McMahon said he welcomed all challengers, while former Fossella mentor Guy Molinari believes Fossella knew the executive committee would select him and called the development a "new low."

Party chairman John Friscia said Fossella was the best candidate to beat McMahon. However, he acknowledged that he has no information Fossella would run.

"It is my firm belief that he [Fossella] is the strongest candidate we can field," Friscia said after the executive committee interviewed candidates for Congress and other races at the Road House in Sunnyside.

Said Friscia, "I have an obligation to pick the strongest candidate with the best chance of success."

Fossella abandoned his 2008 re-election bid after a DUI arrest led to revelations that he had fathered a child during an extramarital affair. The seat was won by McMahon.

"There seems to be a three-ring circus on the Republican side of this race," McMahon said from Washington. "Whoever emerges in the center ring, I'll be proud and honored to run against. We'll see what happens in November."

Fossella did not appear for an interview with the committee last night. Michael Allegretti and Michael Grimm, who have been seeking the GOP endorsement for months, did interview.

Former Borough President Molinari, a one-time Fossella mentor who backs Grimm, skewered the GOP Executive Committee for its action.

"I think the status of the Republican Party on Staten Island has reached a new low tonight," he said. "Fossella has been playing his usual game at the expense of two other candidates."

Molinari vowed that Fossella would face a bruising GOP battle.

"I welcome a primary with Fossella," he said. "It's going to be ugly, it's going to be nasty, but he has to know that would come out in the course of a campaign. Everything he has done will be brought to light by me in this campaign."

Said Molinari, "I have a difficult time believing that Fossella would put his own personal ambitions above his family. His family has been through enough and I couldn't believe that he would be willing to put them through all of that once again."

Fossella pleaded guilty to the DWI charge and served two weekends in a Virginia jail last year.

Molinari predicted that if Fossella were to win the primary, the House Ethics Committee investigation that was dropped when he declined to run for re-election would be reopened.

"I am told that there are other matters that would be brought to the surface if he were to win again," Molinari said.

The party's county committee will have to ratify the Fossella endorsement at a county convention next week.

Fossella could not be reached for comment last night, and Friscia said he didn't know if the former lawmaker would accept the nomination.

Fossella has said repeatedly that he has "no plans" to seek his old seat.

Friscia insisted he was not pressured into making the recommendation by Fossella or members of Fossella's family.

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"Think what you will," he said. "The truth remains the truth."

Said Molinari: "There's no way this would have been done tonight without his [Fossella] knowing it."

The executive committee vote was 23 in favor with 4 opposed. Friscia, who made the motion to support Fossella, would not say which Republicans voted against the motion, but the Advance learned that party stalwart Annette Battista was one of them.

"I couldn't believe it," she said. "My mouth was hanging open. I thought I was hearing things. We have these two clean-cut guys already in the race. They've been going door to door. To throw Vito in there is not fair."

Another executive committee member, who didn't want his name used, said the motion was "shoved down our throats."

"There was very little time to deliberate," he said. "They cut off debate. It was extremely rushed, and disrespectful to the committee. It deprived us of the right to vet Vito, to ask him anything about the scandal or his record or his plans for Congress."

When asked whether he was concerned about the baggage that Fossella would bring to the race, Friscia said, "That's a decision that Vito has to make."

State Sen. Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island), who was at the meeting to be interviewed for his own re-election bid, said, "It's the responsibility of the Republican Party to put forward its strongest candidate. Clearly, of the people who are being discussed, Vito Fossella is that person."

Allegretti and Grimm could not be immediately reached for comment.

The party last night also endorsed Lanza and Assemblyman Lou Tobacco (R-South Shore) for re-election, and recommended that the state party endorse District Attorney Daniel Donovan for attorney general.

The committee held off on making endorsements in other races and will meet again before next week's convention.

Also last night, the Kings County Republican Party Executive Committee unanimously endorsed Allegretti for Congress.

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