“Maybe I offend some who define themselves as 100 percent purely liberal but this is the first time in 28 years that we can win.”
– Mike McMahon
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — City Councilman and Congressional candidate (NY-13) Mike McMahon spoke to the Staten Island Democratic Association on Tuesday. SIDA is the most progressive Democratic club on Staten Island and McMahon is a conservative or centrist depending on who you ask. The councilman faced some tough questions in a meeting that grew heated at times.
Last May McMahon was contacted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and urged to run for Congress. The Democrats are eager to grab the seat now held by disgraced congressman Vito Fossella (R-NY) who will not seek re-election. McMahon agreed to the DCCC request. He was later endorsed at the local level by the Richmond County Democratic Committee. Completing the circle, the DCCC formally endorsed McMahon on June 13th.
Although New York City is a Democratic stronghold, the Republicans have held the 13th Congressional District for years and the Democrats see an opportunity to win back the seat. McMahon, as an elected official and native Staten Islander, is seen as a safe candidate by the Democratic Party hierarchy. McMahon was supported by Staten Island conservatives in the last two elections and has voted with Republicans in the City Council – presumably making him more palatable to Staten Island’s conservative South Shore.
The selection of McMahon as the Richmond County Democratic Party’s officially endorsed candidate – in what some observers called a rigged convention – split the Democratic Party on Staten Island.
Steve Harrison, who ran against Fossella in 2006, had been campaigning for months prior to the convention and had been endorsed by Island progressives including the Staten Island Democratic Association and Peace Action Staten Island. Calling the June convention a “betrayal of democracy”, Harrison vowed to continue his campaign.
There will be a primary on September 9th to decide which Democrat will face the Republican nominee in the general election. In the interim both candidates are campaigning in Brooklyn and Staten Island.
This past Tuesday, McMahon addressed a meeting of the Staten Island Democratic Association in an attempt to reach out to progressives. SIDA is the most liberal of all of the Democratic clubs on Staten Island. McMahon was on the defensive for much of the evening, despite the fact that he brought a large entourage to the meeting.
“If you don’t like me, don’t vote for me.”
– Mike McMahon
(Photo: Thomas Good / NLN)
The first issue McMahon addressed Tuesday was the charge that he is an opportunist — choosing to run only after Fossella bowed out. McMahon explained that he didn’t run in 2006, not because he feared challenging Fossella – but because he had to drive his daughter to soccer practice and because he “had work to do in the City Council.” Apparently contradicting this claim, he added that “an opportunity no one could have predicted” prompted him to run in 2008. He went on to say that the Democratic Party bosses in the DCCC told him that if he ran they would “buy into this race.” This begs the question: would they have regarded this seat as not important if McMahon had continued his commitment to his daughter’s soccer practice and the City Council?
McMahon told SIDA that he is running a “grassroots” campaign – despite the fact the Democratic machine is backing him. He cited 900 individual donors to his campaign as evidence of its grassroots nature, however, many of the donors gave the maximum amount allowed under the law and some who contributed the max amount listed their profession as “housewife” or “student”. {1} The large donations given to McMahon contrasts sharply with Harrison’s donations which typically are double digit figures. In addition, McMahon has received more money from PACs than Harrison has total (Harrison’s PAC donations barely exceed $2,000). {2}
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McMahon said that although people may not support his positions on the issues they can’t deny that “in the City Council I worked hard everyday.” He added that Democrats should support him because “for the first time in 28 years, we can win.” McMahon repeatedly expressed his frustration that “another Democrat” (Harrison) is “attacking” him – for his votes in the City Council and his public positions. Although McMahon told the audience that if they wanted to know what kind of representative he would make they should examine his City Hall voting record, he objected strenuously to being criticized for this record by other Democrats – even those who are running a primary against him.
“It should be Bob Straniere attacking me and not another Democrat,” said McMahon.
McMahon apparently believes that he – and Republican Bob Straniere – will prevail in their respective primaries and therefore Democrats should fall in line and support him, rather than questioning his positions.
Activist David Jones asked McMahon if he would agree to a series of debates with Harrison. Jones pointed out that the rank and file should understand both candidates’ positions and said that, “it shouldn’t be the bosses who make the determination” as to who will be the Democratic standard bearer. This provoked an angry response from McMahon who acccused Jones of “making a speech”. McMahon did agree to a debate with Harrison but declined to say when that would happen. “We have an inordinate amount of work to do, we are working 16, 18 hours a day,” said McMahon.
SIDA member Susan Chew asked McMahon why he voted against Speaker Christine Quinn’s bill that would have required pharmacies that refuse to stock the “morning after” pill to display a sign indicating that they don’t stock emergency contraception. McMahon replied that he thought the bill was “ill conceived” because it wasn’t the City’s “jurisdiction”. He added that, “I’m pro-choice and always have been.”
Another SIDA member questioned why McMahon wanted the progressive vote – and the Conservative Party endorsement. McMahon responded by saying that one of Staten Island’s ‘great liberals’ told him that “you are not going to win this race if you’re not coming from the center.”
When pressed on the issue of why he sought the Conservative Party endorsement McMahon said that the conservatives on Staten Island supported him in the last two elections because they “like (his) work ethic” – not because of his voting record or positions on the issues.
Apparently the Brooklyn Conservative Party doesn’t share this fondness for McMahon’s work habits – they did not endorse him. McMahon feels that he failed to get the endorsement because the Brooklyn conservatives are “ideologically driven”. After the endorsement interview, Brooklyn Conservative Party chair Jerry Kassar told the press that he and 18 others got the impression that McMahon was “supportive of the war [in Iraq]“. McMahon later issued a clarification of his position on the war but only the N.Y. Sun ran it.
In an attempt to quell the controversy surrounding his position of the war, McMahon told SIDA that, should he be elected, he would vote for any withdrawal bill that “President Obama sends to the House”. McMahon did not indicate what his own position was.
When asked why he voted with Republicans in the City Council – including casting votes against anti-war resolutions – McMahon responded angrily, saying, “I’m not going to get into that…if you don’t like me, don’t vote for me.”
After McMahon and his supporters departed, SIDA members voted to invite Harrison to speak at their next meeting so that the process of evaluating the candidates’ positions could continue.
