Vito Fossella, the only repub incumbent in NYC, runs slimy, swift-boat style campaigns. Now his bin Laden slime on Steve Harrison is getting coverage as 'below the belt' campaigning' by papers like
The New York Times!
And now I've got proof that not only has Fossella done this before, but last election, he slimed his opponent, a 76 year old Frank Barbaro, with supporting NAMBLA, via official and unoffical 'anonymous' fliers, right before the 2004 election. Let's hope the NY Times picks upon this too.
And the really, REALLY nasty letters to the editor in the widest circulation daily in the district, The Staten Island Advance just don't stop. This district is really angry at Fossella, but now they need to get to know Harrison. When will the DCCC, or the Democrats sitting on big war chests, give this guy some cash? More below . . .
So, in today's New York Times, there's an article on Fossella's 'bin Laden' flier. Here's what the flier looks like:
Unfortunately the article is behind the 'Times Select' firewall, so, while I've got the link for those who have access, here's some clips. Under the title, "One Day a Candidate; The Next Day a Terrorist's Friend," reporter Dan Barry reports:
The flier, courtesy of Republican Representative Vito J. Fossella's re-election campaign, paints his Democratic opponent, Stephen A. Harrison, as soft on terrorism. To underscore the charge, it includes that photo of Mr. bin Laden alongside a goofy photo of Mr. Harrison -- who, given the concocted context, appears to be searching for the rest of his golf foursome, Hitler and Satan. Now just imagine Mr. Harrison's surprise upon learning of his link to the fugitive responsible for the murder of thousands on Sept. 11, 2001. He had no idea. Mr. Harrison was walking into a Brooklyn church hall to debate Mr. Fossella last week when a volunteer handed him this piece of Fossella campaign literature.
Barry goes on to state Harrison's reaction, as well as Fossella's past swift-boating tactics:
Mr. Harrison said that he needed several seconds to fully understand the flier's implication. Simply put, the 330,000 voters of the 13th Congressional District, along with other residents, were being sent a message that he translated as: ''A vote for Harrison is a vote for Osama bin Laden.'' . . .
Mr. Fossella has dipped into this murky well before, releasing a flier against his opponent in 2004 that seemed to reach a bit for a chance to use Mr. bin Laden's face. This year, he used Mr. Harrison's criticism of some of the Bush administration's controversial tactics against terrorism as license to dust off Mr. bin Laden's menacing image from his Halloween closet of tricks.
What's most shocking, though, is the offical response from his campaign:
When asked to justify the use of that image, Matthew Mika, Mr. Fossella's campaign manager, issued a written response yesterday that said, ''The policies advanced by Vito's opponent would weaken America's ability to fight the War on Terrorism.''
''The face of bin Laden is disturbing,'' he wrote. ''But the threat he poses is real and America cannot allow the terrorists an advantage in this war.''
This sliming is open, and unrepentant. Harrison's thoughts on the implications:
Mr. Harrison, who opposes the war in Iraq, said the flier would be comically absurd were it not for the implication that anybody who dares to question the tactics of the country's war on terrorism is therefore an enabler of terrorism. ''It's a small leap between saying that Steve Harrison supports the enemy to making me an enemy combatant,'' he said.
[bin Laden] is an international terrorist and the other is, um, well, a married father of two, a lawyer and a lifelong New Yorker with a history of civic service in Bay Ridge. ''For 15 years I've been a pillar of this community,'' Mr. Harrison said, disbelief in his voice. ''And then one day one person connects me to Osama bin Laden.''
Certainly Steve gets the implications. This is the politics of fear at its worst.
The New York Observer went even further - they published the flier, under the banner "Bin Laden Makes and Appearance on Staten Island." A short note in their 'Observer Politicker' column by Azi Paybarah, it states:
The strategy for most Republicans this year has been to focus on local issues - like Tom Reynolds and the snow storm in Buffalo. Fossella, then, is that rarest of Republicans who appears to be trying to nationalize his race in what is expected to be a pretty dismal year for the GOP. (Note the kicker: "Steve Harrison: Wacky Ideas...Wrong for Staten Island.")
EVEN WORSE SLIME FROM FOSSELLA'S LAST CAMPAIGN - NAMBLA?!:
I've got two texts from the campaign against Frank Barbaro in '04, but they're in pdf format (if anyone knows how to convert these so I can post them, please let me know!!).
Let me describe. The first is a letter that was distributed by being tucked witihn selected copies of the local Staten Island Advance delivered to some homes right before the election. It says on the top 'Thinking of You' in caligraphy, trying to look like a personal letter, and it is signed as 'Amy', in script. But the text is amazing. Here's some clips:
I just learned some distrurbing information . . . I didn't want to bother you, but as friends, I thought you might want to know . . . I know you're going to find this hard to believe, but Barbaro once voted in the Assembly to support the pedophile organization NAMBLA - The North American Man-Boy Love Association . . . Barbaro voted to allow for a front organization for NAMBLA to keep its non-profit status . . . This allowed NAMBLA to promote the rape of young boys and to distribute literature on how to avoid being caught and prosecuted - all subsidized by taxpayers like us. Even more disgusting, NAMBLA used its non-profit status to distribute a booklet entitled "The Rape and Escape Manual." Barbaro actually had the nerve to defend his vote and said it would be dangerous to strip NAMBLA of its non-profit status. That's just sick. What's dangerous are pedophiles who prey on children - and the politicians who protect them.
The letter ends discussing Barbaro's dangerous voting record of letting criminals out 'early' on parole, and calls the 76 year old an "unreconstructed liberal" with "extreme positions" who is "out of touch." And the 'nice touch' ending, "Hope to see you real soon". Wow.
Now, lest there be any doubt that this is distributed by the Fossella campaign, there was a four page, glossy flier distributed under the name of the Fossella re-election campaign. I've got a poor quality scan of one page in pdf, but you can make out the headlines, one of which reads: "Frank Barbaro voted to support the Pedophile Organization NAMBLA - The North American Man-Boy Love Association."
Now, this is a Rove-style tactic if I've ever seen one. Now, as a gay man, and one who studies various forms of sexuality, I've got a lot of mixed feelings about issues related to age of consent laws, etc. But what is clear beyond clear is Fossella's motives. Nothing better than to try to tarr a 76 year old hetero man with charges of supporting pedophilia shortly before the election, right? And if Vito starts to get desperate, I wouldn't be surprised if something even WORSE than the bin Laden flier shows up.
MORE LOCAL COVERAGE OF THE SLIMY BIN LADEN FLIER:
In addition to the now city-wide coverage of the slimy bin Laden flier, local papers have covered it too . . . including in the dominant local paper, the relatively conservative Staten Island Advance, on Oct. 14:
Harrison has countered that he supports the battle against terror, but believes some of the administration's measures run counter to the Constitution. Former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, a Republican, ignited controversy earlier in the campaign season when he ran a television ad that featured a picture of his opponent, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), next to bin Laden. He was rebuked by members of his own party.
Fossella, who said he did not recall Spencer's imbroglio, also invoked bin Laden two years ago in a campaign flier attacking his then-opponent Frank Barbaro, the former Democratic assemblyman. The piece showed photos of the 19 suicide hijackers and blasted Barbaro's opposition to the death penalty, "even for terrorists like Osama bin Laden." Barbaro called the accusation a distortion, and noted he supported the death sentence for terrorists.
But there's more negative press coverage. A more friendly paper (if much smaller paper), the Brooklyn Courier-Life, put it in the following terms:
. . . during a campaign forum organized by the Dyker Heights Civic Association (DHCA), at St. Philip's Parish Hall . . . members of the audience agreed, at the end of the evening, that Harrison had been on fire as he accused Fossella of hitting below the belt.
"It's perfectly okay to do a negative piece, congressman," Harrison told Fossella, as his supporters cheered wildly. "I don't even mind the kind of thing that says Steve Harrison will raise taxes on middle class families. It's all part of the baloney, taking things out of context, to fool you rather than educating you."
However, Harrison went on, "I am a good and patriotic American. I always have been and I always will be, and I will go anywhere to get Osama bin Laden . . . one thing I will never tolerate is when a congressman, a powerful man, puts a picture of Osama bin Laden and connects it with me, and tells the people of this community that a pillar of this community supports Osama bin Laden. That is despicable. It is over the line."
But Harrison didn't stop there:
Indeed, contended Harrison, the sort of piece put together by Fossella's campaign actually becomes an object lesson as to why the legislation passed recently by Congress is so dangerous to the American way of life and American values.
"That is the reason why I am afraid of torture," he told Fossella. "It is precisely the reason why I do not support the terrorist act that you now support. Because this is how it starts.
"I can now be declared, by virtue of this, to be an enemy combatant," Harrison went on. "Is that what you believe of the people in here who disagree with you, that they should be connected to Osama bin Laden, looked at as enemy combatants, and after they are declared enemy combatants by George Bush without any oversight by the court, they can then be brought into incarceration forever, and they can be aggressively interrogated, which is a euphemism for torture, and then when they are tortured - that could be me, under the circumstances -you can use the words I speak under torture to convict me for whatever crime and put me away?
"Is that what you want, congressman, for the United States of America?" Harrison persisted. "I don't. I am a person who absolutely believes in the war on terror. I believe we have to surveillance. I do believe in wiretaps. I believe all those things must be done to protect the American people. But they must be done in the context of the American Constitution and American values."
I was there at this debate (unfortunately, video not avail on YouTube). And I've gotta say, Steve was on FIRE when he said all this, and the crowd responded in kind. Oh, and another small paper, the Brooklyn Home Reporter did a short piece on the debate that same week, focusing soley on the squabble over the flier - printing the flier as well.
MORE REALLY NASTY LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
Ok, yesterday, there was a letter which compared the lies in a letter to the editor by Fossella press secretary, Craig Donner, and refuted them with proof, one by one - each thing Donner said Fossella voted for or against, this letter provided proof that he voted the opposite way - including voting against the 9/11 commission, with a date when the Advance itself had criticized Fossella's vote.
The next letter? Under the title "He 'won't tolerate lying' - But Vito sure does a lot of it?"
How does he live with himself? He lied and twisted the truth regarding Harrison's brilliant idea of collecting a two-way toll from everyone but local residents. Fossella lied by keeping a key essential fact hidden: That the tolls would be collected electronically and therefore we would not have people idling for hours on both sides of the bridge. In my opinion this is outright lying. He would rather hurt Staten Islanders by forcing us to continue paying a toll to commute within the five boroughs. How's that helpful to us?
The next letter, while not directly anti-Vito, is certainly anti-republican:
I remember many years ago when people used to go to the polls to vote for people running for office to lead this once-great country. . .the new system is to pick one loudmouth, organize a bunch of follow-the-leader idiots, rent buses, demonstrate, riot, loot and kill for what they want. Elections? Absurd. If you can't get what you want, merely take it. It's the new American way.
Why bother voting for elected officials when homemade reverends seem to have the power to tell these elected officials what to do, when to do it and how to do it? . . . The American vote has been replaced . . . our elected officials who have the power to write the laws, are busy writing new laws to protect these ignorant, feral animals who are bringing America to a new low.
Hmmmmm. Now, as I've been trying to document in my diaries - THIS BAD PRESS FOR VITO GETS MORE INTENSE EVERYDAY. The district is reaaaaaaaaaaaaally angry with Fossella. But will they stay home? Or, if we can get Steve's message out, might they consider, when they vote for Spitzer, Clinton, and others, to just go democrat done the line and vote for Harrison? If they can be convinced to do that, this race is won. But we need to get his message out! Please help this campaign!!! Give cash if possible, or if you're in NYC, volunteer - the Brooklyn office is right off the train! Here's more info on how to help . . . To give cash to the Harrison campaign on a secure server at ActBlue, click here.