The Republican search for a candidate ends with ... Francis H Powers. With their first, second, third, and perhaps even fourth tier candidates balking at running and with the party near broke the Republicans have turned to the finest counterpoint to the "elitist" Democrats. A rich investment banker.
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Introducing Francis H Power. Member of a number of different local boards, member of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, and former partner in the investment banking firm Weiss, Peck & Greer, LLC.
Francis H. Powers was a partner and managing director of Weiss, Peck & Greer, LLC, from 1977 to 2002, a firm now owned by Robobank/Robesco. While at the firm he was head of its Operations and Clearing Services Division, served as treasurer for the company’s public mutual funds, provided management supervision for information technology, and was in charge of human resources functions. He also served on the firm’s Management and Operations Committees.
Prior to joining Weiss, Peck & Greer, Mr. Powers was a partner with Faulkner, Dawkins & Sullivan, Inc. for nearly ten years, where he was in charge of operations processing, human resources, and facilities planning. He also helped merge the firm into what became Shearson Lehman, Inc.
In addition to being a member of the New York Stock Exchange and the Chicago Board of Options for more than 20 years, Mr. Powers has been one of Wall Street’s innovators and pioneers in securities processing operations. He led the effort to reengineer and provide automation of the movement of securities, working with all of the major industry firms and facilities, and served as president of the Securities Industries Operations Division.
He has demonstrated a substantial commitment to giving back to the community in many ways. Highlights include service as president of the Staten Island Academy, the oldest independent school in New York City; 20 years of membership on the board of trustees of St. Vincent’s Hospital, Staten Island, serving on its Finance Committee and as assistant treasurer. He has also been president of the Downtown Athletic Club and president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation.
In 2006 he was elected to the board of trustees of Wagner College and is chair of the Endowment Committee.
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His ability to self-fund no doubt was a prime motivator in his recruitment. The question is how rich is he and how much of his own money is he willing to spend?
Certainly this is a break for the Democrats. But don't get too complacent. A nobody with money can sometimes become a somebody.
EDIT: As we thought. It's all about the benjamins.
One GOP executive committee member told the Advance that Powers informed the committee during an interview last night that he would spend $500,000 of his own money on the race and would raise $500,000 more.
"He said it like it was no big deal," the committee member said. "I believe him. He's such a successful guy. It was very matter-of-fact."
Powers last night would not tell the Advance how much of his own money he'd put into the race, but added, "I'm willing to do that to jump-start my campaign."
Not everyone is behind granddaddy warbucks. Including the GOP Finance chair.
But Dr. Jamshad Wyne, who interviewed with the party last night even though he'd said he was pulling out of the race last weekend, objected to the Powers pick.
He left the convention before the final vote was taken, saying he would support McMahon in the race.
"I like Frank Powers," he said. "But I think Mike is a better candidate. We should be willing to cross party lines to support the best candidate."
Dr. Wyne said he did not know how his support of McMahon would affect his position as borough GOP finance chair.
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