Young, enthusiastic candidate for the Council.

0:00 Speaker 1 It’s Sunday morning. There’s an election in Staten Island on April first, and there’s a lot of controversy in Staten Island. Well with us today is Griffin for Sella and he is running for city council in the south side of Staten Island. And Griffin tell us why you want to be a city councilman from Staten Island.

0:26 Speaker 2 All first off, John, thank you for having me on the show, and thank you Tomargo as well for letting me appear. You guys have been great friends so us over the years and I can’t thank you guys enough for what you guys do for this city. I’m in this race because you know, I care about Style Island.

0:43 I love Staten Island. I’ve been here my entire life. I’ve lived here my entire life, my family’s been here forever. But why I really start wanted to get into politics was I’ve always had an interest in it. I’ve always had an interest in government. But what really started to take me off during COVID when we heard government officials

1:03 say that you could have a Hamburger on one side of Staten Island, but you couldn’t have it on the other. You know, government wasn’t accountable, and that really started getting me thinking, you know, do these politicians have our best interests at heart? And I didn’t think so. So, you know, once Donald Trump came along, when he just won this

1:23 twenty twenty four election overwhelmingly, and he’s proved that government is accountable and can be accountable. So those two factors really inspired me to throw my hat in the ring because there is a way to fix government, and it’s not easy and it needs bold action. And that’s what we’re going to do. We need to use the momentum

1:42 that we currently have at the federal level, and we need to use that at the city level. And I think next year for the governor’s race, which I think of a Republican will win. If we have all three levers of government, the sky’s the limit.

1:57 Speaker 1 Understood. And tell us a Staten Island you supported President Trump. I remember you supported me when I ran for mayor in your city, New York a few years ago, twenty thirteen. Give us the overall of Staten Island. Which way’s overall Staten Island going?

2:21 Speaker 2 Yeah? Now, I’ve been supporting Donald Trump all the way back until twenty fifteen, and of course, I worked on your campaign in twenty thirteen, John, when you ran for mayor, and I truly believe, and I think everyone knows this, that the city would have been a lot better off with you at the helm instead of the past leadership

2:38 that we’ve had over the couple the last couple of years. But the people of Staten Island want a true Republican. That’s why Staten Island voted for Donald Trump with almost sixty five percent of the vote, and the fifty first council district withought which I’m running for, which is the how true of Staten Island, the margin is even higher.

2:58 And I’m the only real Republican that’s this race, quite frankly, and the people of Staten Island deserve a Trump conservative Republican and that is exactly what I will give them.

3:09 Speaker 1 What do you mean by that, as.

3:13 Speaker 2 In terms of me being the only Trump Republican. Yes, well, there are two other candidates in the race at this time, but one of them is a Democrat and the other did not become a registered Republican up until a couple of months ago. And I don’t think that people of Staten Island deserve that.

3:32 Speaker 1 I didn’t know that, all right, what else do you want to tell the people sat On?

3:38 Speaker 2 I want to tell the people of Staten Island that I could bring a fresh new perspective. It’s no secret that younger people are not really representative represented a. Full process. I mean, we’re able to vote, but many of our elected officials are on the older side, which is completely fine.

3:59 But I think I bring a fresh new perspective that people are hungry. And I’ve heard people on the campaign trail for only a couple of weeks.

4:06 Speaker 1 Then you know it’s awesome that you’re doing this.

4:08 Speaker 2 And that’s another amazing part of me running for the city councils, people telling me how proud they are that you know I have what it takes to throw my hat in the ring. And I’m I’m only twenty seven years old, and I view my age as an asset.

4:24 Some view it as a liability, but I think my energy is nothing but an asset.

4:30 Speaker 1 I understood well, Griffith for Sella. I look forward to talking to you, Samora before the election. The elections went April first, April twenty nine, April twenty ninth. It is okay, yes, yeah, I look forward to talking to you. Again before April twenty nine.

4:49 Speaker 2 Thank you, John, I appreciate it.

4:50 Speaker 1 You’re the best. God bless you, and God bless America.