There is now proof that the congressman from Staten Island is not the partisan hack his critics have tarred him as.
According to a report by National Journal, Congressman Mike McMahon was rated the 211th most conservative member of the House and 219 among liberals — right smack in the middle of the 435-member chamber.
His campaign has seized on the news, touting it on their Web site and Facebook account. But they still have work to do.
The campaign, fledgling as it may be (the elections is eight months away) has to create a narrative. They need to sell McMahon as something Islanders can embrace and root for. He needs to be “one of them.”
In case no one has noticed, Staten Island is uniquely isolated from the rest of New York City, and for that matter, the entire state. There are three bridges connecting the island to New Jersey but only one that leads to Brooklyn; and Manhattan, you need to take the ferry to go there.
People there are distrustful of outsiders (sorry Allegretti), independent in the traditional sense, and, maybe at times, a little paranoid.
“Staten Island is a conservative place, we could take care of ourselves,” Warren Crapo owner of Crapo Realty told me back in September when I interviewed business owners in anticipation of the House health care vote.
I haven’t heard too much from the campaign. I know they are busy, and let’s be honest, this isn’t the New York Times here, but most major publications will treat this race as a peripheral issue, a sidebar from the ‘other borough.’
So here’s my own narrative. A portrait of a non-partisan centrist:
Mike McMahon has rejected the scorched earth policy of D.C. and has devoted his Congressional career to working with other members of the House on issues vital to Staten Islanders. Mike is not concerned with latching himself to the latest political trend or being a lackey of the current Democratic regime. He has, and always will, put locals issues (small businesses, modernizing transportation, combating terrorism) in their proper place above nonsensical partisan point-scoring.
Maybe McMahon will get similar advice for the editorial pages of the Staten Island Advance: but I wouldn’t hold my breath.