NY-13 is the biggest little race going on right now, or at least in my living room. Today us NY-13 bloggers and volunteers made the
front page. Seriously, this is huge! Ok, so this is huge for people who read news feeds Friday nights to find stories to blog about.
Rep. Vito Fossella (R) as you hopefully know by now, is the only Republican to represent New York City in Congress. Stephen Harrison (D) is his Democratic Challenger (they can't actually call him the victor until Fossella starts crying).
Rep. Fossella has done some
stupid stuff.
Rep. Fossella has taken money from Rep. Ney, Rep. Foley, Rep. DeLay ($10,000 not returned) and Neil Volz. He attend a fund raiser hosted by Jack Abramoff and Tony Rudy at a Baltimore Orioles game. The guy keeps good company, like Ephiphany Productions, who were admonished by the FEC for illegal donations to Fossella. Oh and he was fined $60,000 for illegal franking violations (stuff with mailings) but let off on 11 of 12 charges by a committee Rep. Ney chaired.
So then there is this thing were he goes to Vail every winter with Rep Bob Ney, or make that he did. He does the bunny trails from what I hear.
After returning from Vail, Fossella commisioned a poll that was never made public. The next day he agreed to take part in 4 debates, and later agreed to a fifth. At the last debate an audience member asked him about his TRICARE vote;
Unfotunately we found this, it was dusty and under a pile of papers;
Rep. Fossella opposed expanding access to the military's TRICARE health insurance program to thousands of Reservist and National Guard members, even though 20 percent of all Reservists do not have health insurance, and 40 percent of Reservists aged 19 to 35 lack health coverage.
HR 1815 , Vote #221, 5/25/2005
Then this guy who has this website called CQpolitics comes out and says Fossella's seat is no longer "safe republican", whatever that means.
And now tomorrow Stephen Harrison (D) is going to be on MSNBC, ok withhold the hisses and boos, this is good news. Check out this all star list of company he is going to be in, just ignore Armey, Kinky, DeLay.. ok well Howard Dean is going to be on the show too!
So this race is taking off, a few months later than others, but nonetheless it is happening. I know most of you don't know Stephen Harrison, honestly I have never met the guy myself, but I know what I like when I hear it and I know what makes a good politician, and it is stuff like this;
The only answer can be that our nation's leaders have made tremendous mistakes in the war on terror. Throughout the last five years, armchair warriors in the White House and in Congress have wrapped themselves in an obsession with Iraq that has left all of us less safe. They refuse to listen to our allies, or even to their own generals. They push aside brave, experienced men, like Colin Powell, who questioned the wisdom of their course. Most unforgivably, they have chosen to set aside facts, and live in a fantasy world of their own making for political advantage.
Iraq, regardless of whether you initially supported it or opposed it has been a colossal failure of leadership.
He ordered our freedoms cut and he questioned the patriotism of those who questioned him. He made us look with fear at our fellow citizens on the subway, on the ferry or on the bus. In the world of George Bush, olive skinned people with backpacks became terrorists with bomb packs. Fear became the watchword. I fear that my children and theirs will be fighting this war of fear for generations to come. Fear, war, suspicions, violence, isolation. This is the world that George Bush has planned for us. A dark and bleak world that he says we must live in for generations.
The truth is that it is George Bush and the Republicans who are cutting and running from the American people. They cutting and running from his responsibility to the American people to protect them, to give them hope, to fulfill the promise of the Declaration of Independence to allow Americans to pursue happiness in its simplest form, freedom from fear, normalcy.
You can read more on Harrison's National Security Address here
Blogs covering the race:
NY-13
Blue Spot Blog
Daily Gotham
The campaign can use volunteers in the morning (fliering at the ferry), in the evening fliering, phone banking (from manhattan or offices), on the weekend, on election day, i.e. they are flexible.
VOLUNTEER! I will hopefully be out fliering Saturday at 11am at South Ferry.
Call the office to help:
Brooklyn - 718-836-0760
Staten Island - 718-720-8683
And if you can kick in some money many thanks to you!