county courts of other counties in New York State. 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. The District Attorney (public prosecutor) for Richmond County, currently Daniel Donovan (Republican), is also popularly elected, as is the Borough President, James Molinaro (a fellow Republican). The Borough has three appointed Community Boards with advisory and limited administrative powers.

Politics

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.

Local politics

In city elections, Staten Island has been the base of the city's Republican Party for some time. Borough voters overwhelmingly 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 Vincent Ignizio. 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 has 3 Democrats and one Republican. The 60th district [http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=60&sh=map] is represented by Democrat Janele Hyer Spencer, and the 62nd [http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=62&sh=map] , which encompasses most of the south shore of the island, by Louis Tobacco. But both the 61st [http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=61&sh=map] and 63rd [http://www.assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=63&sh=map] districts have elected Democrats, Matthew Titone and Michael J. Cusick. Staten Island is split between two State Senate Districts. Most of the island used to be represented by Republican John J. Marchi [http://www.nyssenate24.com/district_map.asp] , the longest-serving legislator in state history; but is now represented by Republican Andrew Lanza; while the North Shore belongs to the Brooklyn-based district of Democrat Diane Savino [http://www.nyssenate23.com/district_map.asp] .

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.

Thanks to electoral fusion, 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.

National politics

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.

ee also

*Government of New York City
*New York City mayoralty elections (with borough-by-borough results since 1897)
*Government and politics of the Bronx (for comparison)