A massive political storm changes the face of Staten Island politics and several hate crimes smear a borough that is increasingly diverse. NY1's Borough reporter Amanda Farinacci filed the following reporter.

Congressman Vito Fossella was the borough's favorite son, a young homegrown politician with a promising future. But the representative from Staten Island made his career crash and burn when he was arrested for drunk driving in May in a suburb of Washington, D.C.

"I apologize for the mistake I made, I apologize for the error in judgement, I regret that what I did occurred," said Fossella on May 2.

It quickly emerged that Fossella has been living a double life. The married Republican was considered a paragon of family values, but he kept a girlfriend in Washington and fathered an illegitimate child.

Fossella announced he would not run for re-election that fall and was later found guilty of driving under the influence in a Virginia court. This month, he was sentenced to five days in jail.

A search began for a candidate to replace Fossella in a district that has been held by Republicans for 28 years.

But the S.I. Republican Party could not get anyone prominent to run - Republican councilmen and state lawmakers said no. They eventually settled on Wall Street executive Frank Powers, who died suddenly.

The final candidate, former Assemblyman Robert Straniere, never wins the support of GOP heavyweight Guy Molinari or Borough President James Molinaro.

Democrats, on the other hand, quickly closed ranks behind North Shore City Councilman Michael McMahon, who won easily in November.

While McMahon was busy celebrating his victory and that of Barack Obama, the country's first black president, an Island teenager said he was racially targeted on the night of Election Day.

Ali Kamara said he was beaten with a bat by young white men shouting "Obama." Ralph Nicoletti and Bryan Garaventa, both 18, were arrested and charged with assault as a hate crime.

Staten Island suffered another hate crime in August, when police said Joseph Papapietro, 24, rammed a pickup truck into three Mexican-run businesses in Port Richmond.

Overall, crime in the borough is up, with 20 murders through the end of November, compared to just 9 percent in the same period last year.

There are forty percent more rapes, with 57 this year and 41 last year.

The NYPD points out that so few crimes take place on Staten Island that even one crime will spike up the numbers, but says it is monitoring the problem.

And finally, in what can be described as a problem that would only happen on Staten Island, this summer the borough took a tongue-lashing from Belmar Mayor Ken Pringle. In his hometown newsletter, the mayor described Staten Island women as bruising for bar fights, wearing clothes that are more like costumes and overdoing it on hair spray and described men as "guidos."

Islanders defended themselves. As one said, "I don't think it's right. Staten Island girls are great."

Pringle finally issued a written apology and even visited the borough to show he was wrong. Still, many Islanders think Pringle should have just stayed down the Jersey Shore where he belongs.