Oddo Has Right Stuff To Be Mayor

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

A recent column of mine comparing the administrations of Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg, “Missing a Tough Mayor,” generated a lot of mail asking who I thought should be our next mayor. I admitted that I had no idea. Now readers are proposing a City Council member of Staten Island, James Oddo, for the job, thanks to his profanity-laced tirade on YouTube, which aired this week.

Early last month, Mr. Oddo was interviewed by a phony Norwegian television crew for a “Borat”-style reality show. They had secured the interview by pretending to be a news station seeking a Republican perspective on the upcoming presidential race. The YouTube video is edited from a lengthier interview, so that all one sees is Mr. Oddo exploding angrily at highly inappropriate questions and ejecting the crew from his office. This editing gives the impression that our council member is a hothead with anger management issues. In reality, Mr. Oddo had great patience with the woman — who, he noted, was being fed questions through her earpiece — until she asked loaded questions about Senators Obama and Clinton that went beyond the pale.

Once the video was posted on YouTube, Mr. Oddo became a cause célèbre, and in politics, that can be both good and bad. Overall, the reaction was positive, though some expressed distaste at the council member’s language, calling it offensive and unprofessional.

Mr. Oddo himself has apologized for the language, which he characterized as more “Tommy Lasorda than Thomas More.” He expressed regret to his family, his girlfriend, and his constituents about his choice of words, not his heated reaction to the Norwegian crew. “They came there to mock me, Senator Obama, and the Clintons,” he said. “They came to mock America as a racist country.”

“Why did they pick a low-level Republican official like me to interview?” he asked. “They didn’t expect me to react in this manner. They expected me to agree with their racist, sexist dialogue because I am a Republican, and if there’s one thing I hope people get from this incident, it’s that we are not that stereotype.”

I asked Mr. Oddo if he might consider running for mayor. After all, a number of self-proclaimed Democrats who saw the YouTube video and were polled on NY1 said Mr. Oddo would be the first Republican they’d vote for.

The council member said that while he found the poll heartwarming: “I’m unelectable in New York. Among Republicans, I’m in the center, but among New Yorkers, there’s just no way I’d get their vote because I’m pro-life, pro-death penalty, and for cutting taxes and spending.” He went on to name other individuals who would be better suited to become mayor.

But New Yorkers are looking for a different kind of politician, I told him. “I’m a terrible politician,” Mr. Oddo said. “But I’m a good public servant. I was a great fan of ‘The West Wing,’ and that show changed my mind about politicians and public service, which I’ve come to believe is a noble effort.”

In 2002, Mr. Oddo, along with the other two Republican City Council members, Andrew Lanza and Dennis Gallagher, voted against Mr. Bloomberg’s 18.5% property tax hike. They hung teabags from their microphones to remind us of the Boston Tea Party. I think of those lone GOP rebels whenever I look at my mounting property tax statement.

Let’s not forget the 18% tax increase due in January from the water board, not to mention another 14% next July. Mr. Oddo said of the increases: “This is really insane. What is coming through these pipes? Perrier?”

He’s been on the attack against other proposed hikes, and he points out that the Metropolitan Transit Authority is seeking an across-the-board fare and toll hikes. Consolidated Edison is also looking for increases, and this is devastating for New Yorkers on fixed incomes.

The more I chatted with Mr. Oddo, the more wistful I became, knowing that this city can’t recognize or appreciate this type of tough New Yorker who battles the system for us. The kind who won’t answer stupid questions like “boxers or briefs”; who refuses to respond to serious queries from a man in a snowsuit; and who will kick phonies out of his office when they dare to pose insulting questions about fellow Americans, even those from a different party.

Unelectable? What does that say about us?

acolon@nysun.com


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