Congressional Candidate Raises Money to Unseat "Last City Conservative"
Supporters of congressional candidate Steve Harrison are having a fund-raiser this Thursday, and are banking on the anti-conservative message to bring in the checks.
From the email, being circulated by supporters Hilda B. Classon and Betsy Malcolm:
It's true, within all five boroughs, Vito Fossella is the last conservative Republican in our city. Mr. Fossella enjoys an 81% positive rating from the Christian Coalition and 78% from The American Conservative Union. A man whose votes in the House say, “Whatever George Wants, Bush gets from Vito.”
For Harrison, it may be a good fund-raising message, except that it ignores the fact that another Democratic candidate, Domenic Recchia, is raising money and vowing to get into the race.
Here's the full text of the email:
CONGRESSMAN VITO FOSSELLA
(13th CD: Bklyn/Staten Island)It's true, within all five boroughs, Vito Fossella is the last conservative Republican in our city. Mr. Fossella enjoys an 81% positive rating from the Christian Coalition and 78% from The American Conservative Union. A man whose votes in the House says, “Whatever George Wants, Bush gets from Vito.”
Is this really possible? Yes! But much depends on Democrats outside
the 13th CD. We have a terrific candidate, Stephen Harrison. Steve is a true
progressive; he's smart, articulate and really cares about the issues
that are important to us. Steve ran last year. Though his first time out, he
amassed more votes than all of our previous candidates. He was endorsed by the New
York Times, major unions and a host of leading Democrats.Is Steve electable? Unequivocally YES! And because Betsy Malcolm and
I (Hilda B. Classon aka Plat du Jour) are inviting you to meet and greet
Steve Harrison. We know you'll be impressed by him.THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29TH
TIME: 6:00 PM - 9:00 PMPlace: Home of Betsy Malcolm, ### Central Park West, Apt. #__ (## #####)
(BET. ## & ## Sts)
Refreshments and beverage Bring a Friend(s) Suggested
Contribution $100. But just come to check him out. We know you'll be impressed
with Steve, so bring your check or credit cardPlease RSVP (or to ask questions):
Hilda B. Classon
Betsy Malcolm
Of the two Recchia is clearly the better candidate. He can raise more money, and has a proven positive track record as a legislator (in the City Council). Not sure someone without any government experience can beat Fossella.
Of the two Recchia is clearly the better candidate. He can raise more money, and has a proven positive track record as a legislator (in the City Council). Not sure someone without any government experience can beat Fossella.
Funny how Harrison's ability to win "depends on Democrats outside the 13th CD." Another reason why Vito is the perfect rep for SI/Brooklyn. Harrison and Recchia are just banging their heads against a brick wall if they think they can win.
Hello, Recchia doesn't live in CD-13 - he lives and votes in CD-8. Can't even vote for himself. If you read this past Sunday's SI Advance column by Tom Wrobleski you'll see exactly why Recchia won't win. Also, wait until the Sitt's finally realize that Recchia in Congress can't help them control Coney Island.
Oh, by the way, besides this House Party there was one yesterday afternoon and 2 coming up on Sunday, Dec 2nd.
What do the Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot and the Domenick Recchia's alleged fundraising prowess all have in common. They are all myths.
Fact - Recchia in 15 months raised 150,000 for a non disclosed city race (although we all know it was for Brooklyn BP), money that he can not use for the Congressional Race Harrison in 7 months last year raised 130k. Harrison, despite being criticized for anemic fundraising last cycle, actually raised more money per month than Recchia has. Harrison in addition to receiving a higher pct of the vote than any other Democrat since the 13th Congressional District was gerrymandered as a Republican District in the 80s,als raised the third most amount of money as any Democratic candidate for the office, the most by a non-office or former office holder.
Reality check. Unseating Congressman Fossella will be a very heavy lift, after all Bush got 44% in his Congressional District in 2000 and a solid 55% in the 2004 election—pretty good for a district in a deep blue city. And Veto spends a million to a million and a half on nominal races; imagine his budget in a contested race. His district is 70.9% white mostly Catholic including 29.5% Italian and 11.5% Irish.
In an article in the Staten Island Advance on Sunday Nov. 25th the Brooklyn Democratic Boss Vito Lopez was pushing Recchia down the throats of the SI leaders,at an affair on Staten Island. I wonder what deal Recchia made with Vito to garner his overwhelming support. Recchia is a lack luster Councilman who has done realtively nothing in his legislative "career." Maybe he was offered a judgeship down the road. Does anyone know anything else?
Veto doesn't have the fundraising abilities that he had for previous elections. He's lost his cash cow and no longer sits on the House Finance Committee and he's still in debt from 2006. He can't expect much (if any) help from the RCCC either because their fundraising is way, way down and they're going to be very stingy where they spend it.
As for Recchia, his fundraising abilities are also very questionable. He had a fundraiser back in October but I don't recall him every announcing how "great" he did because he didn't. Lopez wants to extend his reach into Staten Island and is pushing Recchia but what he fails to realize is that Staten Island voters aren't stupid and won't vote for a candidate that doesn't even live in their district, whether it's 1 block out of the district or 100 miles. Recchia will destroy the SI Democratic organization if by some laughable chance he beats Harrison in the primary and then is soundly defeated by Fossella. Another thing, some SI Pols maybe supporting Recchia because Lopez has put a gun to their head but the foot soliders are supporting Harrison (even going against their club leaders). Therefore, Recchia will have to bus in volunteers. Hope they have GPS in their cars and enjoy the $9.00 toll and sitting in traffic for an hour as the VZ is under repair.