James Oddo

James Oddo is the Republican Minority Leader in the New York City Council. He got caught on a YouTube video swearing at a mock Norwegian film crew.

He is one of three Republicans serving on the Council and is from Staten Island.

James Oddo has a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D. from New York Law School.

According to Wikipedia, he started in 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 the three other Republicans on the Council in 2002.

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James Oddo and the Norwegian Comedy Show "Rikets rÃ¸st"

Councilman James Oddo received attention after an incident in his office involving his being interviewed by a group of mock serious comedians from Norway.

On October 4, 2007, the interview (with a crew from the Norwegian comedy show "Rikets røst" ("Voice of the Realm"), hosted by comedian Otto Jespersen) appeared on YouTube. The comedians had told Oddo they were TV journalists from Norway who wanted to get the view of a republican on the upcoming U.S. presidential election. Instead, the interviewer, Pia Haraldsen played the role of an uninformed foreigner. She asked how Barack Obama could run for president, as he is not a U.S. citizen (she said she read somewhere he was "African-American") and asked if Senator Clinton could be president ""after that embarrassing incident with a cigar?"

In the edited video, the councilman swears at the camera crew and orders them from his office. Explaining his actions, Councilman Oddo said he regretted the strong language he used, but that he felt justified to end the interview.

Source: Wikipedia