James Oddo
James S. Oddo is a Republican politician from Staten Island, currently serving as Minority Leader in the New York City Council. He is one of three republicans serving on the Council.
Born in Staten Island as the youngest of four sons in a family of city employees, James Oddo earned a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D. from New York Law School.
He started politics by working as Chief of Staff to then-councilman John Fusco for seven years and as Legal Counsel to the former Council Minority Leader Thomas Ognibene. He was first elected in February 1999 in order to fill the seat vacated by John Fusco, and has always been reelected since. After the resignation of Ognibene, he was elected Minority Leader of the City Council with the consent of both the two other Republicans of the council in 2002. Oddo believes that profiling is one of the best ways to find terrorists and has been arguing that racial profiling is an important tool is doing this. [citation needed]
His district, the 50th, is located mainly in Staten Island, and encompasses the neighborhoods of Arrochar, Bulls Head, Concord, Dongan Hill, Emerson Hill, Fort Wadsworth, Grant City, Graniteville, Grasmere, Island of Meadows, Midland Beach, New Dorp, Old Town, Prall's Island, Richmondtown, South Beach, Todt Hill, Travis, Westerleigh, Willowbrook; , but also parts of Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights and Bath Beach in Brooklyn.
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